For those who are considering making a change, there’s never been a better time to be searching for your next job: But it might not last forever.

The job market continues to bounce back from the pandemic as we reach the highest amount of open vacancies since records began. According to the Office of National Statistics, a new record high of 1,300,000 job vacancies opened between March to May.

Despite reaching new highs, the quarterly rate of growth continues to slow, falling to a 1.6% increase in vacancies. Which begs the question, how long will vacancies keep rising for?

The growth of vacancies slowing down was always inevitable. But this also means that this year we are likely to see job vacancies plateau, and then potentially decrease. Businesses will begin to recover from the hiring freezes of the pandemic, and the changes in the UK economy will impact recruitment as well.

Why The Huge Amount of Digital Vacancies?

The boom in the job market is a result of the pandemic. With recruitment falling massively during 2020 – 2021, digital agencies aim to recruit aggressively to compensate for this loss in growth. 

This has been further compounded as more businesses were forced to turn to digital advertising during the pandemic. 

However, the pandemic also produced problems with the training and development of existing staff, as well as lower rates of hiring less experienced and junior staff. Avado’s Beyond Skills Report found that 62% of people said the events of 2020 widened the skill gaps within their own business. And that 60% worried the lack of investment in skills would impact long-term productivity.

The results? Businesses and agencies plugging this skills gap with hiring.

What Does This Mean For The Digital Marketing Job Market?

The more job vacancies there are, the better for digital marketers. Not only do you have more choice when it comes to deciding on your next role; employers have to work harder to attract your interest, and to stop you from being tempted to leave. 

Just some of the changes in digital marketing recruitment we’ve seen at Herd are:

• Dramatic salary increases within digital agencies, as agency owners try to outbid each other for the top talent.
• More attractive company benefits, as businesses try alternative methods to outbid the competition: more (or even unlimited) holiday allowances, increased company pension contribution, flexible and hybrid working, and free breakfast and lunches, to name a few.
• Companies offering more training and development opportunities. To both bridge the skills gap that was inadvertently created by the pandemic, and promote internal growth opportunities.

But How Long Will This Last?

With the increase in vacancies slowing down and the increasing cost-of-living, we may see a stop to the post-pandemic growth that digital marketing and the wider UK job market has enjoyed.

We’ve spoken to an expert in coaching digital agencies, Chris Simmance, for his insight on the future of the digital marketing job market:

“As the cost-of-living increases, and many agencies begin to feel the pinch, there may be further changes in the job market. It’s only a short time since Furlough and a lot of the workforce either moved into other industries or into Freelance, or even started their own consultancy/agency. 

As costs for businesses increase, the likelihood that the smaller end of the business scale can maintain digital marketing spend is relatively low. This will impact those freelance and newer agencies most, which may encourage them back into the digital agency workforce. 

At the same time though, the cost of running an agency is going up, which is going to make hiring (with all the connected fees) a lot harder and possibly slower as they work to maintain the balance in their cash flow.”

Chris Simmance, Digital Agency Coach

So while the amount of open job vacancies in the UK continues to rise, we may see this change soon. As the cost-of-living and the cost of running an agency increases, more digital marketers will enter the job market.

At the same time, digital agencies who are reluctant to pass on the increasing cost of doing business to clients. This may lead to cuts in other areas, such as hiring.

All of this means that there may soon be less positions to fill and more digital marketers to fill them. So if you’re looking to upskill, to try new things or if you’re ready for the next step in your career, now is the time. Have a look at our open roles or get in touch, for a confidential discussion about your career.