"Show me the money" say under-skilled digital marketing jobseekers

Stephen Withers
Monday, 27 August 2007 11:32

IT People - Recruitment

"Job hopping" candidates in the digital marketing arena are seeking salaries and responsibilities that are not commensurate with their skills and experience, according to a specialist recruiter.

"We are receiving CVs from candidates who are accelerating their career paths and salary demands beyond the physical market experience they have," said David Jackson, managing director of S2M Digital. "They are not seeking to secure a position for long and are job hopping, showing no consistency in employment history or market experience to match the senior positions they are applying for."

This sounds suspiciously like the later stages of the Internet boom, where companies were prepared to pay high salaries to even moderately talented staff as long as they could show some skill in high-demand areas.

But Jackson seems to have learned from that experience: "Business needs to invest in training, it is essential to address the digital skills gap and correct the market imbalance," he said.

While recruitment firms do stand to lose out financially if successful candidates leave their employers too quickly, it is good to see a recruiter emphasising the need for companies to develop talent internally. S2M Digital also noted that people in the marketing industry risk being left behind if they do not add digital skills and experience to their resume.