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You could be forgiven for thinking the sky is falling: A plunging stock market, bankruptcies, mounting personal debt and even environmental woes are enough to send you running for cover.

But employers and employees in the ad and marketing businesses aren’t yet singing the economic blues; for them, the job market is healthy, some might even argue robust.

“These are atypical times,” says Harry Teitelbaum, president of InterCom Search in Toronto. Instead of the mass layoffs and severe cost-cutting that usually accompany economic uncertainty, Canadian companies are working hard to hold on to talent. And instead of laying low, employees are demanding their bosses help them define their career path, while spurring employers to adopt policies designed to make their personal lives more manageable.

Recruitment professionals from coast to coast agree that so far, the industry is bucking the economic slowdown.

“As Canadians, we tend to not be overly reactive and we do our best to weather the storm,” says Martin Kingston, president of Martin Kingston and Associates in Toronto. “Hence, we have not witnessed any significant layoffs in either the marketing or advertising communities.”

Adds Stuart Calvert, a partner in Toronto’s IQ Partners: “Canada is a very different market and usually left to its own devices. Our economy is pretty healthy. I’m not nervous at all, and as an organization we’re very busy.”

That’s the consensus as industry experts address demands for skilled talent. While there is a slight tightening in some areas, it’s certainly not on par with how the industry has reacted to similar economic situations in the past.

There are many issues at play, including recognition of the contribution people make to a company’s overall worth. “Marketing and advertising tend to be more knowledge-based jobs, which don’t feel the leading edge of job cuts like other industries,” says Calvert, adding companies are well aware of the costs associated with hiring and firing. In addition, there’s a keen focus by companies on where they want to be in five or 10 years and how they’re going to get there. “More and more they’re realizing it’s great people, and employees aren’t the first place they look when cuts need to happen.”

There’s also a certain practicality at play. Sylvia MacArthur, president of Madison MacArthur in Toronto, notes that employers have little choice if they want to remain competitive. “Canadian companies have been running very lean for a long time now. The deep cuts that were made several years ago have never been replaced: There is not much left to cut.”

It’s also worth noting that the past 12 months have been an important time for companies trying to rebuild their talent pool. “The marketing industry in Canada over the past year seems to have stabilized after five or more years of turbulence caused by departmental job losses to the United States,” says Kingston.

Calvert, who specializes in consumer packaged goods, says that sector is thriving after several years of turbulence caused by high-profile mergers and acquisitions.

While marketers remain conservatively optimistic, Kingston expects uncertainty caused by a U.S. recession and the fallout from the subprime mortgage crisis to take their toll in the last quarter of 2008, with a slight slowdown in hiring followed by a steady improvement beginning in mid-2009.

There’s little sign of slowdown, however, on the western front. “The industry in Vancouver is fairly stable,” says Lisa Kershaw, partner at Ray & Berndtson/Tanton Mitchell in Vancouver, crediting the 2010 Olympics.

Normand Lebeau, président & gardien en chef de l’expérience at Mandrake in Montreal, says Quebec is also faring well: “These are not boom years, but they’re not terrible.” As marketers hold steady, agencies follow suit. With the exception of a few closings, most agencies have been able to maintain the status quo even if some clients are not spending quite as robustly, says Teitelbaum.

With marketers watching budgets, more money is being directed into digital efforts and direct marketing, which are not only cost effective, but easily quantifiable and measurable. “Salaries reflect this [trend] with traditional areas seeing smaller increases, and areas like digital [and direct] seeing larger increases,” says Calvert.

“Employees with three or more years of experience in these sectors have been demanding and receiving salaries at levels often 30% to 50% higher than those working in the general area,” says Kingston.

Louise Descarie, president of La Tête Chercheuse in Montreal, says the same is true for the Quebec market.

Rick Chad, president of Toronto’s Chad Management Group, says there are major opportunities for people willing to invest in training or change jobs (even if it means taking a pay cut and moving down a step on the career ladder) in order to learn new skills. “People never want to take a cut in salary, but the very smart ones do. It’s really no different from going back to school. It can be an intelligent strategic move.”

Also of importance is the gradual increase of entry level salaries; no doubt an effort to combat graduates’ reluctance to join the advertising industry.

Overall, the majority of experts say marketing salaries are holding steady, although Chad notes that the demand for talent is starting to push them up. “Salaries are probably up, on average, 4% to 5%,” he notes. “And that’s because there’s a shortage of great people.”

Teitelbaum also predicts a salary surge in the next year. “The war for talent will become intense and salaries will have to start climbing in order for firms to be competitive,” he says. “We are already seeing that with candidates knowing what their worth is and attempting to negotiate far higher salaries than previously offered.”

Candidates who want to ride this wave had better brush up on their research skills, as marketers continue to focus on quantifying and measuring the value of marketing programs, as well as enhancing consumer insights. “Adding new capabilities has been a top priority for senior marketers in 2008 and this trend will continue in 2009,” says Kingston. “Key competencies that marketers want to develop are marketing and customer analytics, as well as strategic planning, business development and product marketing.”

This renewed focus by marketers is also having an impact on agencies. “The result has been a tight employment scenario in many of Canada’s traditional advertising agencies, with marketing clients complaining about a lack of innovation, minimal value-added thinking, poor creativity and inexperienced account management,” says Kingston.

Teitelbaum adds that agencies, for their part, need to foster and retain key talent. “Some agencies, at their own peril, have determined their staff to be commodities that can be easily replaced, whereas other successful agencies have identified their staff to be the only assets they have and guard them ferociously.”

Experts agree talent retention is fast becoming the number one issue for agencies as well as marketers. Money is only part of the equation, as illustrated by compensation packages addressing health, wellness, lifestyle and more flexibility for workers. Nine-to-five jobs are less prevalent. Flexible hours, shorter workweeks and the option to work remotely are par for the course as companies give staff the tools to ease the pressure of higher gas prices, traffic congestion and family life.

“Work-life balance is more important than it’s ever been and it always comes up in negotiations,” says Calvert. “The healthier and happier you are in your work environment, the longer you’ll stay.”

Companies that want to attract and retain the best and brightest need to help those individuals develop clearly defined career paths. “There has to be a steady progression,” says Calvert, adding that people are burning through positions more quickly, with those on the fast track rarely spending more than 18 to 30 months in any one marketing role.

With so many people demanding different things, employers are discovering that traditional titles and one-size-fits-all job descriptions are no longer relevant. “[Employers] need to communicate with A-list players constantly and listen to their needs and make sure their approach is tailored,” says Lebeau.

Bonuses and other perks are important elements of retention, but Chad says the secret is “giving people jobs they love and that are challenging.”

As employers and employees in the Canadian marketing and advertising sectors continue to focus on the future, the job market and compensation packages reflect a refusal to believe the sky is falling, but rather that these challenging economic times are a merely another brief storm to weather.