Last month I wrote a blog highlighting a hiring trend I’m seeing recently at Paladin. In short, we found that although a recession typically leads to an increase in mid-level interim staffing needs within corporations and agencies, our clients were disproportionally hiring senior/executive level marketers for both direct-hire positions and for interim roles.

To gain a larger perspective, we asked the marketing community for feedback via a LinkedIn poll. We wanted to determine if what we are seeing at Paladin is an anomaly, or actually a hiring trend in marketing departments.

The Findings:

Nearly 60% of the respondents polled said their companies were not hiring at all in 2009. Not shocking given the current state of the economy.

However, what’s interesting is that 30% of the remaining respondents said their organization was hiring due to one of the following three reasons:

-         The need for a fresh marketing approach

-         A shift in business direction

-         Business growth

We also saw that enterprise and mid-sized organization were seeing the least hiring of senior level marketing talent. Small and large organization were the most active.

So, how can this information help marketers who are looking for work? The good news is that there are opportunities, and in order to find those openings, you should keep an eye out for companies that match the three indicators for hiring.  As you network through organizations like the BMA or CIMA, read key publications such as Crain’s Chicago Business and The Chicago Tribune or leverage corporate Facebook accounts and Twitter feeds, keep an eye out for corporations that are taking a distinctly different approach to marketing or to their actual business model.  As always, those companies that are experiencing rapid growth are ideal opportunities for senior marketers as well.

The poll is still up and active. Feel free to participate and add comments. We continue to be interested in tracking this trend. 

As recruiters, we expect to see specific hiring trends during economic downturns. Historically, we anticipate increases in contract/freelance staffing because corporations, which are in the midst of hiring freezes, have laid-off large numbers of marketing and communications pros. With a skeleton staff and the same daunting workload, the inevitable outcome is that organizations bring on contract/freelance staff to fill the gap.

Generally the most common need is for mid-level talent with 5-10 years of experience.  The senior level positions are less often requested because strategies have been set and companies want simply to execute on plans.  But 2009 has not played by the standard rules.

While we are seeing an increase in contract/freelance hires, we’ve been surprised that another trend has emerged: our staff is recruiting for a significant number of senior and executive level marketing openings across a broad range of industries.  

Most recently, we’ve recruited for a CMOs, VPs and Directors of Marketing across a wide variety of industries including retail, telecom, health and beauty and tech.

 The question: Why the change in upper management at this time?

Are these executive level openings a result of the company taking their business in a different direction, and, thus, needing a new leader with fresh thinking? Perhaps this recession has provided management with the opportunity to clean house and let go of senior marketing staff that have not been able to make a measurable impact. It may be a case of organizational growth despite this challenging environment. Some suggest it may be a case of attrition. Or perhaps it is simply an anomaly that we alone are experiencing within our recruitment practice.

To find the answers or at least further the conversation, we are reaching out to our community of Marketing Professionals. As marketers on the front lines, we’re interested in hearing directly from you. Click here to take a five question survey about hiring trends within your organization. We’ll be sharing the findings with our readers, and individual responses will remain confidential. And feel free to comment on the subject here. We value your insight, your questions and your feedback. 

The old adage that “time flies when you’re having fun” really hit home for me this morning. As I was reflecting on the last ten years I’ve spent in the professional working world, I realized that one of the common denominators in each of my positions has been healthcare. 

I began my career on the public relations side, working with healthcare systems and big pharma. That interest has carried over into my role in the recruiting world. In the last four years at Paladin, I’ve worked with nearly 30 healthcare associations, providers, insurers and pharma companies, providing a vast array of talent for marketing, creative, programming, membership, training, event and communications departments.  Working with marketers and creatives in this space has allowed me the opportunity to stay abreast of trends, pressures, challenges and nuances in the field.

To get an even deeper understanding of these trends, I launched a survey of my healthcare association clients last month. The goal was to better understand the marketing, membership and staffing trends within these organizations.  I think you’ll find the survey results interesting.

A few key findings:

- The healthcare association world is a “healthy” one, despite the turbulent U.S. economy. The majority of respondents noted that their overall membership base in continuing to grow and that from an organizational perspective, they plan to continue expanding in other markets.

- As with many organizations, healthcare associations are embracing the new social media movement and offering new online and interactive forums to help their members and employees communicate. Facebook and Linked-In are becoming the top social media tools in the communications arsenal of these organizations.

- In order to remain competitive, healthcare associations are expanding their product and service offerings in 2009, including e-learning programs, online conferences, and social  media tools.

I encourage you to review the full survey findings in the hope that you’ll be able to leverage them as you continue to build marketing and communications campaigns and products for your members this year.

http://www.paladinstaff.com/promo/survey-results/

I also welcome your insights and hope you will help create a larger dialogue on this topic.  Feel free to comment here, or to contact me off-line with questions, ideas, suggestions, requests or additional resources: elise@paladinstaff.com.

Everyone in the business world is ready to pounce, once they know it is safe, on fast growth stocks and other investments.  We all want our money to grow and work for us and not decline like so many have seen over the last year.  I have a hot tip ( hopefully not seen as insider trading) for anyone willing to step out and make the commitment.

The investment is known as human capital, your company’s employees.  There is no other asset a firm can have that will have a greater impact on their business than the people who actually do the work.  We sometimes forget that fact.  Solid employees who are committed, well-trained, and have a solid work ethic drive your profits up and have a positive effect on the results of others around them.  Just look at some examples I’ve seen over the years.  Broadcast.com, a small video conferencing company in the 90s, had a great idea that was new to the business world and the technology was literally being developed as they were marketing the service.  Those people worked LONG hours in the Deep Ellum area of Dallas with no guarantee that anyone would buy this new service on the “Internet”. In a short amount of time, Mark Cuban (now know as one of the richest men in America and the owner of the Dallas Mavericks) converted their hard work and commitment to a gold mine for all of those who used their talents to help the company succeed.  Not only did he profit as an owner, but all individuals involved profited when their company was purchased.  Other firms that come to mind where the employees had a direct impact on the company success are Microsoft, Apple, Google and The Container Store. In each case people who started in a role of just bringing their individual talents to the table helped the company succeed.

Another advantage to investors today is cost/value.  The talent available today is 20-40% less in cost than just 3 years ago.  A web designer with 5 years experience in 2006 could expect to make $70-80k a year in salary.  Today, someone with the same experience and skills will make $50-70k.  Many firms in order to keep their staff in place during this economic turmoil, have reduced salaries across the board 10-20% on average in order to avoid additional layoffs.  As an investor that is an immediate savings to you in securing new hires.

As with any investments, there are risks, namely making sure your hires are solid and meet the skills you require.  A bad hire or an under-achieving hire can be costly in salary, training and lost productivity.  That is why a solid recruiting partner, like Paladin, not only helps make strong investments in your human capital, but we also share in the coaching, training and ongoing assessment in your potential growth and challenges.

Any investor who ignores their human capital portfolio is destined to see losses.  Those who focus on hitting now while the costs are down and the resources are huge have a tremendous opportunity of significant growth and longterm security.  Just a thought for you investors to ponder.