New employment figures within the direct marketing industry give one more reason why companies should continue to keep the recovery champagne on ice. According to the latest quarterly employment report from Bernhart Associates Executive Search, companies are becoming slightly more cautious about hiring.
During the upcoming quarter, 39% of respondents anticipate adding staff, compared with 43% that planned to do so in the second quarter. And 23% currently have hiring freeze in place, up slightly from 20% last quarter. Twice as many respondents anticipate layoffs during the third quarter – 6% -- as did in the second quarter.
Most of the new hires are for pre-existing positions, according to Jerry Bernhart, the company’s principal.
Not all aspects of the market are soft: There continues to be a demand for analysts, and lower-level online marketing positions, including search engine marketing and search engine optimization managers, affiliate and relationship managers and e-mail marketing managers, as well as media buyers.
There also may be some good news in store for the business-to-business community. This side of the direct marketing community is seeing more hires, and fewer instances of layoffs and hiring freezes than its consumer-focused counterpart.
“Employment has always been a lagging indicator, lagging the general economy. When gross domestic product goes up, it goes up,” Bernhart told Direct Newsline. “The economy softened in the second quarter, and lo and behold here our figures are, going in the same direction.”
According to Bernhart, the recovery is has been two steps forward and one step back. “At the end of last year, during the first half of this year, it had been moving forward on all [hiring] indicators. Now we are taking a step back. Not a dramatic step, but the indicators are weakening.”
The current numbers are still better than they were a year ago. In the survey conducted just before the third quarter of 2009, only 20% of marketers indicated they’d be adding staff – roughly half the number planning to do so currently. Another 30% anticipated a hiring freeze, compared with 23% now. The number foreseeing layoffs was more or less the same – 8% then, compared with 6%.
A total of 417 organizations responded to the employment-trends survey between June 29 and July 12. Companies interested in participating in the Bernhart Associates Quarterly Digital and Direct Marketing Employment Report should send an email to survey@bernhart.com with "Opt-In" in the subject line, or they can sign up directly on the Bernhart Associates' website.
