What are businesses looking for when hiring for marketing roles?

The world of marketing is ever expanding, and roles are transforming to keep up with these changes. When it comes to hiring for marketing positions, there is plenty to consider. From identifying key candidate skills to your own business needs, selecting the perfect individual for these roles can be a challenge.   Salt & Shein’s…

The world of marketing is ever expanding, and roles are transforming to keep up with these changes. When it comes to hiring for marketing positions, there is plenty to consider. From identifying key candidate skills to your own business needs, selecting the perfect individual for these roles can be a challenge.
 
Salt & Shein’s marketing expert Rebecca Kemp reveals what to keep an eye out for when hiring for these roles, and the benefits of using a recruitment agency to make your decision.
 

What skills make a strong marketing professional?

Marketing is a dynamic, multi-faceted field, and is constantly changing with the emergence of new technologies and platforms. In this transformative scope it’s important to have a candidate who is readily adaptable to these changes and can stay ahead of the market, recommends Rebecca. These qualities are highly sought after by clients. “Agility is a big one, people who are able to move and respond to changing demands and circumstances of the environment.”
 
While there is a preference from clients for marketing candidates to have a formal qualification in a relevant field like business or communications, analytical soft skills such as forming insights from data and reporting are of great importance. As candidates for these roles are often navigating and managing stakeholders, excellent communication skills are a must.
 
Marketing candidates need to be able to readily adapt to new changes, and keep ahead of the curve.
 

How can clients determine what to look for when hiring for marketing roles?

 
Highlighting what skills are necessary for the needs of a business varies depending on the client’s brief.
 
As marketing covers a broad range of practices and specifications, many candidates present themselves with a vast range of different skill-sets.
 
Highlighting what skills are necessary for a position, or what may benefit the needs of a business varies depending on the client’s brief, explains Rebecca. “If they’re a services organisation, they’ll be looking for a services marketer, whereas a product-based business will have a product marketer.”
 
Furthermore, understanding the goals of your business helps in identifying what type of candidate will best suit your operation. “B2B businesses will be more focused in tailored demand lead generation, while consumer organisations will be looking for consumer campaign centric individuals.”
 
A common issue when hiring for these roles is that clients may only look for candidates within their own industry.
 
“They might be thinking, I’m in X industry, so I’ll only look in X industry,” Rebecca explains. However, there may be other unconsidered roles that could be advantageous to bring into the fold of a business, Rebecca recommends. A recruitment agency, such as Salt & Shein, can help identify business problems and select a corresponding candidate that would best fit a client’s needs. “We could be saying to them, that’s one area you could look at, but have you thought of Y and Z?”
 
Identifying the key goals for your business can help in isolating what skills are necessary for a marketing candidate.
 

Why should businesses choose Salt & Shein for recruitment?

Salt & Shein’s depth of experience sets them apart as a recruitment agency.
 
“As specialists in the marketing space and working across multiple sectors, we’re really able to identify where the parallel skill-sets are and identify the businesses that are perhaps more sophisticated than others in particular parts of marketing,” Rebecca explains. From isolating and identifying skill-sets, Salt & Shein are able to utilise the information to bring professional talent to their clients.
 
The level of service provided by Salt & Shein has built a reputation of excellence surrounding the agency, and has created a fine-tuned network in which to match candidates and clients. Maintaining these professional relationships has always been an important factor for Salt & Shein, says Rebecca. “We’d like to hope we’re building long-term relationships, so over the years we’re helping clients build their teams, and candidates build their careers.” Salt & Shein follow the journey of clients and candidates post-placement, checking in to see how they are enjoying their new careers or team members. These check-ins can be incredibly rewarding. “We have candidates that have been placed in businesses 10 years ago, and are now running those businesses, which is fantastic.”
 
Salt & Shein pride themselves on not only their placement services, but their consulting skills in order to achieve the best outcome for both client and candidate. These positive outcomes result in clients continuously returning to Salt & Shein for their recruitment needs, a testament to their experience. “People who get a call from us know it’s worth their while to get back in touch with us.”
 
For help in sourcing talented marketing professionals for your business, get in touch with the experts at Salt and Shein.

 

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