Hays Sales & Marketing - October 2008

Hotspots

Communications specialists and copywriters are the winners in the current sales and marketing environment, with demand increasing strongly for these specialist skills. Demand will also rise this quarter for events professionals as organisations seek to complete projects before calendar year-end.

Certain industry-specific trends have emerged to impact the skills in demand. For example, quality IT sales executives with specific technical sales experience and sales executives with experience in the FMCG, IT&T, industrial and manufacturing industries are needed.

Meanwhile, senior marketing managers with online and CRM experience, sales representatives, area managers and channel distribution candidates remain ongoing areas of need for talented candidates.

The coming quarter

Future hiring intentions seem positive, with vacancy activity remaining strong.

Executive recruitment

The executive recruitment market for sales and marketing professionals remains steady. A number of executive vacancies are available, particularly for senior marketing and business development roles, and we expect this job flow to be consistent across the quarter.

Salaries

While little salary movement is expected for general sales executives due to an excess of candidates, the shortage of technical sales executives is ensuring employers remain competitive in their salary offerings. Within the marketing arena no major salary movements are expected this quarter.

Candidate trends

While there has been an increase in generic candidates, there has been a noticeable decrease in candidates with specific skill sets, such as IT sales.

Candidates are seeking positions offering real work/life balance.