Employment Outlook Optimistic
For Advertising Professionals

The hiring environment for advertising and marketing professionals is gaining momentum, a new survey sug-gests. Fifty-seven percent of advertising and marketing executives polled said their firms plan to add personnel in the next 12 months, up 13 percentage points from responses made one year ago. In a related question, 88 per-cent of respondents expect their companies’ business to increase during the same time frame.

The survey was developed by The Creative Group, and was conducted by an independent research firm and includes 250 responses — 125 from advertising executives and includes 250 responses - 125 from advertising executives with the nation’s 1,000 lar-gest advertising agencies and 125 from senior marketing executives with the nation’s 1,000 largest companies.

Advertising and marketing executives were asked, "Do you expect your firm to increase or decrease staff levels in the next 12 months?"

Their responses: 2004

Increase.......................................57%

Decrease........................................6%

No change....................................36%

Don’t know/no answer...................1%

Executives also were asked, "How do you expect your company’s business to perform over the next 12 months?

Do you expect business to ..."

Their responses:

Increase significantly...................24%

Increase somewhat......................64%

Neither increase nor decrease........8%

Decrease somewhat.......................1%

Decrease significantly....................0%

Don’t know/no answer...................3%

"Firms are anxious to promote their goods and services in anticipation of business expansion this year," said Tracey Turner, executive director of The Creative Group. "Hiring managers know there’s an excellent pool of talent available right now, and will try to bring highly qualified professionals on board before the market becomes too competitive."

Turner added, "Many regions of the country are showing signs of sustained economic growth, which is re-flected in the number of firms that expect im-proved business performance. These companies may have an opportunity to revisit budgets and in-vest in programs that build market share and brand awareness."

Positions in Demand

Thirty-six percent of advertising and marketing executives polled said they will first hire in the area of ac-count management. Thirteen percent of executives said creative professionals, such as graphic designers, computer artists and art directors, would be among the most in-demand em-ployees. (See attached charts for de-tails.)

"Firms are augmenting their ac-count teams to attract and manage a growing clientele," said Turner. "The renewed emphasis on customer service that emerged during the downturn will likely remain. As a result, firms are looking for account professionals with excellent relationship-management skills."

Reader Comments

No comments have been posted. Be the first!

Other Stories With Comments:
Article	Comments
Golden City: Bought, Burned, Bought Again	1