The report on Sales make the following positive comments on FMCG;

“The FMCG sector is performing strongly and is a highly competitive market. We are seeing strongest demand for business development executives, national account managers and category managers as companies strive to differentiate their product offerings.”

From my perspective the employment market has definitely slowed but the number of candidates has also reduced, so still a tight market. The report also indicates that 65% of employers are planningto increase their sales head count over the next 12 months.

Despite the tightness of the market the survey predicts only moderate salary increases of 5-10% over the next 12 months.  I will put a survey up and get some feedback on what you believe salary increases should be for the next 12 months. The other major issue in my mind are Car Allowances and Employee Benefits. Companies are offering a wide range of different amounts to cover vehicle and running costs. From my experience these range from below $15,000 to above $25,000 per annum, with the mean usually being around $18,000. Employee benefits are also a grab bag of different incentives and options that seem to mostly come from international organisations rather than Australian based businesses.

Bonuses are also very hard to get a handle on as well. Some are company performance based and some are individual and most are a mixture of both. While these have been very popular in a strong period of economic growth, as confidence drops and uncertainty prevails most employees will focus more on the base salary of the next 1-2 years.

Historically Marketing can often be the first profession to get the chop when the economy turns as spending on A&P drops off. The Michael Page survey suggests that in the current environment demand will remain strong and the supply of quality candidates will continue to strugle to meet this demand. The report states;

“Employment prospects in the FMCG sector remain strong due to brand consolidation
and expansion of existing marketing teams to deliver growth in this highly competitive
market. Competition for quality marketing professionals with brand and consumer
insight experience is strong as companies strive to become more creative and
differentiate their products in the market. There continues to be high demand for both
product and marketing communication candidates within financial services. This
is largely due to the specific and technical nature of the areas being supported.”

Their survey indicates that 56% of employers plan to increase their permanent headcount and 43% plan to increase their usage of contractors. While the tightness of the market is set to remain in place the survey indicates only a minor increase in salaries of 3-5%.

Overall a pretty strong forecast for both Sales & Marketing. In my opinion things are tightening up in terms of openings. Employers are happy to wait for the right candidate and are doing more pre-employment checking to reduce their risk of making a mistake.

Interested to get your opinions.

Tim