When I graduated from university in July earlier this year I didn’t expect to be back in a classroom so soon, however when the opportunity arose for me to attend a Search and Social Media Marketing Course at Salford University, I couldn’t wait to get started! For the past two years whilst studying I’ve worked as a Marketing Executive within a specialist digital marketing recruitment agency, witnessing first-hand this thriving sector evolve, change and grow. It’s this change; as well as the demand from employers for candidates with specialist skill sets that reinforced the importance of keeping an up to date knowledge of digital marketing techniques.

So what’s changed?

Working within a busy recruitment agency that services the North West’s leading media agencies and client-side employers, I’ve noticed a number of things change. For starters there are more and more jobs in this growing community; something that we are seeing more regularly is that businesses are embracing digital and creating full service in-house teams. Rather than outsourcing their digital marketing requirements or ignoring it all together, companies are looking for the brightest individuals to integrate into their businesses and deliver the marketing activity. From financial companies to law firms, businesses need an online presence and if they are going to compete in these challenging market places they need a specialist team leading the way. Highly sought after candidates including PPC and SEO, so if you can get real hands-on experience and a Google certification it’s likely you’ll won’t be looking for a job for long.

As part of my role within the agency I am responsible for writing compelling and search engine optimised job descriptions. It’s safe to say I’ve written a lot of job specs over the past two years and I can easily say this year has been all about the content! Surprised? Probably not, we’ve all heard the term “Content is King”, but content is no longer the “it” word being thrown around at digital marketing conferences, it’s now in the Job title. This past week alone new jobs have appeared in the form of Content Strategist, Content Co-coordinator, Content Writer and SEO Content Strategist…. And I’ve got a sneaky suspicion it’s all because of Google and their ominous (to some) updates. What else have I noticed? Well if there is something that goes hand in hand with great content, its PR and more specifically Digital PR. The increase in digital PR, blogger outreach and SEO outreach jobs was another new trends for 2014 and one that doesn’t appear to be slowing down any time soon.

The digital sector is clearly very exciting and something that everyone wants to be a part of! But with this increased demand, how to we supply?

At The Candidate we are optimistic and very good at what we do, but the digital skills shortage is a real issue that needs to be addressed. We surveyed the digital sector in the North West and our findings revealed a staggering shortage of skilled digital professionals. Factors linked to training, recruitment processes and education are all causes why some truly exciting business are struggling to find the right staff.

I’m sure the future of digital is a very bright one & it’s help to fantastic courses like Search and Social Media Marketing and all of the enthusiastic and forward thinking people I’ve met whilst attending! Let’s see what 2015 has in store!

Harriet Wright 

@harri_hat

---