“What have your roles been with DAM in your previous work?” If hiring managers were to ask job candidates this interview question today, it might sound forward-thinking and innovative. However, David H. Lipsey, an internationally known founder of the field of Digital Asset Management, anticipates it won’t be long before this question becomes standard in many interviews across many industries and companies.
“Digital Asset Management is a field where unemployment is near zero,” Lipsey said. “So, if an applicant is asked, ‘what’s your DAM system background,’ and the person answers, ‘what’s a DAM system?’ or ‘I used one a few years ago and it’s the library’ what happens? The hiring manager will most likely move on to the next candidate. The bottom line is this: talent management and DAM are interrelated today, and applicants who lack knowledge of DAM are putting themselves in a competitive disadvantage.”
How can professionals across all industries gain the knowledge of DAM they need and advance their careers by earning an industry-recognized, core academic credential that proves it? By taking the Digital Asset Management (DAM) Certificate at SC&I. Co-founded and co-directed by Lipsey and Yonah Levenson, who also serve as course instructors, the certificate program is already in its third year and has had 500 registrants. It is now also being acknowledged by talent managers as a credential they recognize, value, and seek in candidates.
“This course is a core academic credential to become prepared for a career in the DAM field,” Lipsey said. “This program provides the knowledge needed to be prepared to enter the field of DAM or move to more senior roles within the field. People from all career backgrounds who add this credential – one that will prove they know how DAM works, are fluent in DAM, and know the workflows involved in DAM, will gain career opportunities. If you have this knowledge, suddenly you are in a completely different track career-wise.”
Lipsey said he’s observed changes in recent job descriptions showing that hiring managers are now sometimes seeking credentials that demonstrate candidates’ formal education in DAM.
“What we are starting to see in job postings in all industries, is a middle range from ‘professional education’ or ‘credentialed education in DAM preferred,’ to requiring a certificate. This is reflective of what is going on in the field of Digital Asset Management. Eventually there will be no ability to apply for work in this field without the education or certification, and the DAM Certificate Program at Rutgers is a leader in this space,” Lipsey said.
Earning the certificate from SC&I also provides certificate graduates with on-going opportunities to stay current and ahead in the field of DAM after the program has ended, through continued networking on LinkedIn with instructors, classmates, and industry leaders and experts in DAM who guest lectured live (via zoom) during certificate courses. New electives and advanced courses are also being added by Lipsey and Levenson on an ongoing basis for certificate graduates who wish to take additional courses (beyond the required six to earn the certificate) and earn an advanced certification in DAM from Rutgers.
The Digital Asset Management (DAM) Certificate demonstrates the best of professional education in the U.S., Lipsey said. “This is what professional education is supposed to do. It’s supposed to create educational opportunities that enable professionals to increase their skills, knowledge, abilities, and interests and apply them to new opportunities for career changes and work upgrades that maybe didn’t even exist when they earned their last degree. Rutgers has led the way to create this opportunity for career movement and career definition in the exciting field of Digital Asset Management.”
Discover more about the Digital Asset Management (DAM) Certificate on the Rutgers School of Communication and Information website.
ABOUT DAVID H. LIPSEY
David H. Lipsey is well known as a Founder of the field of Digital Asset Management (DAM) and a consistent innovator in defining – and redefining DAM and its relationship to organizational strategy, rights, outreach, and growth. Lipsey has worked internationally to create value from digital assets – and setting in place the organizational and strategic processes to achieve return on initiative as well as investment. Lipsey has been involved with the field of digital asset management (DAM) since its inception and is an international leader.
His particular focus on digital content draws on insights gleaned from extensive private and public/museum sector experience.
He is currently serving in his sixteenth year as Global Chair of the international DAM Conferences known as “The Art and Practice of Managing Digital Media”; along with Yonah Levenson, he co-founded and co-directs the Rutgers University Professional Certificate in DAM and was awarded the Rutgers Professional Program “Instructor of the Academic Year” in 2021. He was the founding President of the DAM Foundation and served as its Chair; he is a principal co-author of the widely used Digital Asset Management Capability Model, and a sought-after speaker in DAM. He maintains expert level knowledge of the field in general, the vendor community, and most of all – how to make DAM accelerate the organizational goals which it must support.
