Marketing job vacancies in the UK rise 7%

Marketing jobs have increased by more than 7 per cent in the last quarter reflecting renewed confidence by brands, according to a new study.

Female marketers boardroom
The UK has seen an upturn in numbers of vacancies posted to key job boards since the turn of the year.

The findings from recruitment firm Robert Walters highlighted a noticeable rise in the number of advertised marketing vacancies in the first three months of 2014 compared to the previous quarter. The rise was driven by a 21 per cent increase in vacancies in London, the highest in the period, while the North West of the country posted a 13 per cent jump in the period.  

The volume of marketing vacancies surpassed the 4 per cent rise in accounting roles in the period as well as demand for IT and retail posts, which were down 6 per cent and 4 per cent respectively.

Tim Gilbert, director of marketing recruitment at Robert Walters, says the upturn in marketing roles reflects a renewed sense of confidence permeating the market. Indeed, findings from the latest Bellwether report highlighted how a growing number of the UK’s biggest brands are planning to spend more on marketing in 2014. Additionally, the average marketing salary increased £2,500 to £45,021 between 2012 and 2013, according to the annual Marketing Week Salary and Career Survey 2014 

Gilbert adds: “Candidates are frequently enjoying offers from multiple prospective employers, leading to generous counter-offers to remain in their current roles.

“With job numbers increasing we expect competition to intensify among employers to secure the services of the best talent. To land their preferred candidate we are encouraging hiring managers to streamline recruitment processes whilst adopting a pragmatic attitude to remuneration.”

Despite the encouraging signs for marketing professionals, year-on-year vacancy figures for the discipline remained flat.

Recommended

BT Sport Supporters Club

BT Sport marketing efforts lift BT

Russell Parsons

BT’s continuing investment in marketing BT Sport helped add another half a million customers to the channel in its latest quarter, which in turn has helped the media company post its first growth in revenue from consumer services in a decade.