Zenith Launches Zen Academy To Promote Junior Talent

Zenith has announced the launch of ‘Zen Academy’ aimed at training junior staff and developing the next generation of leaders. The agency has also introduced digital campaign management and visualisation technology Rubii, to automate time-consuming manual tasks, and allow staff to focus on learning and applying new skills.

Zen Academy will pilot in Q1 of next year, consisting of in-person and online training of four six-month modules – Investment, strategy, planning, and digital. Once the program is fully operational, staff members that complete each module and pass Zenith’s testing criteria will receive formal accreditation and six-month salary increases.

Research conducted by Zenith revealed that junior recruits are seeking variety and progression early in their career. The Zen Academy’s training program allows for coordinator level staff to progress to an executive level role in a matter of 12 months – with the right foundations to flourish in their next role and continue their career progression. Armed with hybrid training and a diverse skillset, they can then choose to specialise at management level, while having the option to pivot and explore alternative areas of specialisation in the future.

Nickie Scriven (main photo), CEO at Zenith Australia said the academy’s goal is to teach transferable skills that allow staff to progress and pursue agile pathways within the business. “The Zen Academy is our answer to the industry’s undeniable talent shortage. As change accelerates, we need to find a way to round out our people’s skills and support them upward, so that they’re not operating in silos, but instead understanding how each piece plays into each other. Having a knowledge of the full media landscape will unlock their potential to assume roles across various disciplines, and importantly, within leadership.”

“The academy’s purpose directly aligns with our mission at Zenith, ‘solving for the now, and what’s next to drive growth’. We are so excited to launch our Zen Academy – to develop future leaders with far-reaching skills, and ultimately stay in tune with the needs of our industry.”

Meanwhile, Zenith has partnered with Australian SaaS technology company Rubii, a real-time data-aggregator that allows the measurement, optimisation, reporting and reconciling of campaigns across all digital channels and buying platforms.

Zenith national head of digital and data, Joshua Lee predicts the investment will free up 30% of users’ time so they can focus more on skills development.

“Digital implementation is increasingly fragmented and labour intensive. We partnered with Rubii to put automation, data visualisation, and insights in the hands of over 170 employees. As more channels go digital, our aim is to free up as much capacity for our teams so we can further futureproof their time and skills. They can reinvest this into being more strategic, creative and proficient across a convergent media landscape,” Lee said.

New junior staff will form the Zen Academy class of 2022, and Zenith will rollout bespoke training programs for existing coordinator and executive level staff, following the pilot.

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