With expectations of a 10% rise in ad spend in 2005, advertising and marketing employees can expect some benefits to flow their way.
“The second half of this year saw the market in real recovery mode,” Michael Page associate director, sales and marketing, Chris Barker says. “We’ve had an 18% revenue rise from placing candidates in advertising and marketing.
“The increased demand will allow people to be a little more demanding in terms of salaries, renegotiating hours, or working from home and addressing their work/life balance. It should also see people more confident to move jobs than they were two or so years ago.”
He suggests marketing employees should expect a minimum 10% salary increase and more if there is a shortage in their area.
But Nine Yards Consulting director Helen Horley is cautious.
“To be honest, I don’t think the [advertising] market has fully recovered, certainly not enough to start guaranteeing pay increases,” she says. “A lot of agencies are still wary and while a lot of people are very deserving not many agencies are forthcoming. The market has been picking up but it’s still early days.”
However she is quick to add that there are skill shortages, particularly in direct marketing and below-the-line.
“The shortage tends to be at junior to mid levels,” she says. “Agencies need to think about how to fill the bottom ranks. There needs to be a focus on training and retention. Unfortunately, training goes by the wayside in lean times and sections of the market are now paying for that.”
Mark O’Connor, director of search agency Perceptor, which recruits for senior positions in marketing, says a candidate shortage is looming for positions such as customer insight managers, commercially focused product and brand managers, segmentation managers and product managers in financial services; all of whom can demand higher salaries.
He adds that agencies are seeking account executives, account managers and people with media-selling skills.
“In terms of the industries driving market growth, they are financial services and telecommunications, FMCG and consumer, and entertainment and media,” he says.
“But there’s probably a bit of oversupply at the very senior end of sales and marketing, those in the $160-170k range with titles such as general manager–marketing or marketing director. It’s a little slow at the moment.”
However, he expects this oversupply of senior marketers to change in 2005. “Generally, high-level candidates will be in more demand over the next 12-18 months and that will drive salary increases across the board,” he says.
O’Connor adds that marketing departments are also very likely to increase their headcounts on a short-term basis.
“We’re seeing more executive contractors,” he says. “They tend to charge a daily rate and for good-quality senior people that will probably rise a bit.”
And Barker says many agencies are seeking to fill positions by sponsoring overseas nationals.
“We’ll continue to see a big flow of marketers from Europe to here and vice-versa,” he says. “The Australian market is seen as receptive to people with overseas experience and marketers with Australian experience are well received abroad, especially in the UK.”
According to O’Connor, 2005 will probably be the best year in the past three to four to change jobs.
He says it is very important that employers now realise they have less negotiating power in the market. With a general shortage of skilled staff, the market has switched to become an ‘employee’s market’, where candidates can lay down their terms.
“There are more jobs than there are good candidates and companies need to impress when they are interviewing—it’s now more of a two-way process.”
In agreement, Horley says the market has picked up and many people that have been sitting safe for some time now have the chance to get out of their comfort zone and make the move for the right job.
“And if anyone is looking to bolster their CV, they should look at getting totally integrated experience. That’s the way of the future.”
