Five candidates for every advertising and marketing vacancy
Advertising and marketing jobs have been the hardest hit professional sector in Australia, with five times as many unemployed execs as there are advertised vacancies, according to a survey published today. Just three months before that ratio had been closer to two to one.
According to the Clarius Skills Index, which covers the first quarter of 2009, there were 3,500 unemployed sales, advertising and marketing professionals and only 720 unfilled positions. In the previous quarter there had been 2000 unemployed in the sector and 990 unfilled positions.
The study – commissioned by Clarius – is carried out on a quarterly basis by KPMG. By comparing the number of job seekers to the number of unfilled vacancies, the study produces an index. A scpre of 100 shows equal supply and demand. In the advertising and marketign sector, the index now stands at 97.9, the worst for job seekers in nearly five years.
According to Kym Quick, executive GM of search firm Lloyd Morgan, the results suggest advertising and marketing is the hardest hit of all sectors. However, demand for FMCG marketers is holding up while finance is the worst hit.
She said: “Management level roles continue to be slashed and this is by far the area feeling the most pain in the current market – particularly at the $200K plus level.”
And she warned: “Any activity that is occurring in this space is largely the result of organisational restructure and re-engineering rather than the creation or, in some instances, the replacement of existing roles at a senior level.
“Although we are continuing to see demand for revenue generating sales staff, this is also softening as organisations consolidate and realign their sales functions. The challenge here for companies is getting the balance between cutting costs at the risk of future growth right.”
Meanwhile sales people are being increasingly asked to put their money where there mouth is and work mainly for commission, she said.
“A trend emerging is the in-demand sales employees who have demonstrated experience and success are tending to stay with current employers rather than risk moving to a new organisation regardless of what is on offer. The exclusion to this trend is those being asked by employers to work for less base salary putting more of their fixed remuneration, sometimes all of it, at risk. Staff in these scenarios are actively seeking to move but this does not lead to increased demand as there are no new jobs being created, just those being refilled.”
And she warned that canddiates desperate for jobs are driving down salaries by underbidding. She said: “Wages and salaries in this space are continuing to show signs of downward pressure as the fewer number of roles tends to increase competition amongst the available talent. Interestingly it appears to be the candidates putting the pressure on as opposed to employers consciously dropping salary ranges. With the intense competition for each role, highly qualified candidates are trying to make themselves more appealing by proposing lower salary expectations.”
Tim Burrowes founded Mumbrella in 2008. He worked on Mumbrella until 2021. At various points he was editor, content director and editor-at-large. He returned to Mumbrella as Publisher in January 2025
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That’s really good news & seeing that Rudd is taking us all into a 58 billion debt very soon, the ratio will increase to ten to one.
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A strong point IndianCurry!
We should sit on the money, not spend anything, have cashflow pouring out of the economy, resulting in less money to pay wages, increased layoffs and sackings, less money in people’s pockets to spend to keep the economy turning, which results in … cashflow pouring out of the economy … (see above).
How easy it would have been to take the populist “no debt” route. How ballsy to say we have to take the hugely unpopular decision to go into debt. (Ever taken out a mortgage to buy a house – if you did I bet you 100-1 you ended up in front!).
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A very strong rhetoric but unfortunately a sore miss for the trees in the quest for the forest. You need to delve a little more into the economy to read between the lines.
Not that I disliked the stmulus package of the Laour, but nothing is going to remain hunky dory in your idealistic world. Just catch up on today’s The Australian on how your friends are going to divide your nice little super to wipe that smugness from your face.
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How remiss of me. I forgot to consult that bastion of economic analysis – today’s Australian I wasn’t aware that John Maynard Keynes was writing a column for them.
The ratio may well rise to 10-to-1 as part of the global contraction, but with the injections of capital and cash into the domestic economy, you can be sure that it will reduce quicker (or maybe not even get to that) than if we don’t collectively ‘prime the pump’. Far from idealism, this is pragmatism – even if it has an element of shared pain. So what if my super takes a hit, it’s been pretty much decimated already whilst under the watch of the investors and analysts who are proponents of the strategies you seem to be espousing.
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Anonymous, unfortunately there are no proponents, but my own two bits unless you like the conspiracy theory stuff. I still stand by my statement that the nice quickie injections so magnanimously strategised by your friends look more & more suspicious like knee jerk reactions than thought out strategies to minimise the global mess in Australia.
Probably by the time your blinkers are broken you will have nothing in your super or your friends super (as in http://www.futurefund.gov.au – The $58.09 billion is from the Future Fund assets at 31 March 2009 including Telstra shares valued at $6.84 billion) to buy a pair of thongs, forget the Raybans. And I did not even reach the pain part …
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No proponents eh. Tell that to FDR, Keynes et al. Something tells me that October 29 1929 to the mid ’30s was a deeper hole than the one we find ourselves caught up in. If it worked back then, I can see no reason it won’t work now – albeit credit was plentiful back then and isn’t now.
If you don’t agree with an economic stimulus – then give it back! Or give it to me! I’m sure Tim would like it to keep Mumbrella roaring along! At least give it to someone who has some get-up-and-go, because that’s what it’s there for!
By the way, I just checked my super account. It’s had two nice rises in the past six months. Hello, they wouldn’t coincide with the stimulus payments would they?
May your life in La-la-land be prosperous. You’ll look a treat in your thongs and Raybans!
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He, wait for a few more months & keep checking unless saner heads prevail or you get some enlightenment from Yo-yo-land.
Who was it that said, wise men quote, fools repeat (Even if its a poor plagiarisation of a quote)?
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It was Samuel Palmer who is attributed with “Wise men make proverbs, but fools repeat them”. Glad to be of assistance. There is quite some difference between a proverb and a quote, and an even greater difference to documented historical facts. You know, it’s actually worth studying them – you’d be surprised what you learn. But I suppose if everyone was armed with the facts and knowledge, where would populism be?
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You can try to figure this out with a bottle of wine & your proverbs –
It is August. In a small town on the South Coast of France, holiday season is in full swing, but it is raining so there is not too much business happening. Everyone is heavily in debt. Luckily, a rich Russian tourist arrives in the foyer of the small local hotel. He asks for a room and puts a Euro100 note on the reception counter, takes a key and goes to inspect the room located up the stairs on the third floor.
The hotel owner takes the banknote in hurry and rushes to his meat supplier to whom he owes E100. The butcher takes the money and races to his wholesale supplier to pay his debt. The wholesaler rushes to the farmer to pay E100 for pigs he purchased some time ago. The farmer triumphantly gives the E100 note to a local prostitute who gave him her services on credit. The prostitute goes quickly to the hotel, as she owed the hotel for her hourly room use to entertain clients.
At that moment, the rich Russian is coming down to reception and informs the hotel owner that the proposed room is unsatisfactory and takes his E100 back and departs. There was no profit or income. But everyone no longer has any debt and the small town people look optimistically towards their future.
Can you send this to your populist friends? Maybe they might use the principle to end the Financial Crisis?
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Well done Monsiuer Cari Indien. You have written a witty little tale that has managed to run the gamut of logic from A to B without Passing Go or Collecting $200. I am glad you introduced the prostitute, as like her, your logic is … well you get the picture.
The fact is that in your scenario, the town on the South Coast of France continued to run because of debt. The hotel owed the butcher who owed the wholesaler who owed the farmer who owed the prostitute. If any one of them had NOT allowed the others to carry some debt then ALL would have had to shut down their businesses – no jobs, no incomes, unemployment, and an even deeper recession.
Along comes the the Russian with his “stimulus package” – no the E100, not his appendage. This ameliorates the debt as much needed cash is pumped (pardon the pun) back into the local economy.
Everything looks rosy – until the Russian withdraws his E100 and the prospects for this town are now looking bleaker than ever. Who is left holding the debt? The hotel owner as he is the one that broke the chain.
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