Some might bemoan the fact that there are always too many chiefs and not enough workers but chief marketing officers, chief growth officers and chief communications officers are among the top ten fastest growing C-suite roles in the UK in the past 12 months, compared to last year, as companies hunt executives to help navigate the global pandemic and drive business performance.
So says a new analysis from LinkedIn, although senior HR and revenue vacancies – including chief human resources officers, chief revenue officers and chief people officers – accounted for the top three most in-demand jobs.
LinkedIn Marketing Solutions UK & Ireland senior director Tunji Akintokun reckons the analysis shows just how business priorities are changing, and the C-suite roles needed most to help companies adapt to a new world of work.
He added: “As companies focus on delivering value to customers and clients, differentiating their brands and driving business growth, it’s positive to see such roles in high demand. This is testament to the highly strategic and increasingly impactful role they play in building brand awareness, safeguarding reputation, and creating demand to drive growth.”
Zoopla chief marketing officer Gary Bramall believes the role of marketing has proved transformational over the past decade, with very few companies now being able to get ahead without the highest calibre of marketing expertise at the helm.
He continued: “It’s a widely held belief that companies who divest in marketing in times of economic challenge, such as those brought about by the pandemic, quickly lose their stronghold. But it’s not just about hiring the best possible CMO – it’s about investing in a business’s marketing function at all levels, bringing in diversity of talent, and shoring up the pipeline of future marketing leaders accordingly.”
With people and businesses adapting to new ways of working due to Covid, LinkedIn saw a 55% increase in time spent by leaders taking LinkedIn Learning courses globally over the past 12 months, compared to the previous year.
Leaders across the world tuned into 1.3 million hours of learning courses on topics such as building executive presence, resilience, critical thinking and coaching, to help improve their essential soft skills at a time when they needed them the most.
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