ReassessingRecruitment
01 December 2008
In the current challenging environment, Interim Managers are playing a critical role in Sales and Marketing...
At a time of uncertainty, Linda Gillett asks members of the recruitment sector about the outlook for sales and marketing professionals in the coming weeks and months.
Basic pay increases for marketers have fallen for the second consecutive year, according to Marketing People's latest annual salary survey, which was issued in September. In the past 12 months, annual salary increases have worked out at just 3pc to 4pc, which equates to a 25pc drop from the previous year, or a 50pc fall over a two-year period.
The survey points out that employers will be keen to maintain this trend going forward, taking the view that marketers are already reasonably well paid, while at the same time feeling pressure to slash costs in the wake of reduced consumer spending.
However, the consistent message from the survey respondents - namely HR managers - was that effective branding has considerable influence on sales and market share. There's a strong feeling therefore that redundancies
in the marketing function are very unlikely. A heartening message indeed, as advertising and marketing budgets are often the first to get axed when times are tough.
"The current market is different for both the sales and marketing disciplines," says David Allan, managing director of the People Group. "Sales is still relatively strong with clients looking for experienced sales and business development professionals to help drive sales. In marketing, it is quieter. If somebody leaves a marketing department, the attitude is to just hang in there and hold off recruiting for a while."
Sandra Lawler, managing director of Alternatives, a provider of marketing talent, concurs: "The market for marketing professionals is certainly tighter than a year ago, as you'd expect, given the scale of uncertainty in the global and Irish markets at the moment. I believe that a number of the most affected clients currently have their fingers on the pause button for many areas of investment, such as recruitment, as they wait to see how the market will progress."
The sectors most at risk of a recruitment hiatus here are financial services and the construction industry - not a massive surprise to many industry observers, given the current economic climate. "But our economy had such a reliance on property for the past eight years that it will have a serious knock-on effect for most business sectors," adds Allan. "Anyone operating in the luxury sector also will find it tough. Having said that, it's just possible that the super rich will continue to support the very top end of the market. And lastly, the travel and leisure market will find it tougher with consumers having less to spend on the extra weekends away and foreign holidays they have become used to in recent times."
In Lawler's view, telcos are likely to be less expansive than in recent years as they consolidate their positions. Instead of sectors being vulnerable, she believes it is certain types of marketers who are likely to be more exposed, for example, "those who are not commercially grounded and who believe marketing truly is about the 'colouring in' ."
Skills she considers most in demand currently are in the areas of customer relationship management, digital marketing and strategic product managers - "essentially those who can help organisations understand, segment and target customers, develop higher value-add propositions, and who can communicate to them using new and old media, in order to achieve increased growth."
Areas of opportunity
Allan expects the demand for sales people to increase over the coming months and the demand for marketing people to remain less buoyant than in recent times, "The first thing that usually happens is that companies push for more sales guys. But it's a solution only for the shorter term. After a while, they must realise that marketing actually drives a business and supports the sales department," he adds.
Areas of opportunity are more identifiable in traditional food and drink companies and the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) market. "Everyone still has to eat," Allan continues. "It's likely that financial services will remain depressed for the next 12 to 18 months. We have to remember that not only is there a financial crisis but there is also a worldwide economic downturn and that will really only start impacting to any great degree after Christmas. Though sales will grow over the coming months, marketing will be flat."
The importance of innovation
One of the basic tools in a business survival kit during a downturn is innovation. Interim management, a type of contracting that supports innovation, is an option that's certainly being considered, says Luke Freeley, senior consultant at InterIM Executives. Interim management involves the leasing of highly qualified, experienced managers for a defined period of time. These individuals can address virtually any managerial necessity, but tend to be engaged in three main areas: supporting one-off projects, supporting organisational change or taking over a critical role where a senior executive is absent.
"From an interim point of view, we are experiencing a steady demand for sales and marketing professionals," says Freeley. "We're seeing a trend where clients are continuing to engage interim managers for specific initiatives, but increasingly they are acting only after a detailed scrutiny of all aspects of the assignment, with particular emphasis on return on investment and value created."
Both Lawler and Freeley agree that companies in the process of drafting their 2009 budgets are reluctantly predicting lower sales growth and/or lower sales volume than last year, with a subsequent reduction in marketing budget for some and a tighter recruitment policy. "With headcount under the spotlight for some, but with the pressure to stabilise or grow sales remaining, it makes complete sense for them to bring in interim marketers or marketing consultants flexibly, accessing many of the new skill sets they need to outpace their competitors," explains Lawler.
There is a need to recognise that the market environment has shifted and that consumers continue to change. "The skills and people that were right for their team a few years ago are perhaps not the ones they need now. We have suggested to many clients that in order to have the exact skills they now need, with the maximum flexibility around headcount, they should really consider keeping 20 to 25pc of their resourcing/headcount budget to use on a flexible and targeted basis, using the balance for permanent team members."
Wait and see
The number of companies currently hiring is difficult to ascertain. Allan suspects many are waiting it out to see what happens in the world financial markets. "Past experience has shown that when this happens, as soon as things settle down, there is a mad dash to recruit. After 9/11 there was no recruitment from September through to November and then suddenly in the first week of December everyone started hiring again."
Fortunately, all three are in agreement that that this pause phase is unlikely to last - indeed, they believe client market share and revenue are at their peril if it does. It is in times like these that great talent is needed. Smart clients will use this time of uncertainty to attract great marketers who can make a difference, whether that is on a permanent or interim basis.
"We have many interim managers on our register who are specialists in the sales and marketing area, all of whom have 20 years' plus of experience," says Freeley. "That type of knowledge wasn't around or as readily available 10 or 15 years ago. So there's tremendous opportunity in terms of available talent."
Facing into an unknown economic situation, optimism still holds ground. Lawler says that if there aren't suitable roles out there, jobseekers should instead buckle down, be enthusiastic and target new promotions in their current companies. "Keep your skills up to date and access as much new training and learning as you can. Keep in contact with one or two recruitment advisers whose advice you can trust. Be patient - the market will turn!"
The words of advice from Allan to anyone in the current climate would be to move to companies in stronger sectors where possible, or to move only to companies that are as strong and have brands as strong as the company they are moving from. "Don't move just for money. If everything else stacks up and someone is offering a higher salary, go for it."
Overall, Allan says it is a case of the strong brands surviving and prospering, while marginal brands will not. "Anyone who has been offering good value for money and a good product or service in the good times should survive well once they continue to do so," he says. "Anyone who has built a business purely on the basis of excess demand in the economy rather than anything else will perish."
From Marketing Age November/December 2008