Hot Jobs in Sales and Marketing

by Susan Pieper-Bailey

Ed. Note: Recently I interviewed two Futurestep consultants from the San Francisco office: Steve Fogle, San Francisco Regional Director and a Search Consultant for over 14 years, and Molly Robb, a Search Consultant with experience in the sales, marketing and advertising arenas, as well as recruiting for this area for over 3 years. Both Mr. Fogle and Ms. Robb work with a large number of Internet and high-technology companies in the Western Region. They are finding that an increasing percentage of their practices is in the sales and marketing area.

The answers below were excerpted from my interviews with Mr. Fogle and Ms. Robb.

What recent recruiting trends have you observed?

Companies seem to have an insatiable demand for marketing and business development talent. We are recruiting for anything having to do with customer acquisition or retention-a particularly hot area is virtual community building. Also, we are recruiting for anything having to do with developing and building strategic partnerships and alliances. Both of these types of roles are in demand not only by Internet companies, but also by traditional, off-line companies.

What backgrounds seem to be particularly well-suited for these roles?

Clients want to see candidates who have either large-company brand-management, agency, or direct marketing experience. However, with demand for these candidates outstripping supply, clients are beginning to realize that the desired experience is optional. Clients can do quite well with talented, results-oriented, marketing managers who have had prior start-up experience, but not the classic brand-management or agency experience.

A good background for the business development roles that companies are creating in increasing numbers includes consultative selling experience such as management consulting or any prior work on developing strategic alliances.

What's the good news and what's the bad news for candidates?

The bad news is that because companies are doing so much with customer acquisition and retention, community, and business development, there are many roles available that are narrowly defined and require focus. Unless a candidate has the top spot, now is not a good time to be a marketing generalist.

The good news is that, even with the focus, there are many great roles in both marketing and business development. This is an unprecedented time for professionals in these fields to find a suitable role at a great company. Furthermore, clients are still looking for people with other skills (not just one deep skill set) so that they can get more mileage out of the person. The generalist roles are not dead; these roles are just filled by the very top candidates.