Looking for Qualified Marketing Talent? Here’s What You Need to Know

The most valuable asset to any business is its people. This is true whether you’re an entrepreneur building out your initial team or you’re working for an established business.

While everyone is navigating an uncertain geo-political climate and overt excitement for AI technology, one thing rings true for all businesses:

Companies will continue to attract and retain skilled talent.

Here are just a few interesting trends:

1. Boomers are retiring — leaving a gap in the jobs they held and a skills gap in the talent required to fill them.
   

2. The skills gap is shifting. Less people are learning the trades we need, like health care professionals and construction. Then there’s job automation with AI tech that’s out-pacing traditional education options.
   

3. Traditional schools are failing our youth. With The Department of Education and unqualified “educators” focused on the wrong metrics, we’ve become a society in which “passing tests” is more important than building critical thinking skills.
   

4. Women continue to bear the brunt of unpaid caretaking responsibilities — to the tune of an estimated $10.9 trillion annually, so flexibility is no longer an option; it’s a requirement.

While the points above apply to the American workforce at large, let’s get more granular on why quality marketing talent is elusive, too.

Where are all the good marketers at?

It’s a valid question and one I’ve observed for several years now. Whether building out the core marketing team at my last senior-level position or helping clients fill current marketing vacancies, the pandemic has only solidified the following for me:

• If marketers feel appreciated, they aren’t looking.
  

• If they are looking (and they are good), they‘re entertaining multiple offers.
  

• They are simply too green (i.e. young and/or naive) and don’t have the necessary exposure and experience to fill some of the ridiculous marketing job expectations.

No one with 3-5 years of professional experience can be an “expert” across all key marketing channels.

Many marketers aren’t looking for a “traditional” 9-5.

There’s another compelling reason why it’s sometimes hard to find good marketing talent — they simply aren’t looking for a traditional, full-time W-2 position.

Many experienced marketers who have broad knowledge, deep expertise and a strategic mindset have opted to consult so they can do what they love and benefit from the flexibility and control over their own time. The option to select culture-fit clients, workload and the type of projects is an added bonus.

What can you do to find good marketing talent?

Here are some considerations if you want to add marketing talent to your team, even if some of this is not what you want to hear.

1. No one is going to care more about your business than you. If you’re the business owner, you must recognize that a job is just that—a job. Team members who are financially tied to the company’s success will also care, which is why equity compensation is a valuable tool to attract and retain experienced talent.
   

2. Next, decide if you need a strategist, an executor or a blend of both. A strategist will assess all your marketing activity and determine the appropriate programs, engines and campaigns, and what it will take to implement them. An executor will take direction from a strategist and do the work to get projects to market. (Unicorns who do both are hard to find.)
   

3. Right-size your budget expectations. While marketing unicorns do exist, they are either unaware of their unique-ness or too humble to boast about their own talents. One of the best resources I’ve found for market value of different roles is the Salary Guide from the well-known recruiting company Robert Half.

Things change quickly these days. If you’re stuck or need some strategic guidance, let me know.

~H