The hiring blitz is on! Requisitions are streaming in, especially for a select roster of roles. Demand is booming for candidates with highly desirable skills and experience in these specialties. Let’s take a sneak peek behind the scenes at Creative Circle to see what clients have been seeking over the last several months.
As you go through this list, you may be wondering: Does Creative Circle work in these fields? Yes! The firm serves clients that require digital- and marketing- oriented talent and has a deep pool of candidates with just the right expertise to fill those much-needed spots stat. And it welcomes more — more company clients and more job seekers — to come onboard.
Here are eight of the roles rising in demand over the past few months:
Project Manager
In the classic TV series “Mission Impossible,” Mr. Phelps handpicked and directed a team of secret agents. He served as the captain, the main touchpoint, and chief troubleshooter. Minus the daredevil feats, a project manager does the same. This leader controls the mission at hand, converting the potentially impossible into the feasible and successful.
Proactive and positive, a project manager maintains a can-do pose. Clear-sighted and well organized, this person oversees the flow of work from cradle to grave and ensures the project adheres to the assigned budget and timeframe. Calling upon a mix of hard and soft skills, this leader requires acumen in dealing with commercial and people issues.
As the pace of economic activity continues to rise, so does the need for this job. “Project management has always been an important function in business, and it’s only getting more important as time goes by,” reads a blog post from Northeastern University.
A snapshot of functions:
- Manage interdisciplinary teams of participants, e.g., brand managers, designers, copywriters.
- Evolve concepts into clear sets of deliverables in conjunction with stakeholders, budget, and time parameters.
- Keep workflow on track by using industry software tools and task lists; track and resolve issues and conflicts; lead meetings; prepare and circulate status reports and notes.
- Allocate resources, as needed, in coordination with producers in prioritizing projects.
- Oversee each phase of approval process, including concepts, layouts, and finals.
Social Media & Content Marketing Managers
Hot off the press! In June 2021, “digital marketing and social media jobs are trending on LinkedIn.” In this post on “Marketing’s Evolution: A Look at the Jobs and Training Skills in Highest Demand,” social media appears twice. It’s in the top three for the fastest growing occupations. And it’s in the same position for the most in-demand. In short, social media marketing ranks as “essential.” Content marketing sits in the number two slot among the fastest-growing skills.
Social media managers are whizzes on the online platforms of our lives. They develop marketing plans and programs for these channels for brands and products, including the needed promotional support. Their objective: grow market share.
Content marketing managers bridge the worlds of marketing and messaging. They develop “shareable” content and make the best use of it by distributing it effectively; then they measure and optimize the results. Their objective: enhance web traffic and build brand awareness. For more, see “Life as a Content Marketing Manager: 6 Skills to Have and Job Outlook.” Spoiler: the “market is wide open, and opportunities are out there for the taking” for content marketers.
These roles typically:
- Plan/lead social and content strategy, roadmaps, and content calendars; oversee/compose messaging; manage day-to-day content creation, editing, promotion, and report on results.
- Spearhead brand events/campaigns on social and firm channels — concepts, creative executions.
- Secure influencer participation while delivering results for marketing initiatives.
- Grow social followers for assigned categories on a range of relevant platforms.
- Curate content assets from sources, e.g., paid media campaigns, in-house creative.
Search Engine Marketer
Demand for search engine marketing (SEM) is not just big, it’s huge. Think about it. Where do you go for information about products, services, most anything? The internet. For organizations, the worldwide web is their oxygen. It’s their public-facing platform for conducting business. But with so many entities competing for prime space, grabbing a search engine’s attention is a make-or-break proposition. This is where SEM comes in. Specialists use search engine optimization (SEO) as a prime tool to move assets to the front of the pack. Where would you rather be? On page 15 of a Google search or the first? Search engine marketers are masters of visibility. That translates into brand recognition and potentially sales.
All told, SEM is on a growth spurt. Demand for talent is outpacing supply. As a baseline, the Bureau of Labor Statistics projects the need “for advertising and marketing managers is expected to grow by 10 percent by 2030.” Career Karma suggests “the job outlook for SEO experts may be higher [than advertising and marketing], as roles in digital marketing continue to become more common.”
SEM marketers typically:
- Create, implement, track, analyze, and optimize paid search campaigns on various search engines (e.g., Google AdWords and Bing) and bid management platforms.
- Develop and employ successful bidding strategies and effective keyword management to achieve target acquisition and efficiency metrics.
- Generate performance reports; recognize and troubleshoot data anomalies.
- Develop test design roadmaps, planning initiatives, and business opportunities.
- Communicate key metrics, goal attainment, and optimization possibilities and forecasts.
Paid Search Marketing Professional
Businesses rely on two masters of the search function. The search engine marketer (see above) uses search engine optimization (SEO) to enhance a company’s results and rankings. The other, the paid search specialist, works in the realm of pay-per-click (PPC) marketing. This is where dollars drive decisions and results follow. This marketing resource is research-oriented, analytical, and has sharp judgment. He/she also has the ability to pivot quickly to shift strategy and tactics to derive the best outcomes.
Demand in the marketplace is super strong. “Marketing by the Numbers: A Day in the Life of a Paid Search Specialist” notes that there were about 3,000 positions open for this specialty in the U.S. in March 2021. Another post on “5 great reasons to work in PPC” promotes the advantages of working in this space. This role is data-packed, with lots to analyze and address how best to use. It’s also high-visibility, high-impact,. Add high in the number of functions too; this job may entail ecommerce management, strategic planning, lead generation, and perhaps even copywriting.
A paid search marketer is tasked to:
- Develop and execute paid search campaigns, e.g., Google and Facebook Ads.
- Handle daily campaigns; track, manage, and optimize goals and return on ad spend.
- Report on data and results; advise on best practices for paid search initiatives.
- Create and implement testing across campaigns and work with third-party vendors.
- Manage placement of campaign assets on websites and landing pages.
Email Marketing Manager
The global email marketing market is forecast to explode. It should more than double by 2027 to reach $17.9 billion (that’s a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 13.3%).
There are many reasons why. For businesses, email is a powerful tool. According to Tech Crunch, it has “the highest return on investment of any other marketing channel, earning users $40 for every $1 spent!
To produce these results, the strategy must be right on and the messages compelling. Email recipients need to be motivated to open these items, give the content more than a quick glance, and digest the information. The ideas conveyed should include a clear call to action and winning proposition. Repetition comes into play here through staged email campaigns.
Welcome to the world of an email marketing manager. This pro is a strategic thinker and tactical doer. He or she has a firm grasp of marketing automation software, optimization best practices, key performance indicators (KPIs) and multivariate testing, and possesses strong communication skills.
An email marketing manager will:
- Liaise with key stakeholders to create and execute campaigns for lead generation.
- Develop and review strategy and content with requesters for engagement streams.
- Direct daily email operations, design and build email nurture streams, and launch calendars.
- Handle database segmentation, system testing, and A/B test emails.
- Create/manage distribution lists to enable consistent and cohesive messaging and to optimize inventory
- Develop and maintain KPI reporting to monitor and improve performance of the channel
Ecommerce Specialist
Those in this role are part of a “booming industry” with an outsized global outlook. For more than a decade, the ecommerce sector has experienced double-digit growth year over year. These gains reflect an uptick in the value of sales, which reached $3.535 trillion in 2019. As COVID-19 took root and lockdowns occurred throughout the world, ecommerce thrived. This mode of purchasing is likely to continue beyond the pandemic for years to come.
A member of the marketing team, the ecommerce specialist keeps a steady eye on the online space. What are the trends? What works, what doesn’t, and why? This professional uses these insights to plot the paths for new products and promotions to dovetail with consumer wants and needs. As such, this resource may help develop, manage and maintain a company’s online store as well as review business analytics to devise marketing strategies to meet performance goals. The specialist must use product management information software and content management systems and possess a keen understanding of how content and messaging guide performance-driven marketing and brand.
Representative responsibilities:
- Oversee new product launches and corresponding marketing/merchandising initiatives.
- Monitor site changes, make recommendations to curate assortment, update variations, and use content/site experience to drive sales.
- Own ecommerce content including descriptions, bullets, and images.
- Address internal marketing and sales requests for digital assets.
- Manage changes and improvements to products’ webpages.
Marketing Automation Manager
Marketing automation is a hot trend with a broad horizon. Businesses the world over are turning to software to power their marketing workflows. Repetitive tasks are prime targets; email marketing and social media postings head the list. Reasons are aplenty for companies to go this route. Not only do they gain efficiencies, but they also create opportunities to engage more closely with their constituencies. The software they use keys messages to customers, which creates a more personalized experience.
The expert at the hub of this is the marketing automation manager.
Demand for marketing automation is rapidly rising. In 2021, “more than 51% of companies are using” it. “The position of marketing automation manager and specialist is sought after as the martech industry continues to grow exponentially,” says Toolbox.
Those who work in this capacity are at the crossroads of technology and marketing. They have deep knowledge of and hands-on experience in the applicable software. They also have the wherewithal to apply it to a range of activities; these include lead generation, measurement metrics, and marketing campaigns. To do all of this effectively, they also understand the creative aspects of ideation and messaging.
It’s incumbent on this professional to:
- Work with stakeholders to develop and optimize marketing campaign strategy/tactics.
- Create and apply marketing campaign assets in partnership with team members.
- Synthesize data and reporting to enhance digital and content marketing strategy.
- Strategize and assess marketing automation process improvements.
PR/Media/Communications Professionals
Get the word out about a company, brand, product, and service. Strengthen awareness, reputation, perception, and eminence. These are the objectives of those in public relations (PR), media, and communications. And these career paths are pointing upward, especially on the front end of this grouping. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects growth in employment for PR specialists at a rate of 7% from 2019 to 2029. That’s “faster than the average for all occupations.” Why? “The need for organizations to maintain their public image will continue to drive employment growth.”
Those in the media and communications space also are on a positive track. Career prospects, although not as buoyant as PR, are nonetheless on the upswing. The same government source weighs in on this issue. “Employment in media and communication occupations is projected to grow 4%” over the same time period. This rate is “about as fast as the average for all occupations and will result in about 46,200 new jobs.” What are the factors at play here? Demand “is expected to arise from the need to create, edit, translate, and disseminate information through of variety of different platforms.”
PR/media/communications pros attend to the following:
- Develop and implement PR strategies to support company/brand goals and initiatives.
- Guide PR agency, if used, or research, write, and distribute communications to targeted media.
- Pitch national, regional, and local media across broadcast, print, and online channels.
- Conduct media outreach to network with key contacts; build and strengthen relationships.
- Source topics to talk about publicly; monitor media channels for placement opportunities.
- Create wide-ranging content on behalf of organization, e.g., media releases, blog posts.
- Monitor daily media; facilitate media queries; arrange media briefings; support events.
Company and Candidate Alert!
Keep in mind that positions in these fields are flexible in their staffing arrangements. They may be freelance, or they can be freelance-to-permanent, temporary, or permanent. Check out options, tips, and cases in point in “Formula for Two-Way Hiring Success: Try Before You Buy!” And one parting thought: best of luck to employers and job seekers in these high-demand fields and all others.
About the author
You name it, she covers it. That’s the can-do attitude Sherry M. Adler brings to the craft of writing. A polished marketing and communications professional, she has a passion for learning and the world at large. She uses it plus the power of words to inform and energize stakeholders of all kinds. And to show how all of this can make a difference, she calls her business WriteResults NY, LLC.
