Two major studies by leading executive recruitment firms have pointed to a recruitment uptick, providing the strongest evidence to date of strengthening economic prospects in Asia. TMP/Hudson Global Resources in its quarterly Hudson Report found that more companies across a majority of sectors in China, Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore have indicated they would add to their headcount in the final quarter of this year, compared with the first half.
Of those companies planning to recruit more staff, sales proved to be the most sought after job function, between 25 and 30 per cent, followed by engineering/operations/technical, 15 and 25 per cent, and marketing/public relations, 10 to 15 per cent.
Hudson sales and marketing manager Catherine Kwong said that one of the main drivers of this optimism is the fact that about 90 per cent of companies surveyed expect positive performance in the first half of next year.
"If most clients expect to hire more staff, that will mean that they will start to release more funds for marketing communications activities and this will positively affect advertising, media and PR agencies," she said.
The report also found that the majority of companies stated that they have no plans to cut salary packages.
This sentiment was backed up by a separate survey by MRI, which found that salary levels for a wide range of marketing communications positions would remain at the same level at the beginning of next year, compared with the year-earlier period.
San Lee, MRI deputy managing director, said: "From the comments we gathered in the survey, companies are generally upbeat about 2004; however, they are still cautious." She stressed that the situation could improve further since research was conducted in August. She also warned that it could deteriorate if confidence was dealt another blow.
Demand is particularly strong for strategy planners. "Many companies have become leaner and meaner but their new challenge is to get the type of people sitting with management to help develop strategies on positioning and direction."
The survey did find rare instances of salary appreciation - the posts of executive creative director in Taiwan and CRM account director in Singapore.
SALARIES - 2004 FORECAST (USDOLLARS '000s)
Agency Hong Kong Taiwan Singapore China
Chief executive officer 220 145 225 145
GM/MD 180 138 170 120
Business director 130 90 140 90
Group account director (CRM) 100 90 100 -
Media director 110 83 90 80
Creative director 130 98 170 120
Client
Marketing director 140 105 68 -
Brand manager 70 53 68 23
Source: MRI