Marketing vacancies up 21%

The growing confidence among brands to invest in growth has been underlined after a major marketing recruiter revealed the number of marketing vacancies increased by more than a fifth in the third quarter.

The number of vacancies grew by 21% year-on-year in the three months to 31 September, according to Robert Walters, which tracks the volume of job vacancies posted on the eight leading job boards.

The growth is markedly steeper than in the second quarter when vacancies grew by 6%.

The north west led the growth with 19% more vacancies, followed by the midlands and London on 18% and 15% respectively.

The increase in vacancies chimes with growing confident among brands about their prospects and optimism over the improving state of the economy.

Last week, the Bellwether report – a quarterly survey of 300 senior marketers from the UK’s top companies and a respected barometer of confidence in the industry – forecast marketing budgets would reach record highs in 2014 while the confidence respondents had in their own company’s prospects grew markedly.

Tim Gilbert, director of marketing recruitment at Robert Walters, says the figures demonstrate “a revival in candidate confidence, improved hiring budgets and widespread recognition of the importance of bigger pay packets to attracting skilled marketers”.

He adds: “Taken with the growing prevalence of ‘buy-back’ counteroffers and the need to retain valued team members, these numbers prove how integral a strong marketing team is to achieving business growth.

“Demand is especially intense for commercially-minded individuals with a track record for innovation and delivering high returns on investment.”

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