| '2005 was our busiest year in recruitment' says Personnel Resources' Julian Hadfield.
'On average, we noticed an increase of 5-10% more vacancies than in 2004 across all specialisations from qualitative to
quantitative, DP, operations, agency and client side.' Hadfield says a number of sectors which were quiet in the 'post 9/11' period
have bounced back, in particular Operations and Business Information / Analysis.
Perhaps the biggest feature of the year was the
rapid rise in demand for online researchers, and with it panel managers and builders, plus researchers taking more of a 'project
management' role requiring only a subset of the traditional range of RE skills, but also some operations and field nous. 'Panel
management roles are still fairly unique' says PriceJamieson's Nicky Geen, 'and there's generally one of these in each agency, so
they're quite difficult to find people for - it's such a new role that there aren't many panel developers around.'
'Jobs in
business development and for people with strong client management and development skills are again prominent' says RP Cushing's
Sinead Hasson, 'but even more so is the need for people with c.3 years' experience able to manage projects'. Ads for field and DP
roles were abundant in the second half, as were AD positions, while the number of ads for RE and JRE positions slackened off.
December, normally a quiet month, saw frantic activity, with lots of companies trying to recruit right up to Christmas. January saw
job numbers (and audience figures) go through the roof –with around 30% more ads than even the busiest months of 2005.
| Mean salaries for UK vacancies on MrWeb in £ sterling |
| Base (shown in brackets for each): all jobs advertised with
salaries or salary ranges |
| Level/function |
July-Dec 05 |
(Oct-Dec 05) |
Jan-Jun 05 |
2004 |
2003 |
2002 |
| Field (all levels)* |
26,300 (208) |
25,500 (93) |
24,800 (156) |
26,300 (337) |
25,500 (131) |
24,100 (90) |
| DP (all levels)* |
28,100 (245) |
28,200 (115) |
26,200 (134) |
27,200 (220) |
26,200 (130) |
26,100 (112) |
| Entry Level RE |
20,500 (136) |
20,400 (60) |
20,000 (183) |
19,600 (219) |
19100 (112) |
18,800 (75) |
| RE |
23,500 (398) |
23,500 (175) |
23,800 (516) |
23,000 (816) |
22,800 (570) |
23,100 (326) |
| SRE |
28,400 (785) |
28,300 (341) |
28,300 (803) |
27,900 (1125) |
27,600 (750) |
28,200 (556) |
| Project Manager |
36,300 (550) |
35,500 (275) |
34,600 (474) |
33,200 (758) |
33,200 (758) |
31,300 (286) |
| Research Manager |
40,400 (203) |
35,500 (275) |
37,800 (186) |
37,400 (379) |
38,400 (337) |
35,500 (309) |
| AD |
46,500 (447) |
46,100 (198) |
43,700 (345) |
41,500 (624) |
40,400 (403) |
40,300 (313) |
| Director |
61,400 (227) |
61,000 (105) |
60,600 (232) |
59,300 (439) |
55,400 (313) |
54,700 (172) |
| Analyst* |
31,500 (267) |
31,100 (115) |
29,100 (278) |
28,900 (311) |
27,400 (142) |
n/a |
| TOTAL |
34,000 (3644) |
33,800 (1639) |
32,200 (3483) |
|
|
|
| *These categories include jobs at a wide range of levels of seniority |
Salary trends are difficult to gauge. We have noticed a huge increase in salaries for those with 4-8 years' experience, our 'Project Manager' and 'AD' levels, but this partly reflects the new skills being demanded of such individuals - a little earlier in their careers than was the case in the '90s - business development being the most obvious. Some commentators interpret this as agencies asking ADs to do the work Directors used to do in order to save money, while others see it as a way of keeping ADs happy without making the leap of promoting them to Director level.
 Client-side RM salaries have seen more fluctuation than their agency counterparts in the last two to three years, but have now reached their highest level to date, topping the £40k mark for the first time. The current mean salary for an agency-side Project Manager (c.4 to 6 years' experience) is about the same as that for an AD (c.7 to 9 years) when we began measuring mean salaries in 2000.
Salaries for the top jobs - Director and above - are fairly buoyant, but have tailed off from a peak of £62,500 in the summer months of last year. Of course, the mean figure can reflect the balance of job types being advertised as well as mean salaries for equivalent jobs. For example, the high of last summer was the result mainly of a lot of ads for very high level positions, including CEO and MD roles. Salaries for REs and SREs remain at roughly the same level as the previous year and, in the case of SREs, roughly the same level as the previous five years, while entry level salary offers continue to creep slowly upwards.
Outside of the 4-8 years range, it’s the new and resurgent roles that are soaking up most of the extra money - for example, Manstonmoore's Gina Moore says there are some good salaries for the 'hybrid' research and Ops positions, and Nicky Geen of PriceJamieson says salary levels for analytical and advanced methods roles seem to have increased along with the general demand for these skills.
Other categories in the table represent jobs that span widely differing levels. Changes in mean salaries, therefore, tend to be indicative more of the level of the specific roles advertised than of any underlying trend. The rise in the mean salary for 'other' jobs, for example, reflects a fair number of recent adverts for high-level statisticians. Pure business development roles are not included in the table but we are now monitoring them separately and will bring you a breakdown of statistics soon. To sum up, rises here and there are not matched by a general willingness to pay more, despite the ongoing (permanent?) candidate shortage. 'Candidate expectations are beginning to rise' says Sinead Hasson, 'and I hope the market adapts to this.' Smaller agencies, she notes, are always more flexible on this point.
SRE and Research/Project Manager candidates with 2-4 years' experience remain, by common consent, the most in-demand, with an honourable and more novel mention for DP experts and scriptwriters at roughly the same level of experience. Online project managers with any experience, being as yet few and far between, are also in demand.
Senior quallies and more senior experts in advanced methods are also in demand. 'More senior technical and operations roles are often very exacting in their requirements' says Julian Hadfield. The perception is that such individuals are widely available, but Hadfield says this is not always proved to be the case.
 |
|
In sector terms, both Damon Thomas and Sinead Hasson point to a strong demand for media
researchers, while we have also noticed an upturn in healthcare roles. 'Agencies are looking to increase their business within the
Healthcare sector' says PSD's Emily Stamp, 'and candidates with expertise in this area are in high demand yet few and far between.'
Stamp also notes the 'ideal position' of FMCG client side researchers: 'Coming from outside the FMCG sector and wanting to get in can be a challenge - but FMCG experience appears to cross industry sectors, and for example their experience is seen as valuable in consumer technology sectors.' |
The continuing shortage of good candidates with a few years' experience is having some effect on employer attitudes forcing them to consider a broader range of candidates - as reported at last in 2005 after a fairly stubborn refusal up to that point. From the operations perspective, Gina Moore says employers are 'at last looking at good A level and graduate candidates to fill the holes, or taking on people who are desperate to get into 'new technologies' and have transferable skills in other disciplines.' So, more jobs, more recruitment consultants, a wider range of skills - the whole picture suggests there will be more specialisation within MR recruitment and more need than ever for candidates to find a good match when getting help with their career, rather than just 'settling for a company or individual that might push them in the wrong direction', as Sinead Hasson puts it. In terms of candidate shortages, she believes there can only be more around the corner, with few graduates 'coached, educated and lured into MR'. If you are an experienced UK-based researcher looking for a new job, there are masses of opportunities - see our jobs page and search or follow further links for the main MrWeb options.
Contact details for recruiters mentioned in the article are at: www.mrweb.com/recruiters
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