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Some business gurus can't stop shouting that newfangled marketing jobs are where it's at -- whether they're in interactive media or the marketing departments of high tech firms.
Other observers whisper to young workers that companies in old-line industries -- the ones that make stuff and provide services your great-grandparents would have understood -- still produce the bulk of marketing jobs in America.
The good news is that all these pundits have it right. With many sectors of both the new economy and basic industries in growth mode, marketing folks are among the most employable business professionals in the 2006 labor market.
And with specialized niches of marketing proliferating, related consulting businesses are booming. Employment in marketing consulting services firms has virtually doubled over the past decade, from 58,900 in 1996 to 116,700 in 2005, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data on professional and business services.
Still, some marketing channels have seen better days. Email marketing, for example, has cut into direct mail, reducing employment by more than 18 percent, from 85,100 to 69,200 over the same period. Overall, email and other forms of online marketing are a powerful driver of jobs growth in a rapidly changing economy.
Online Marketing Shifts into High Gear
"The online space is exploding," says Adam Hanft, a consumer marketing consultant in New York City. "There are real shortages of online designers, information architects, online producers, and on the media side, buyers, planners and strategists.
The Web designer, a dot-bomb victim if ever there was one, is less in demand than the marketing whiz with the skill set to drive the numbers.
"It's hard to find people who can increase conversions and do Web analytics," says Alan Rabinowitz, CEO of SEO Image, a New York City search-engine optimization firm that helps clients improve their positioning in Internet search results. For example, companies are snapping up link strategists and pay-per-click campaign managers, Rabinowitz says.
Computer firms are facing up to the need for dedicated marketers. "Hardware and software makers need product managers and competitive analysis people with solid marketing skill sets, versus the engineering skill set that often filled the marketing void for these companies in years past," says Andrew Fitzpatrick, principal of Cambridge Consulting Solutions in Mill Valley, California.
Marketing types who see the big picture online are finding many opportunities. Job postings on Monster for Web marketing managers rose 53 percent in the 12 months ending April 2006, according to company data.
Signs point to a growing gap between rising demand and a stagnant supply of senior online marketers. "I currently have a VP search that's my fourth online marketing search in a year, and they get more and more difficult," says Kevin Berchelmann, president of Triangle Performance in Bellaire, Texas.
'Old Economy' Still Hires Many Marketers
But it's the old-line industries that may be opening up the most requisitions for marketing hires. "Consumer packaged goods is probably where we've seen the greatest growth," says Steve Dempsey, vice president of recruitment and client services at staffing firm Aquent Marketing Services in Boston.
I continue to see basic, old economy companies looking for marketing people, says Robert Waite, CEO of Metal Sales Manufacturing Corp. in Sellersburg, Indiana. Young people are realizing, ‘I may have to become a marketing professional for a drywall manufacturer.'
Firms in traditional businesses are competing with online marketers for the brainiac set. "Market research within all companies -- even those not traditionally known for research -- is huge," says Dempsey. "We've also seen a resurgence for brand managers and interactive marketers. Companies are investing in these high-demand areas.
The numbers are bullish for left-brained marketers. Monster job postings for marketing analysts were up 60 percent in April 2006 compared to a year earlier.
Which marketers really have their pick of the jobs? The ones who know how to bring together a complex marketing effort that spans old and new economies. "There's a big opportunity for people who are skilled at integration across multiple channels, like online and point-of-sale," says Hanft.
"With demand for their services rising, job-seeking marketers may even find that they're off the market sooner than expected. We used to work with candidates for about 60 days to place them, says Dempsey. Now, typically within three weeks a candidate has several offers.
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