Marc de Torquat, co-founder of Shefferd consulting firm, shares his insights on the recovery of business activity.
“Over the past few months, we have witnessed strong economic recovery, with projected growth of 6.25% in France for 2021. This recovery is even more pronounced in the communications agency sector. Major groups are now displaying double-digit growth in the third quarter. Omnicom reported 11.5%, Publicis indicated growth of 11.2%, while Havas reached 17.8%.
This economic situation has, of course, a significant impact on recruitment. On the agency side, we have observed extremely strong recruitment demand with a very tight timeline. In October, we conducted a Shefferd study, carried out in partnership with Stratégies, which shows that 95% of agencies have hired since the first lockdown in March 2020 across commercial, creative, strategic planning, and digital roles. The only agencies that have not recruited are those with fewer than 10 employees.
Adding to this trend is a high turnover rate. The desire for professional change is particularly pronounced in the aftermath of the crisis. Many are expressing a wish to join the advertiser side, while others are making radical career changes.
On the advertiser side, we see the same pattern, particularly in digital roles, which are the most sought-after functions across all sectors.
Another effect of Covid is a talent migration phenomenon among communications, marketing, and digital professionals who have relocated to regions better suited to their personal lifestyle aspirations. Lyon, Marseille, Bordeaux, and Nantes are the most popular cities.
Consequences: We are witnessing a significant talent shortage. Currently, there are more job openings than candidates. To cope, recruiters must be creative and make more concessions: remote work with candidates living in other regions and salary increases – see Shefferd Stratégies study – we’ll discuss this further next month!
We have moved from a period where the company chose the candidate, to a period where the candidate chooses their company.”