Our Presentation Graphics Recruitment Consultant, Sheetal Shah, highlights all the key 2021 trends in her sector and what you can expect in 2022.
So, the team here at Devonshire is in the process of collating and producing our 2022 Salary Trends guide with market commentary. I mean…what a year eh?!
As most of you are aware, my area of expertise is Presentation and Creative recruitment (throw in some Marketing as well… Go on then). I wrote a lengthy piece on how 2021 went and what I predict will happen in 2022. Rightly so, my editor/marketing coordinator took less than a third of my musings so I have decided to put it out here (don’t worry… She knows I am doing this). So, if you have a spare 2 mins, have a read.
Over the course of 2021, we saw a huge upturn in activity in both permanent and temporary recruitment in the corporate Design and Presentation sector. It was encouraging to see so many NewCo’s starting up and also some interesting mergers and acquisitions happening. This resulted in a number of rebrand projects that started in Q1 and some are still continuing to this day.
The lines of ‘presentation formatting’ and design are now well and truly merged. I can’t recall a role last year that didn’t require a degree of design treatment to the presentations.
Along with PowerPoint being the dominant application, we are seeing a rise in Google Slides and Keynotes and now having Adobe Creative Suite, even to do simple edits and recreations is a given.
The use of motion and instructional design within presentations remains high, static presentations loaded with words/charts and graphs is well and truly in the past thankfully! Clients want designers who can visually tell their story so less words, more images and illustrative pieces.
Video is also an important part of presenting so candidates with good video editing skills are highly sought-after.
I was heartened by a few of my clients who took on apprentices last year, it was a privilege to see so many talented emerging designers out there. The future of Design UK is looking very rosy! Uni, isn’t for everyone so it is so encouraging to see other avenues for career development for the next gen.
On the other end of the spectrum, experienced hires within the Presentation and Creative space were high, a shortage of candidates has resulted in a slight increase in base salary across both contractors and permanent staff.
At the start of the pandemic, and I imagine this is the same in a lot of sectors, people made huge life decisions; a few left the UK altogether, some left the financial hub of London, while others decided they wanted the digital nomadic life of freelancing across the globe. This resulted in the ‘Great Resignation’ of 2021.
Even now, we predict once bonus time is over, we will see another change in candidate mobility. Candidates’ main request still remains as having flexibility, more peer and managerial support, a clear learning pathway and a chance to get involved with diverse projects.
I remain optimistic that once the rebound has settled, we will still have a growth-led market in Creative and Presentations.
Are you thinking of hiring in this space? Drop me an email and let’s chat through all the possibilities.
You can contact Sheetal Shah on [email protected]. If you are looking for a new role in the Presentation Graphics sector, please visit our latest jobs here.
