As a follow-up to last year’s research which looked at the profile of recruitment Marketing Leaders, we explore the career paths and experiences of those in situ at the end of 2023
A decreasing proportion of recruitment industry Marketing Leaders have been ‘home grown’
Amongst the pool of c.3.2k individuals engaged in a marketing capacity within the UK Staffing & Recruitment sector in November 2023, there are c.600 Marketing Directors, Heads/VPs of Marketing and CMOs
Analysis by ThinkinCircles of the career history of this pool of Marketing Leaders shows that just half (51%) have been ‘home grown’ within the sector whilst 49% had previous industry experience prior to joining it. Moreover, this was a shift from 59%: 41% recorded in the prior year analysis in 2022.
Figure 1. Percentage of ‘home grown’ versus external recruitment industry Marketing Leaders, Aug 2022 & Nov 2023
Of the 51% ‘home grown’ Marketing Leaders, a notable 91% (up from 89% last year) started and have grown their career in marketing within the industry. Only a small proportion had their origins elsewhere within the industry, notably in recruitment (6%) or sales / bids (2%).
Figure 2. Source of ‘home grown’ recruitment industry Marketing leaders, Aug 2022 & Nov 2023
The externally sourced recruitment industry Marketing Leaders have largely been newly hired
What is interesting about the 49% of Marketing Leaders that come from outside the sector is that most have been hired between 2021-23 – and, on average, they now have 2.2 years tenure in industry. As such – and with the proportions increasing – the industry appears to be continuing its trial of a new breed of Marketing Leader, with experiences that it clearly feels can add value to the sector.
Whilst they are as similarly steeped in marketing experience as their home-grown sectoral peers, the majority (72%, down from 84% last year) have multi-industry experience. In comparison, just 13% of marketing Leaders who started and developed their careers in the industry have marketing experience from any other industry.
Amongst the key sectors external candidates are being hired from, there were notable year-on-year hikes in the proportions with IT / Business Services and Consulting (from 21% to 32%) and Legal Services industry experience (from 16% to 21%). In contrast, there were declines in sourcing marketers with pureplay online services industry experience (from 22% to 18%) and Advertising industry exposure (from 22% to 15%).
Figure 3. Percentage of externally sourced recruitment industry Marketing Leaders with sectoral experience
Source for all: ThinkinCircles’ analysis of LinkedIn data
