Over the past few years, hiring for marketing and creative roles has felt inconsistent at best and frustrating at worst. Some businesses are receiving hundreds of applications. Others are struggling to attract the right level of experience. Many are finding that even when they make an offer, things don’t always go to plan. From what we’re seeing, the issue isn’t a lack of people; it’s a misalignment of talent.
Here’s what’s really going on.
- There are candidates, just not always the right ones.
Application numbers are high; we are seeing this ourselves, and LinkedIn continues to report strong application volumes across marketing and creative roles. However, volume doesn’t equal suitability; talent and hiring managers can spend hours wading through completely unsuitable applications.
We’re seeing three common patterns:
- Roles that are essentially three + jobs in one. In smaller teams, marketing and creative roles can become catch-alls. Performance, brand, content, CRM, social and analytics, all under one job title.
- Budgets that don’t match the level of experience required. If you have a fixed budget, you need to accept that budget will give you a maximum amount of experience, if you need more you’ll have to raise your salary.
- Job descriptions that focus heavily on tasks but not outcomes. Tasks change, but outcomes remain stable, so you should hire for capability. Rather than asking have you done this before, ask how can you deliver this result. A good example is with CRM systems; there are a lot out there and insisting on experience with one in particular limits your pool of talent. Instead, find out how they have increased pipeline conversion and by what extent, because that’s what really matters.
If you are finding your advertising isn’t giving the results you want, you may need to manage your expectations and reconsider what you are asking for.
- Passive talent is being more selective.
It’s often quoted that around 70% of the workforce is passive, not actively job-seeking but open to a conversation. That still broadly holds true in marketing and creative roles. However, passive talent in 2026 is cautious, primarily because job security is a high priority.
Passive talent is questioning whether a role is genuinely a step forward. They want to know:
- How marketing is valued within a company. They seek clarity around the role such as what the KPI’s and outcomes are. They want to know what impact they are expected to have and where their ownership lies, be it a channel or growth target. Seniors want a seat at the commercial table, with visibility of how marketing contributes to revenue.
- Is there career progression and skill development. This is particularly true if the role is effectively a sideways move. Can you demonstrate clear pathways to progression? Do you have mentorship programs, is there a training budget?
- Salary, culture and leadership style. Salary increase is rarely the most important reason for someone to consider a new job, whilst it’s always a consideration and passive talent will want a competitive package, a good company culture and leadership style is high on the list of priorities.
This all means that messaging matters. If you consider what is important to passive candidates and tweak what you say in line with their wants and needs, you’ll get better responses to your approach.
- Candidate experience and employer brand
Employer brand isn’t just careers-page messaging; it’s what candidates actually experience during your hiring process. The biggest influences on perception are:
- Your response. Whatever your hiring process and despite high application volumes, you can still make a positive impression at this stage. Templated responses are fine as long as they sound personal. If you get an application from someone who isn’t right for what you need now, consider if they are someone you might want to talk to in the future and tailor your, still templated, response accordingly. Application deadlines aren’t always helpful, unless you assess candidates as they apply and respond to relevant ones, otherwise 2 weeks down the line, they may have gone off the market.
- Transparency about salary and expectations. It wastes everyone’s time, including yours, if you don’t include these details in your job adverts. It also puts people off applying, wondering for instance if the salary is uncompetitive. It’s also a red flag, as a fair assumption might be that you don’t want your internal team to know what salaries you are paying other people. If that’s the case, you need to question why.
- Constructive feedback. LinkedIn research has consistently shown that candidates who receive meaningful feedback are far more likely to re-engage with a company in future, even if they were unsuccessful the first time. You should give more than a standard ‘you have been unsuccessful’ email. A personalised email with constructive feedback should be the minimum for anyone who has been interviewed, a telephone call is better. There is no need to give feedback if the candidate hasn’t been selected for interview.
In competitive markets, your reputation with candidates builds quickly, whether it’s a positive or negative one.
- Acceptance of an offer is not the finish line. One of the most difficult things for hiring managers is going through the entire hiring process, having someone accept an offer and then pull out before start date. It could be that they have been counter-offered by their current employer or carried on interviewing and accepted something else. The period between offer acceptance and start date matters more than many businesses realise.
There are a number of very simple things you can do:
- Clear communication about what the first 90 days will look like. New employees get nervous! This helps to settle any feelings of uncertainty.
- Occasional check-ins before start date. Particularly important if your new hire has a long notice period. The hiring manager should be involved with this, not just HR. Diarise to keep in touch, and if you have any company-wide events, invite them.
- Sharing context about current projects or plans. Be careful with this one, don’t give them reams of prep to do, but we’re often asked is there anything I can do to prepare before I start.
- Let them know what to expect. First days can be daunting! Let them know where to go, who to ask for, what their first few days will look like. Make sure their colleagues know they are arriving and have a plan in place. Make them feel expected.
This type of engagement really helps, we have an onboarding tips document written by a highly experienced talent professional, just let us know if you would like a copy.
- Hybrid is not a perk these days.
For most marketing and creative professionals, flexibility isn’t negotiable now. That doesn’t mean fully remote, many candidates enjoy office collaboration, but rigid expectations are increasingly a barrier and will reduce your talent pool. There are lots of variations; flexible core hours, work from home days; condensed working weeks, to name a few. This is particularly important if your office is based away from hubs of talent or difficult to commute to on public transport.
A Final Thought
Hiring marketing and creative talent needn’t be complex. If you’re unsure how your current approach compares to what the market expects, it’s worth reviewing. The landscape has shifted more in the last five years than it did in the previous ten and expectations have shifted with it. If you would like to discuss any of this in more detail get in touch and one of our directors will work with you to understand what your challenges are and how you can address them, in particular with difficult to fill roles.