Only half of B2B marketers come from a marketing background and have previously held non-marketing roles. This is one of the key findings of the B2B Marketing Recruitment Survey, run in association with StopGap, and is the first analysis of employment trends in the business marketing sector.
Areas covered included: length of tenure in specific roles; best sources of information on new job opportunities; popular reasons for switching jobs and prospects for further B2B marketing recruitment in the next 12 months.
The survey was sent out by email to 2500 B2B marketers at the beginning of December last year.
Forty nine per cent of respondents had held non-marketing roles previously in their career. This backs up widespread anecdotal evidence which suggests that business marketers often move into the profession from other organisational functions. It confirms the view of B2B practitioners as a disparate group with a diverse range of backgrounds and skills, without the homogeneity of often traditionally-schooled B2C marketers.
The sense of the pragmatism of respondents was further underlined by the finding that 31 per cent had worked for agencies in a former role.
Internal promotion was cited as the most popular means by which B2B marketers had been appointed to their current role, cited by 26 per cent (see Fig.1). Recruitment consultants were the second most popular method of advancement, followed by word-of-mouth. Online job boards only accounted for six per cent of respondents’ more recent appointments, in comparison with ads in magazines or periodicals that accounted for nine per cent. This is likely to be a reflection of the failure of these mediums to serve the B2B marketing community.
‘A fresh challenge’ was highlighted as the primary reason for seeking a new job (38 per cent) followed by ‘restrictions of current role’ (29 per cent) and better salary on 18 per cent.
Looking towards the future, most respondents (70 per cent) expected that their next role would be a marketing one, suggesting that they are committed to the discipline. The majority (55 per cent) also suggested that if they switched companies for their next role they expected to choose a B2B employer next. However, 40 per cent responded ‘don’t know’.
Seventy three per cent of respondents said they had a role in the recruitment of new members of the marketing team, and a similar figure said they had recruited marketers in the last 12 months. In terms of how they recruit, the most popular medium was identified as recruitment consultants (49 per cent), followed by ads in magazines or periodicals (18 per cent) and ads on job boards (17 per cent) (see Fig. 2). Word-of-mouth was still seen as the best source of candidates by almost 10 per cent of companies.
Eighty per cent of respondents cited ‘quality of candidates’ as the most important factor in making recruitment decisions (see Fig. 4). Speed-to-market and volume of candidates attracted nine per cent and five per cent respectively.
Finally, B2B marketers appeared cautiously optimistic in recruitment terms for 2006, with 54 per cent of them expecting to take on new marketing personnel in the next 12 months, and 20 per cent saying ‘don’t know’. Twenty five per cent said ‘no’.
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