1.
© 2019 The Creative Group. A Robert Half Company. An Equal Opportunity Employer M/F/Disability/Veterans.
Source: The Creative Group survey of 400 advertising and marketing hiring decision makers in the U.S.
STATE OF CREATIVE HIRING — U.S.
First Half of 2020
69%
of companies
plan to increase
the number of
freelancers on
their staff.
67%
Expanding
Adding
new positions
31%
Maintaining
Only filling
vacated positions
1%
Freezing
Neither filling vacated
positions nor creating
new ones
1%
Reducing
Eliminating positions
COMPANIES’ HIRING PLANS FOR FULL-TIME CREATIVE EMPLOYEES
Responses do not total 100 percent due to rounding.
Don’t know: 1%

2.
© 2019 The Creative Group. A Robert Half Company. An Equal Opportunity Employer M/F/Disability/Veterans.
Source: The Creative Group survey of 400 advertising and marketing hiring decision makers in the U.S.
STATE OF CREATIVE HIRING — U.S.
First Half of 2020
4
3
2
1
5
Web and mobile development
User experience
User interface and interaction design
Creative development
Web production
(Multiple responses were permitted. Top responses are shown.)
*Denotes a tie.
6
7
8
9
10
Visual design
User research
Digital marketing
Marketing strategy
Information architecture; marketing
technology; social media*
TOP AREAS FOR HIRING

3.
© 2019 The Creative Group. A Robert Half Company. An Equal Opportunity Employer M/F/Disability/Veterans.
Source: The Creative Group survey of 400 advertising and marketing hiring decision makers in the U.S.
STATE OF CREATIVE HIRING — U.S.
Recruiting Challenges
86%
of hiring decision
makers say it’s
challenging to find
skilled creative
talent today.
TOP TECHNICAL SKILLS IN IMMEDIATE
DEMAND
(Multiple responses were permitted. Top responses are shown.)
*Denotes a tie.
1. Digital strategy
2. Content creation and content marketing;
social media management*
3. Artificial intelligence and machine learning
4. Data science, data analysis and
A/B testing
5. User interface design

4.
© 2019 The Creative Group. A Robert Half Company. An Equal Opportunity Employer M/F/Disability/Veterans.
Source: The Creative Group survey of 400 advertising and marketing hiring decision makers in the U.S.
STATE OF CREATIVE HIRING — U.S.
Retention Challenges
51%
of advertising and marketing managers say
unexpectedly losing a highly skilled team member
would have a significant, adverse impact on their
business because they’d be hard to replace.
45%
think they’d be stretched thin but could find a
replacement for the role fairly quickly.

5.
© 2019 The Creative Group. A Robert Half Company. An Equal Opportunity Employer M/F/Disability/Veterans.
Source: The Creative Group survey of 400 advertising and marketing hiring decision makers in the U.S.
55%
of hiring decision makers say they
experience the most turnover
among midlevel employees.
STATE OF CREATIVE HIRING — U.S.
Retention Challenges
Entry-level (0-3 yrs’ exp.)
Midlevel (4-8 yrs’ exp.)
Senior-level (8+ yrs’ exp.)
Executive-level
33%
AT WHAT POSITION LEVEL DOES YOUR
COMPANY EXPERIENCE THE MOST
EMPLOYEE TURNOVER?
55%
10%
2%

6.
© 2019 The Creative Group. A Robert Half Company. An Equal Opportunity Employer M/F/Disability/Veterans.
Source: The Creative Group survey of 400 advertising and marketing hiring decision makers in the U.S.
STATE OF CREATIVE HIRING — U.S.
TOP STEPS COMPANIES HAVE TAKEN TO RETAIN CREATIVE AND MARKETING EMPLOYEES
IN THE LAST YEAR
Retention Tactics
(Multiple responses were permitted. Top responses are shown.)
*Denotes a tie.
1. Offered better benefits (48%)
2. Improved professional training and
development (44%)
3. Increased bonuses; offered more flexible
scheduling options* (43%)
4. Became more open to remote work and
employee relocation opportunities (40%)
5. Raised salaries — more than we
traditionally would have (39%)
7%
of companies haven’t taken
any steps to improve retention.