Hays Sales & Marketing - July 2010
Hotspots
Optimism is high and with revenue rebounding, firms are confidently investing in sales and marketing talent. This is happening across many industries and organisational sizes, with a common focus on professionals that will have an immediate and measurable impact on the firm's bottom line. As a result, front line Sales Executives with a solid track record and good industry contacts continue to be in high demand.
Across the IT&T, Services, Retail, Logistics and FMCG arena, there is a lot of movement in the sub $200,000 salary market. Hiring dynamics in this segment have been dominated by the need to secure candidates with specific experience in an industry, product group or geographic market. This conservative nature will not last as the market returns to a talent short environment.
The other key market that has defied global trends has been FMCG. Here companies are investing heavily in their brand and product management ranks as a result of increased demand in marketing for greater volume of products as well as better quality. This is set to continue for the remainder of 2010.
The coming quarter
There will continued investment in Sales Executives, Brand Management and Communications Executives.
People management skills will become a primary requirement as teams continue to expand.
Executive recruitment
The hybrid Sales Director and General Manager seems to be a favoured solution for cost conscious organisations.
There is still demand for Senior Sales Executives who have the aptitude to play a P&L role, particularly in IT and retail. There is however an indication this will be phased out as organisations are investing in the independent functional roles.
Employer trends
Conditioned by their experiences pre-GFC, employers are anticipating the challenges associated with a talent short market. Many are establishing strong supplier relationships with trusted recruiting firms and looking at processes that can improve the efficiency of recruitment practices.
Candidate trends
The professional market is definitely on the move. Individuals are considering multiple locations throughout Asia Pacific, plus movement between industries. The transition between industries has been successful for Communications Specialists while the Sales Executive is still finding the market less supportive. As the talent pool continues to tighten in 2010 corporations will adjust their acceptance of broader candidate backgrounds.
