We have been running SEM campaigns for a few years now and have seen great results in pretty much every campaign. I'm surprised that so few employers have taken SEM on board but even more surprised that Ad Agencies have also done so little with it (apart from one!). I appreciate it is seen as a specialist skill but with some basic knowledge you will be able to manage your agency (or someone else) like a good buyer should!
I set-up a little e-mail programme called '10 things you probably didn't know about Adwords' which is FREE. You can register at www.hirestrategies.co.uk/tenthings.
What I'd like to do using the discussions is to continue offering support and advice to see how you can become more confident in Adwords as a serious channel and start to get more from online rather than just rely on job boards.