26% of Marketers Say Hiring Talent is a Problem – Marketing Executive Search Firms Can Help
Hiring Marketing Talent: 26% of Marketers Say It’s a Problem… A Marketing Executive Search Firm Can Help
With each new marketing channel and tool, marketing analytics becomes a bit more layered and complicated. Understanding analytics and how to apply them to your future marketing campaigns is essential to your company’s growth. But it turns out that not all companies are able to find the help that they need. Marketing executive search firms can help to identify this unique marketing skill-set.
Marketing Sherpa’s 2013 Marketing Analytics Benchmark Report asked marketers a series of questions including: What were your organization’s most frustrating challenges with marketing analytics in 2012?
Of all of the options 26 percent of those surveyed said that hiring data-savvy marketing talent was the most frustrating. And we understand that pain! Marketing requires a special set of skills. There are the technical skills that go into understanding and using analytics tool, and there is also the creative side. Getting the right combination of those skills in the same person – for the right price – can be difficult.
If you agree with the marketers in Marketing Sherpa’s survey, there’s something you can do about it. Working with a marketing executive search firm, rather than going it alone, can help you easily find the contract, direct-hire or contract-to-hire expertise that you need at your company.
A marketing executive search firm can help you screen through candidates quickly to find out if they have the important data and analytics skills that you need. They can even find a contract-to-hire marketers so you can “test drive” their skills.
Don’t let this be your problem too! Using a recruiter for hiring marketing talent and get what you need.
Marketing Executive Search Firm Tips: What You Need to Know When Looking for a Marketing Leader
What You Need to Know When Looking for a Marketing Leader – Tips from a Marketing Executive Search Firm
Adding new employees to your company is always a challenge – but it can be especially difficult to find the right marketing leader. Marketing leaders can make or break your company’s future. Their leadership directly influences every other part of your business. So you need to be sure you’re making the right selection.
Here’s what you need to know when you start looking for a marketing leader.
Get clear on what you need.
A successful hiring process starts with knowing what you need out of a marketing leader. You’ll need to create a summary overview of what the position will cover. This includes not only the day to day responsibilities, but any opportunities that might lie on the horizon. This could include opportunities to launch new projects and handle special tasks.
In addition to the details about the position, you’ll also want to include some behavioral traits that you’re looking for in a marketing leader. For example, marketing professionals in a leadership position should have managerial skills, be detail oriented, be able to work in a fast-paced environment and be self-motivated. Any of these traits should go into your needs list which will help you create an advertisement for the position.
Understand your own company culture.
Not only do you need to find the right marketing leader for your needs, but your company has to meet the needs of the marketing director as well. Even the best candidate on paper may not be a good fit for your particular company culture.
The business mentality that your staff operates under shapes the company culture. If you don’t have this clearly defined, you can start by asking a series of questions like “What is valued and rewarded in our workplace?” “What is it like to work here?” and “What kind of personalities succeed here?” Getting a clear idea on who you are will help you find the right fit.
Consider Getting Recruiting Help
Finding a marketing leader isn’t like making a hire for the mailroom. There’s a lot of thought and consideration that needs to go into hiring the right marketing talent. That’s why top companies look for marketing staffing agencies to help fill these key positions.
Marketing executive search firms know who the top people are in the field, so they’re more likely to find a fit for your company than if you tried on your own. They’ll also be able to ask important questions about your company culture and your requirements so you can find the leader who will take your company to the next level.
Top Marketing Recruiters Use Cultural Assessments to Identify Best Candidates
Why is Cultural Assessment a Key to Recruiting Marketing Talent?
What makes your company tick? If a hire is going to be the best fit for your company, they have to both have the marketing know-how and be able to fit in. Top marketing recruiters know that without a cultural assessment, the whole marketing recruitment process will be a waste of your time and money.
Since nobody wants that (especially me), there are some important questions your marketing recruiter should ask before starting your search.
Asking the question “What is your company culture?” rarely produces a good response. So we’ve come up with some specific questions that we use to complete a cultural assessment.
They include:
- What is valued and rewarded in your culture?
- What is it like to work in your culture?
- What does it mean to be a good steward of your culture?
- What kind of personalities succeed in your culture?
- What kind of personalities struggle in your culture?
Questions like these help us become a fly on the wall in your company—without actually being on staff full time. They help us get to know who you’re really looking for. Resumes don’t tell the whole story. Two candidates could have nearly identical resumes but fit into the culture totally differently. With a culture assessment, we’ll be able to tell which of these candidates would be the best fit.
Getting to know your company the best way to screen people and send you the top candidates. Is your marketing recruiter using a cultural assessment? If not, it may be time to find a new one.
Marketing Executive Search Firms Can Identify Interim Marketing Leaders
Need a marketing professional but can’t justify a permanent increase in your bottom line? Instead of going without, you can use a marketing executive search firm to fill the gap with an interim marketing leader on a contract basis.
While you might think of this type of “temping” as something only for receptionists and lower level staff, there are hundreds of qualified, available marketing professionals who would enjoy the challenge of helping your company reach its goals.
Here are three reasons why hiring an interim marketing leader is a smart move.
You Save Money
We get it – you don’t have the budget for a full time, long term employee, but you don’t have the staff that you need to take your business to the next level. Enter a marketing executive search firm to find the perfect interim marketing leader. They’re with you on a contract basis, so their salary isn’t a fixed cost that you’ll have to cover for years to come. They can help you meet your big operational goals and then move on to another opportunity.
You Get Experienced Help
Whether you’re launching a new product and need to be sure that it goes well, or you’re trying to strategically position yourself against stiff competition, you need experienced guidance. Hiring a marketing consultant might be your first choice – but they can be pricey. When you go with a marketing executive search firm to secure the ideal interim marketing professional, you get all of the experience of a consultant without the hefty price tag. They can help you create a successful strategy, no matter how big or small your vision might be. Your interim marketing leader can bring their specialized experience to the table. For example, if you’re struggling to create new leads for your company, you can have a lead generation specialist on staff for six months or more to create, launch and replicate campaigns that will keep the leads flowing in.
You Get a Leader with Fresh Ideas
Creativity is the lifeblood of marketing success – and if your team is going around in circles, it might be time to call in a fresh pair of eyes. Your problem may be basic – like developing a promotion for an existing service – or you may need some more advanced marketing help. An interim marketing professional can think outside of the box. They’re invested in helping you, but not so locked into your business that they can’t find new ideas. It could be just what you need to jump the next hurdle in your business.
You don’t have to pay a pricey consultant or hire a full time employee to get marketing help. Interim marketing leaders are the perfect solution for bridging the gap between your budget and your needs. Select Marketing Executive Search firms, like MarketPro, offer Interim Marketing Executives.
