Most marketing departments and advertising agencies plan to maintain current full-time creative staff levels in the second half of 2013, according to a recent report by The Creative Group, a staffing agency.
Among the of marketing and advertising executives surveyed, 59% said they plan to hire only to fill vacated roles during the remainder of the year. An additional 9% anticipate expanding their teams of creative professionals, 25% project hiring freezes, and 4% expect to reduce the size of their staff.
Below, additional findings from the report, which was based on a survey of 400 marketing and advertising executives in the United States.
Challenges Finding Talent
More than half (52%) of marketing and advertising executives said it's challenging to find skilled creative professionals today.
Hiring managers at midsize advertising agencies (50-99 employees) reported the greatest difficulty, with 81% of respondents saying it is somewhat or very challenging.
The Specialties Most in Demand
Asked in which areas they plan to add staff in the second half of 2013, executives cited Web design/production (23%), followed by print design/production (18%) and account services (16%).
About the research: The report was based on more than 400 telephone interviews—approximately 300 with marketing executives randomly selected from companies with 100 or more employees, and 100 with advertising executives randomly selected from agencies with 20 or more employees.
