Media Buyer for the Team: What Do HR Managers Look For?

When looking for candidates, we now use a Google Form where applicants leave their details and answer a few short questions. We get around 80–90 applications per month. No experience at all — 15%, worked in other verticals — another 15%. The remaining 70% claim to have experience, BUT — that doesn't mean they actually do. Very often it's something like "ran 10 auto-reg accounts on Canada, got 7 registrations, 1 deposit, then bans, blah blah blah." Those with genuinely strong experience that stands out from what we're looking for — 10–15%. That's the pool we actually select candidates from.

Around 40–45 media buyers apply each month.
1. Up to 20 candidates with no experience at all, who want to join a team and are "ready to work for free." These applicants tend to believe that arbitrage is very easy and that you can start earning big money right from day one.
2. Up to 10 candidates with experience from other niches.
3. The remaining 10–15 candidates come from our niche, but there are often questions about their qualifications and the budgets they've worked with.

Our recruiter receives and processes more than 200 applications per month. If that number sounds impressive, it's worth noting that around 70% of those are people with no experience at all, or very little. The remaining 30% can be broken down more by skill level than by vertical, since we work across most relevant niches. It's hard to pinpoint an exact ratio of applicants to hires or even interns, as the numbers always vary.

A large number of candidates knock on our door (I can't share specific figures). The majority have little or no experience. Mid-level and senior specialists are fewer. Candidates with experience directly relevant to our work apply less frequently, but they do exist. Typically, HRs actively "hunt" for them and reach out with invitations to join the team.

Every year, affiliate marketing keeps gaining momentum, which means the number of applicants for open positions grows month by month. On average, a Media Buyer vacancy receives around 70–90 candidates. Of course, not all of them have relevant experience, so only 10–20% end up joining the team.

On average, onboarding takes 1–2 months. By the end of it, the person's results should be no more than 20–25% below the average buyer's performance. So if an average buyer is running, say, $800–900/day on Facebook, then someone who's been with us for 1–2 months should be spending at least $600–800/day. That's when we're confident they're a good fit. Each newcomer works directly with the team lead — not with another buyer. The team lead is the one who knows how to work with new people, has the experience, and can manage the processes for someone just getting started. KPIs exist. There's a spend target X for the first two weeks, and then target Y for the first month. Of course, there are exceptions — sometimes a person falls slightly short of the target — but we always look at the level of effort and what specifically was missing. Maybe the wrong products were chosen for the launch, or there was a "Facebook storm."

This doesn't really apply to us, since we don't take on newcomers without experience in our niche or a similar one. We're only considering building a mentorship program, so we can't really answer how much time it would take.

We typically don't hire people without experience in our vertical, so it's hard to answer this question. That said, if we're talking about a junior traffic runner, they have two to three months to prove themselves before being considered for a full media buyer role.

We have built an onboarding system that actually works!
Until recently, we didn't hire people without experience — that was our policy. However, we did help farmers grow into media buyers. Training and onboarding such employees took several months. Yes, we have KPIs for every position and an HR People Partner who collects feedback on each employee at different stages of their work.

For newcomers, depending on their skills, onboarding takes around 1–2 months. During the onboarding period, we don't set any KPIs for the probationary term, as a newcomer needs time to adapt to the new team, the company's workflow, and its infrastructure.
At the moment we are actively growing, and in the near future we are ready to launch a junior department with dedicated mentors and an onboarding program.

First and foremost, we pay attention to whether a person is reasonable and grounded. Even though this is a soft skill, it's a VERY objective one — and everyone measures the level of "reasonableness" differently. But if someone has great experience YET doesn't know how to behave within a team, or acts arrogantly toward team leads\managers — that's not our candidate. Next comes attentiveness — being focused is crucial. The third key component is analytics. In media buying, you can't get by without a baseline level of analytical thinking. Every buyer must be able to analyze landing pages\apps\CTR\CPM\CPI\CPC\ROI\i2r\i2d and a dozen other metrics. A media buyer should know off the top of their head what a good install rate looks like for Australia, or what their i2r was on Ukraine yesterday.)

Creativity, without a doubt.
Communication skills, a grounded mindset, and emotional maturity are also important.
Communication skills are especially critical for buyers. For example, to avoid wasting time repeating mistakes someone else has already made — strong communication helps resolve such issues much faster.

Creativity, initiative, attentiveness, and flexibility are essential qualities for a media buyer. As for social skills, it's important that a person has a basic understanding of hierarchy, can communicate clearly and confidently with colleagues from other departments, and is open to growth — our team has a friendly and trusting atmosphere that we maintain and will continue to maintain.

Activity = drive. A sense of humor and ease in communication. Creativity = finding non-standard solutions. Persistence = self-sufficiency. And of course, proactive thinking.

The soft skills we value in our team members are: creativity, strong emotional intelligence, accountability, and communication skills. These are the qualities we prioritize when evaluating candidates during the hiring process.

Why is it important for a media buyer to be a strong communicator? Because first and foremost, traffic arbitrage is a dynamic field that requires constant adaptation to new conditions and the ability to quickly find solutions to various challenges. That's why ongoing communication and information sharing are an integral part of the arbitrage workflow.

If someone is arrogant enough to think they're a superstar and keeps interrupting without listening to us — even $50k solo per month won't save them)

A definite no:
– if the candidate doesn't fit on a soft skills level (aggressive personality, or we notice certain behavioral red flags, communication style issues)
– if someone running those volumes thinks they've already peaked and has no interest in growing further — because $10–20k isn't that much.
– if they're running solo and have no intention of working within a team structure. Some come in asking for budgets and infrastructure. That's not really what we're looking for either, since our focus is on building teams.

Probably the main factor is demonstrative disrespect. As I mentioned above, maintaining a healthy team spirit is important to us. Someone who doesn't know how to communicate and respect their colleagues simply won't fit into our team.

It's simple.
If a candidate doesn't know what they want, gives templated answers, and can't think critically — we say no. Detect hints of dishonesty? — No. If we feel the candidate doesn't match our vibe and isn't a culture fit for the team — we say no to those as well, unfortunately.

First and foremost, we'll say "NO" at the interview to any candidate whose experience we couldn't verify. If a candidate claims certain results without being able to back them up, or gets confused about the information they've shared — that's a definitive "NO." We value openness and honesty in candidates.

The best motivation is financial, and the best motivator is each person themselves. We have a mixed compensation model in the team, where people earn NOT only a % of profit, but also a % of ad spend. During those periods, a person understands they need to work 24/7, and it directly impacts their paycheck at the end of the month. On top of that, there are of course some great non-monetary bonuses — but only those who work in the team know about them, that's not for the public ;)

First of all — a base rate that supports buyers during months when Facebook "doesn't deliver"
2 — a transparent and competitive bonus system based on the buyer's profit, which allows you to earn serious money
3 — TS follows the best IT companies in Ukraine, so we strive to create comfortable office conditions. I'd call it "bringing the IT vibe into arbitrage"

We absolutely provide all the comfortable office perks: quality snacks for a proper break, recreation zones (foosball/PlayStation), a corporate psychologist and English classes, health insurance. 3–4 company-wide team events per year with trips to the Carpathians, plus a separate budget allocated for team events within each sub-team. We attend events around the world and hold seminars for all employees. And I want to point out that the bonus system applies not only to buyers but also to employees in other positions, which keeps the whole team motivated to always strive for and achieve the best results.

A motivation system certainly has a significant impact on team performance, but I also want to highlight that it's important to pay attention to the actual needs of employees and, where possible, personalize additional bonuses for sub-teams. Regular surveys, one-on-one meetings, and similar tools do a great job of surfacing those needs.

We have the best grid in terms of base rate + % of profit. On top of that, there are bonuses for top performers in the form of experiential gifts and rewards — entertainment, extreme activities, and so on. Plus regular team-building events, like Friday pizza or monthly get-togethers after the results wrap-up. And of course, ongoing communication with the remote team, on equal footing with the office team. Getting paid well is great — getting bonuses on top of that is even better. A motivation system creates the desire to push for more and not coast along on "acceptable" numbers.

1. Among the highest salaries on the market, with a bonus grid for every position.
2. Bonuses for those who think outside the box and optimize processes.
3. English courses and professional development training.
4. Psychologist services, team-building events, wellness activities, interactive experiences (hot air balloon rides, quad biking, etc.).
5. Diamonds for top performers.
6. We gifted the team a G-Wagon. The buyer who shows the best result for the week gets to drive it for the following week.

Let's be honest — the best motivation system is money. That's why we motivate our buyers with the sweetest grid on the market (25%–55%). Equally important is a well-built infrastructure designed around the buyer — these two factors are the foundation for achieving strong results. We also organize corporate events, which in turn encourage interaction and collaboration among team members.