2025 Marketing and Creative Job Market Outlook

Marketing and creative teams are juggling evolving priorities, including expanding the use of AI and automation to deliver high-quality, compelling work faster and to meet rising expectations for personalized customer experiences. However, even in an era of powerful tech tools, human insight and creativity remain essential in this field.   

Professionals with a solid mix of creativity, digital expertise and AI fluency are making the biggest impact and continue to be in demand, but they are hard to find, according to Robert Half’s research. Hiring managers also report it’s taking more time to evaluate applications and decide which candidates to interview. Meanwhile, because critical projects and campaigns can’t wait, more marketing and creative teams are engaging contract talent to access specialized skills and meet deadlines. 

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Marketing and creative leaders report it takes 5 weeks on average to hire for permanent roles. 

Robert Half’s research also suggests many firms are receiving a high volume of applications, making it harder to identify candidates with the requisite skills. 

of leaders said evaluating applications and determining who to interview are among their greatest hiring challenges. of leaders said evaluating applications and determining who to interview are among their greatest hiring challenges.

Hiring for strategic priorities: contract and permanent staff

Marketing and creative leaders shared the top strategic initiatives for which they will hire more staff through the end of the year.

Marketing automation

SEO and paid search marketing

Customer experience

Website and mobile applications

Content marketing

Customer experience

56% of marketing and creative leaders reported skills gaps within their department, and 59% of those leaders said the impact of those gaps has increased in the past year. 

In response, many companies consider a combination of options for addressing these gaps: engaging contract talent for a specific project or short-term support, seeking permanent hires with specialized experience, and upskilling employees.

AI strategy Marketing
analytics Marketing
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development AI strategy Marketing
analytics Marketing
automation Digital and
web design and
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Almost all marketing and creative leaders plan to add new staff or at least maintain headcount in the second half of 2025 to support top business priorities. Yet 93% said it’s challenging to find the talent they need in the current market. 

of marketing and creative leaders are hiring for new permanent positions. of marketing and creative leaders are hiring for new permanent positions.

are hiring only for vacated permanent positions.  are hiring only for vacated permanent positions. 

Hiring plans: contract roles

77% of marketing and creative leaders said they’re increasing their use of contract talent in the second half of 2025. They also shared what they view as the greatest value in engaging these professionals.

Access to specialized skills or experience

Flexibility in scaling workforce

Cost savings compared with hiring permanent employees

Faster time to staff critical roles

Marketing and creative professionals in highest demand

The following positions are in the top 10% of marketing and creative roles in demand, according to an analysis of thousands of job postings and Robert Half placements:

Content manager 

Digital marketing specialist 

Digital project manager 

Graphic designer

Marketing analytics specialist

Product designer

Social media specialist

UX designer

Article: Learn more about the top roles in demand

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The survey cited was developed by Robert Half and conducted by an independent research firm. Results may not total 100% due to rounding or allowing for multiple responses. Respondents included executives and hiring managers from small (10-99 employees), midsize (100-999 employees) and large (1,000+ employees) businesses in private, publicly listed and public sector organizations across the U.S.

Over 4 million new positions from more than 8,000 independent job boards and company websites are represented in this report, including 340,000-plus placements from Robert Half. Positions are categorized into more than 450 job titles within Robert Half’s Salary Guide using a proprietary mapping methodology that employs state-of-the-art large language models. This dataset includes roles across the finance and accounting, technology, marketing and creative, legal, administrative and customer support, healthcare support, and human resources professions. 