The recruiting landcape has shifted but talent still comes with big conditions
For a while, jobseekers could pretty much write their own pay cheques due to a severe shortage of talent. While agencies have taken back control recently, creatives in high demand still come with conditions, Deanne Constantine, founder of Blue Bateau, writes.
Two years ago, job seeking candidates had full swing of the market both practically and commercially. Fast forward to now and the advertising industry is making its way through a vulnerable economic market – and the hiring landscape has completely changed once again.
Despite recent redundancies in certain areas of the market, top tier creative, midweight and hard-to-reach digital talent still has the upper hand.
So, what does this mean for agencies trying to get the best talent on board, without slipping back into overpaying on salaries?
To understand where we are now, we need to look at what we’ve recently been through. In the past two years, we have experienced one of the toughest and dynamic hiring markets to date in the advertising industry.
The pandemic first threw a blanket halt on recruitment before it very quickly became one of the hottest hiring markets, putting talent in high demand and squarely in the driver’s seat. We saw the biggest peak in 2021, with lockdowns surging digital demand and pushing hiring well beyond Australian borders to cope with local resourcing needs.
If you were a candidate on the open market during this time you could take your pick or if you were approached happily in your role, you could use that offer to re-negotiate your current package.
In this hot employment climate, agencies were forced to make quick recruitment decisions and often, significantly over paying in order to win the talent, often compromising on skills and experience merely to get resources through the door.
Now that we are moving out of the pandemic, the hiring market has moved from hot to considered and pragmatic. Agencies have taken stock and reconciled both strategically and financially.
They’ve reviewed the agency model, the organisational structure, who they need leading the field, and on the field, and sadly what resources they no longer need or need to upskill. The market has and will continue to autocorrect and adjust over the next few months.
The considered and pragmatic hiring climate has also seen agencies take back financial control of salaries. Benchmarks are back in line with industry norms. And while this is good news, some would expect that agencies would again be in control of the hiring market with plenty of options to consider when recruiting for a new role.
But it’s not that simple when it comes to talent in high demand.
Agencies trying to attract the best talent while maintaining control of salary levels in an increasingly nervous economic market are now are now asking: what else do they need to do to get the best candidates possible?
They’re not quick fixes but employment flexibility, teamed with confidence in leadership, agency culture and vision seem to be the answer. We know and understand that talent want the flexibility policy to remain in contractual arrangements, and we are seeing culture drive a winning formula of balance between agencies and talent on this front.
The agencies that are fully flexible have the least vacancies because they are driving a culture – not a timesheet.
However, talent want more than just the choice of flexibility, especially in this economic climate. They want confidence in the agency offering and the individual leaders at the helm of that vision. They want to understand the model, whether it’s progressive, and whether they can grow and have opportunities to upskill.
They want confidence in the creative product, to know that an agency truly wants to make great work and raise the industry standard versus an agency that will take the path of least resistance to appease the client.
Overall, top-tier talent is primed more than ever to make great work, and they will compare and judge the market accordingly in terms of their next move. Agencies leaning into a creative vision with the right leaders in place to execute that vision, are the ones most in demand.
These are the agencies that can attract the best talent, and have the opportunity to negotiate with them.
Agencies not investing in these vital areas – those that are talking the talk but not walking the walk – could find themselves in a position where overpaying for talent is their only option, despite the dampening economic conditions.
And the effects could be damaging for both individual agencies, and the broader industry.
Deanne Constantine is the founder of global connections company Blue Bateau.
