Hays Sales & Marketing - April 2008

Hotspots

Marketing professionals at the mid level are in demand. While entry and senior level candidates are in good supply, there is a shortage of those in between. Augmenting this is employer resistance to recruiting staff at the senior level, as they prefer instead to pay mid-level salaries.

In Queensland, marketers with building and construction experience are in demand since this industry is booming across the state and employers prefer candidates with previous experience in the sector.

Customer marketing managers/market insight managers have also emerged as a hotspot, since consumers continue to increasing their spending, enabling manufacturers and suppliers to realign their marketing strategy and keep up with competitor activity.

The coming quarter

The last 12 months has witnessed a definite rise in vacancy activity in industries such as FMCG, State Government, and the building/construction sector. Competition in the FMCG sector for staff has seen a rise in counter-offers, although fewer businesses are successfully retaining staff through this strategy.

Salaries

Salaries are expected to remain relatively stable over the coming quarter, following increases due to the competition for staff. Employers' salary expectations, however, are starting to move closer to candidate expectations as they realise the need to offer a competitive rate to attract the best staff, although it is still necessary to educate candidates about current market rates in order for them to have realistic expectations.