Recruitment remains a sensitive issue. Agencies face difficulties in recruiting sales profiles (for 73.7% of them). This is a new trend. Digital profiles have been relegated to second place among populations considered difficult to recruit for 52.6% of agencies. These profiles remain just as hard to access as they are highly sought after and even particularly over-solicited for certain expertises (in Social Media, Data or Tech for example). Then come creatives (20%), strategic planning (15%) and production (12%).
Compensation: a scapegoat?
Some difficulties are linked to a talent shortage, but 62% of agencies consider salary as the main cause of recruitment difficulties. According to some agencies, candidates have salary expectations that are disconnected from market rates. For others, they simply struggle to align their salary policy with the market, especially when competing against the compensation offered by advertisers, increasingly formidable competitors. According to Alexandre Vernier, founder of the ODW agency, advertisers generally offer salaries 30% higher than those in agencies. Agencies therefore struggle to use compensation as a lever to attract future talent.
The rise of freelancing
Agencies also point to market pressure, which translates into a scarcity of profiles with competency levels suited to the position. Today, agencies lament the lack of candidates for specialized roles. But then, where have all these candidates gone?
Ultimately, we face recruitment difficulties across all agency roles, which is quite new. Indeed, for a long time, creatives (Art Directors and Copywriters) remained in agencies to have the opportunity to express their creativity across different sectors and on highly varied challenges. This remains true, but a broader trend has also accelerated since Covid: Freelancing.
Indeed, what could be simpler for these professionals seeking more flexibility, adaptability and purpose than to be the master of their own destiny and choices. This increasingly common status has multiplied among creatives and strategic planners, and we also observe that it is spreading to other expertise areas: Social Media Manager, Consulting…
These professionals who have become freelancers are not necessarily ready to return to a more traditional status and work for a single agency.