Marketing Consultant
As Marketing and Product Management professionals carefully weigh their next career moves, understanding what motivates them has become essential for companies looking to attract top talent. To uncover these priorities, Intelligent People, a leading Marketing and Product Management recruitment agency with over 20 years’ experience in the market, conducted a LinkedIn poll to their 50,000 LinkedIn followers to understand what factors influence their decisions most. The results provide a unique snapshot of the top priorities for those in Product Management and Marketing roles. Here’s what they revealed.
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What are Marketing and Product Management Professionals top priorities when finding a new role?
Key Findings: What Matters Most to Marketing and Product Management Professionals
The poll asked a straightforward question: As a Marketing or Product Management professional, what’s your top priority when choosing a new role? Respondents had four main options to choose from: salary and benefits, company culture, career growth, and work-life balance.
Here’s how the responses broke down:
- Salary and Benefits: 34%
- Work-Life Balance: 29%
- Company Culture: 25%
- Career Growth: 12%
These responses offer a revealing look into the evolving landscape of priorities for modern professionals in these fields.
1. Salary and Benefits (34%): Staying competitive in a hot market
With 34% of respondents selecting salary and benefits as their top priority, it’s clear that financial compensation remains a key factor. For companies, this means a need to stay competitive with industry-standard packages. In particular, candidates expect more than just base pay; they’re increasingly drawn to comprehensive benefits like stock options, wellness perks, professional development and training, and retirement planning and pensions.
Takeaway for Employers: Make sure your offer stands out by addressing both base pay and additional benefits that will help you attract high-calibre professionals in a competitive market.
For further insight into salaries, check out the Product Management UK Salary Guide 2024 and Marketing UK Salary Guide 2024
2. Work-Life Balance (29%): A growing focus on flexibility and wellbeing
Close behind, 29% of respondents cited work-life balance as their primary consideration. As more companies embrace remote and hybrid models, professionals expect roles that support flexibility and personal wellbeing. This preference highlights the importance of offering work arrangements that align with individual needs, whether that’s through flexible hours, remote work, or even mental health support.
Takeaway for Employers: To attract top talent, consider adopting flexible working policies that respect personal boundaries and support mental health.
3. Company Culture (25%): Finding alignment with values
Company culture attracted 25% of responses, underscoring the significance of working in an environment where values align. In particular, professionals are looking for companies with inclusive, innovative, and collaborative cultures. This choice also reflects an interest in joining teams where they feel supported and where leadership champions a positive, growth-oriented environment.
Takeaway for Employers: Develop and communicate a strong, positive culture. Whether through diversity and inclusion initiatives or encouraging a supportive environment, it’s key to foster a culture that resonates with candidates’ values.
4. Career Growth (12%): Investing in professional development
Although career growth was selected by only 12% of respondents as their top priority, it remains crucial for companies to support long-term career development. Professionals in these fields often look for opportunities to learn new skills, lead challenging projects, and move into higher roles over time.
Takeaway for Employers: Even if it’s not the primary consideration for many candidates, companies should still emphasise opportunities for career progression and development in their roles.
Additional Priorities from respondents
While the poll provided four primary choices, some respondents commented with additional factors that influence their decisions, including:
- Leadership Team and Talent: Candidates often prioritise companies with a visionary and supportive leadership team.
- Product Innovation Roadmap: Product managers and marketing professionals are naturally drawn to companies with innovative and forward-thinking product roadmaps.
- Future Business Growth Opportunities: Growth-minded professionals want to join companies with a clear path toward expansion and success.
- Make sure it is a real job: Professionals do not want to feel like they are reading a ghost job being advertised.
For many, the ideal role might combine all of these factors, highlighting the complex set of considerations that today’s professionals bring to the decision-making process.
The key takeaways for employers: Attracting top talent in a competitive market
For employers seeking to attract and retain top-tier Marketing and Product Management professionals, these findings reveal several strategic insights:
- Competitive Compensation: Ensure that salary and benefits packages are robust and reflect current market rates.
- Flexible Work Options: Offer work-life balance options, whether through remote work, flexible hours, or wellbeing initiatives.
- Strong, Inclusive Culture: Emphasise an inclusive, collaborative culture that aligns with candidates’ values.
- Clear Growth Paths: Highlight opportunities for professional development and advancement.
At Intelligent People, we specialise in matching skilled candidates with roles that meet these key criteria, whether it’s through executive search, permanent contingency recruitment, or contract placements. For over two decades, we’ve been helping scale-up and enterprise brands in the UK and internationally build strong teams in product management, UX / UI & product design, marketing and eCommerce. Finally, we specialise in retained Executive search, permanent contingency recruitment, and contract/interim placements.
Conclusion: Understanding what top talent really wants
The results of our LinkedIn poll demonstrate that attracting top talent requires a holistic approach. While salary and benefits rank high, today’s professionals also value work-life balance, company culture, and the quality of leadership. Companies that understand these priorities and tailor their offerings accordingly will be well-positioned to attract skilled marketing and product management professionals in an increasingly competitive landscape.
Are you looking to hire for your Marketing or Product Management team? We are a specialist Marketing and Product Management recruitment agency, ready to help you find candidates ahead of your competition. Contact us today.
Or, if you are looking for your next Marketing or Product Management role, upload your CV or view our live jobs.
