The Creative Group Hiring Index for Marketing and Advertising Professionals recently found that hiring for the second quarter of 2012 could be at a virtual standstill. The recruitment firm interviewed 500 pros (375 marketing executives at companies with 100 or more employees, and 125 from ad agencies with 20 or more staffers) and found that 80 percent expect no changes in staff size – a 4 percent increase from the previous quarter, Advertising Age reports.
However, when these employers were asked about growth prospects, 91 percent said they were optimistic.
While traditional advertising and marketing jobs may have plateaued, creative professionals have a variety of other opportunities for finding new work. For example, Facebook recently hired a plethora of creatives trained in marketing and advertising, and while some companies believed the social network giant was on its way to entering the industry, Carolyn Everson, Facebook’s VP of global marketing solutions, spoke to the surge in employment at the recent 4As Transformation Conference that took place in Beverly Hills on March 27, 2012.
“Creatives like talking to creatives,” Everson said. “We need enough people at Facebook who can sit across the table from a creative leader and engage in a conversation about what the possibilities are.”
Job seekers struggling to find traditional advertising or marketing jobs may want to look for work in new sectors such as social media.