(The AdNews update on the TALENT WAR)
The talent war, marked by high job vacancy rates, continues with demand for staff with two to five year experience as the advertising industry looks to recruit from other sectors to take on increasing work.
Low unemployment, combined with high employee intentions to move, points to a flipped recruitment market where employees are now in charge.
According to the Hays 2022-2023 salary guide, talent shortages in the marketing and digital industry are hindering operations. Eight in ten (82%) of employers this will impact growth and 65% of employers are set to increase permanent headcount this year.
Tony Hale, Advertising Council Australia CEO, told AdNews: “There are certainly skill shortages across the industry, but most of ACA's members manage the employment environment pretty well. We don't have a set vacancy rate but it would probably be around 5% and currently sits between 6-7%.
"The key people we need to attract are those with 2-5 years of experience across account management, creative and tech. It places greater importance on being an employer of choice with safe working environments, good training and tangible career progression.
"At the more senior end, ACA members have the option of applying for an AILA which will enable them to attract top talent from overseas with a pathway to permanent residency."
Hays’ findings back up Hale’s comment as according to the salary guide, the top five jobs media employers need to fill in Australia are; marketing managers, product managers, communication managers, digital marketing managers and eCommerce managers.
An Insights LinkedIn study put the tech and media industry with the second-highest turnover rate at 12.9%.
Top factors driving this across Australia and New Zealand include lack of new challenges, an uncompetitive salary and lack of promotional opportunities, according to Hays.
Linda Wong, director people at Media Federation of Australia, said: "We do know from speaking to our members that agencies are focused on retaining talent through training and development, and nurturing their workplace cultures through greater support of their people.
“As an industry, we're also exploring other potential solutions, such as ways to recruit lateral talent with transferable skills from outside the media industry.
"Our newly launched industry purpose of We Are The Changers is an important aspect of attracting and retaining people to our industry by communicating our ability to create change for the greater good and conveying the dynamism the media industry is known for."
The MFA will be conducting its annual MFA Census and Salary Survey next month, with results on Australia’s most in-demand roles and salaries to be released in early 2023.
Esther Clerehan, talent specialist, founder and CEO of CLEREHAN, said: “There’s still steady demand in creative, but it’s not the same level of crazy as in 2021.
“I also don’t see as many huge leaps this year in pay as in 2021, but talent costs are still rising and agencies have to pay to keep their staff from being vulnerable to poaching.
Employees know their worth with 53% in media more confident to ask for a pay rise this year with 69% of employers having already offered higher salaries than planned, according to Hays.
Ashlea Garfield, talent agent - digital marketing at Aquent Australia, said: “Agencies are scaling rapidly, with many looking for talent across most skill sets and seniority due to an increase in briefs and workload.
“Although this may seem like a fantastic problem to have, the talent shortage has put them in an increasingly hard spot.
“Performance and paid media roles have always been particularly hard to fill, even pre-covid (if anyone can remember back that far!). I’ve found this has typically been around the mid-senior level when candidates make the transition from agency to client-side.
“The current job market is saturated with roles and candidates can cherry-pick their best option, unfortunately, this doesn’t always fare well on the agency's side.”
On trend: Agency talent moving client-side
Annie Sharrock, talent agent - digital marketing at Aquent Australia, said: “There has been a shift for some talent to seek a move to the client-side as agencies typically don’t pay as well and tend to be more demanding than the client-side.
“The pro argument for agencies is that there is more variety, a regular change of pace and the ability to work with diverse stakeholders which ultimately delivers a breadth of experience that is not always present client-side.
“It is often dependent on an individual's preferred mode of working, but for the majority of talent, we are seeing that it’s becoming more challenging to attract and secure good talent due to higher salaries client-side.”
International movement in and out of Australia
Clerehan said: “One thing I am hearing is that London is back in fashion. Creatives I speak to mostly want to move to London or Europe now more than New York, which was the main destination for over 20 years.”
Garfield at Aquent said: “We are finding that sometimes it’s not the lack of the right talent but other factors at play.
“International candidates who are still at the mercy of visa restrictions and processes are being met with erratic visa processing times.
“Some have waited up to a year just for a transfer and this can be a real deterrent for clients and businesses to bring in talent from overseas — which we so desperately need!”
Quiet quitting
Ryan Watts, talent agent - digital marketing at Aquent Australia, said: “Without a doubt, the buzzword of the month is ‘quiet quitting’.
“You can’t log onto LinkedIn without seeing a poll, a post or a picture of somebody giving their two cents on this so-called 'new' phenomenon.
“However, if you’ve ever worked at an organisation where you’ve gone above and beyond and then received no recognition or reward, then you have probably already had a firsthand experience ‘quiet quit’ from a role.
“Call it whatever you want, but it’s not new and it will continue to happen until the end of time.
“On a personal level, I detest the term 'quiet quitting' because it suggests that if you don’t bust your ass and go above and beyond at all times then that means you’re a quitter. When in reality you’re not a quitter, you’re simply fulfilling the core requirements of your role, a.k.a. you’re doing the job you’re being paid to do.
“The phrase quiet quitting is actually detrimental because it absolves employers of their sins of not recognising hard work and it slaps employees with a label that they’re a quitter if they don’t go above and beyond.
“So how do you stop employees ‘quiet quitting’?
"It’s pretty simple really: recognise and reward hard work and don’t expect people to go above and beyond if you’re not going to acknowledge and reward their efforts. It’s not groundbreaking advice, but it works.”
Ghosting in recruitment
Garfield: “Unfortunately ghosting is a trend, and both parties (clients and candidates) can be just as guilty!
“As for candidates, it’s their market right now, meaning they have an abundance of roles to choose from. This can mean multiple interview processes happening simultaneously and things are moving fast. Talent is being offered roles and placed quickly and as a result, are stopping communication and leaving us on 'read'.
“For agencies, the chaos Covid caused has had a ripple effect on every aspect of their business and team. They may have had an influx of work or have lost staff, accounts and resources.
“We are finding things can change overnight though and that urgent hire is no longer needed and processes come to a grinding halt.”
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