I’m a marketer… get me out of here!

How do you put a price on job satisfaction? The Cabinet Office thinks it has the answer. In the first study of its kind, the team has published the ultimate data mash up: salary versus satisfaction.

But for the marketing professions, it makes uncomfortable reading. While vicars and chief executives sit proudly at the top of table, marketing professionals languish in 167th place out of 274 professions, behind estate agents, assembly line workers and dental technicians. Public relations professionals don’t fare much better, in 98th place. The sheen has even worn off advertising, with mad men and women outside the top 20 professions, in 29th place.

Is marketing losing its appeal? With the explosion of digital marketing adding new energy to the industry, the fact that supposedly unsatisfying and, dare I say, stereotypically dull, careers are overtaking us at the lower end of the scale is concerning.

We have always boasted about the young and dynamic profile of the marketing workforce, but could the industry’s lack of grey hairs actually reflect a brain drain at senior level as the reality of poorly balanced salary and satisfaction levels dawns? And what of the next generation? Are we lacking the time to market marketing? Endorsing our creative and constantly changing careers is essential if we are to continue attracting the crème de la crème of graduates to the marketing professions.

I was overwhelmed to pick up PR Week’s Best Place To Work award last week for a fifth consecutive year. What really stayed with me were insights from the winning agencies and inhouse teams about what made them tick. The answer was the same for all of us: quirks not perks. While the cool office, the bar and the bonus were a given, what really made the difference was the collegiate culture, entrepreneurial spirit and the self-determination given to our teams.

Which gives me heart that we can improve the profile of the profession, retain our grey hairs and appeal to those darned millennials. Because what they want – in terms of the excitement of a start-up, the variety of a constantly changing career (or varied client base) and the curiosity to learn is exactly what a career in marketing can offer.

‘I’m a marketer… get me out of here!’ was originally published in B2B Marketing (8/5/2014)