Hiring for Social Media Skills Continues and Creates Hard-to-Fill Occupations

Employers have consistently increased their demand for social media skills this year. Since January, the volume of online job ads has increased by 40%, with more than 10,000 new ads posted during September. Demand was seen in many job functions – Marketing and Public Relations, Web Development and Software Engineering, Recruiters, Sales, and many other fields.

Of the 20 occupations with the highest demand for social media skill sets, 19 have seen increases when compared to September 2010. Not surprisingly, Marketing Managers saw the highest number of job ads – more than 2,100 jobs were advertised online for Marketers with social media skills, at a a 60% year-over-year increase. PR Specialists were the second most common occupation to require these skills. The highest year-over-year increase, however, was for Sales Agents within Financial Services. Many of these jobs now require Sales Agents to engage with customers via social media and other online channels. The only occupation to see a decline in hiring demand was Editors, which saw 48% fewer job ads that required social media skills compared to last year.

Occupations with the Highest Volume of Online Job Ads for Social Media Skills

20 Occupations with Social Media Hiring Demand

Source: WANTED Analytics

We took a look at the average salary ranges for the top 10 occupations above that include social media skills. The highest ranges are for Marketing Managers and Market Research Analysts, whereas the lowest range is for Personnel Recruiters.

Occupation	Average Salary Range
Marketing Managers	$90,000 – $105,000
Public Relations Specialists	$45,000 – $60,000
Web Developers	$83,200 – $100,000
Public Relations Managers	$45,000 – $60,000
Market Research Analysts	$90,000 – $105,000
Personnel Recruiters	$39,520 – $52,000
Editors	$45,000 – $60,000
Computer Software Engineers, Applications	$83,200 – $100,000
Advertising Sales Agents	$45,000 – $65,000
Sales Agents, Financial Services	$45,000 – $80,000

Due to high demand and a relatively limited talent pool, Recruiters are likely to find these jobs hard-to-fill. Of the above occupations, the Hiring Scale™ shows that Financial Services Sales Agents are likely to be the most difficult. This occupation has the smallest talent pool across the US with only about 2 potential candidates in the workforce for every online job ad that includes social media skill requirements. In comparison to some of the other above occupations, there are about 10 potential candidates for every Recruiter job ad to include social media requirements, and about 13 potential candidates for every Marketing job opening currently online. These occupations, while not as hard-to-fill as Financial Services Sales Agents, are still likely to see heavy competition for the talent. Also, as demand for social media skills continues, Recruiters are likely to see time-to-fill and cost-per-hire increase.

Hiring Scale for Financial Services Sales Agents with Social Media Skills