Talent and recruitment

The ‘digital skills shortage’ and ‘war for talent’ have been well explored by consultancies, comprehensively covered in the media, and felt first-hand by hiring managers trying to find the perfect person to join their team. 

Quite simply, right now there are a lot of digital jobs and not enough qualified candidates.

So when the preferred specialist knowledge and experience is out of reach, how do you identify someone with the right blend of ‘soft skills’ who could learn the technical aspects of a role?

No one can doubt the importance of enabling employees to develop themselves and learn new skills by attending relevant training sessions.

Not only does it improve productivity and encourage new ways of thinking, but it can have a positive impact on employee satisfaction as it aids career development.

However, in the day-to-day rush to get things done it’s easy to see training as a low priority.

Managers are under pressure to meet deadlines so feel they can’t afford to let staff take time out of the office for learning and development.

This is an understandable view point but one that is extremely short-sighted, as in the long term it will have a negative impact on productivity and staff retention.

So if you’re struggling to convince management of the need to allow staff time out of the office to attend training courses, here are a few arguments you can use to back up your case.

If you want to be rich then you’re better off working client-side than in an agency, according to a new survey on marketing salaries.

Across all digital industries respondents working in-house earned more than people at the same level in agencies.

For example, the average salary for junior employees was £23,310 in agencies compared to £26,161 in client-side roles.

The gap was closest at senior level with agency respondents being paid £60,830 on average compared to £61,873 on client-side, but then the difference grew to roughly £20,000 at c-level (£95,212 vs. £114,199).