The Indie List, the freelance talent discovery company founded by Una Herlihy and Peter McPartlin in 2020, has published the findings of a new survey which shows the most in-demand roles for freelancers working across the Irish marketing and related creative and digital sectors.
Since it was set up during lockdown in 2020, the company has seen a consistent rise in the demand for freelance talent since last Summer with further spikes evident in the run up to Christmas and also since the recent lifting of Covid restrictions.
While the so-called ‘Great Resignation’ may be over-hyped, according to McPartlin and Herlihy, there is little doubt that many marketing and agency professionals have reconsidered their career path following the experience of working differently and remotely over the last two years. Meanwhile the pressures on client marketing departments and agencies have increased while competition from the large tech companies and capital-rich start-ups is causing a talent shortage, they say.
“Many businesses are recognising the sense in hiring great on-demand talent to scale up or fill gaps at short notice. We’ve seen a sea-change in how freelancers are viewed over the past 18 months. The label ‘freelance’ seems to be viewed more positively as a professional choice both by strategy, client service, digital and creative individuals but also a broader range of companies now hiring them,” says Peter McPartlin.
According to the Indie list survey, demand is high across the creative, digital and strategy/client service roles.
For creatives, the Indie List survey notes that copywriters, specialist B2B writers, content writers, graphic designers and art directors are big in demand.
In the digital sphere, freelancers with digital marketing management skills, content, social media community management as well as web design, UX/UI skills are also much sought after.
Meanwhile in strategy and client service, freelancers with expertise in brand and comms planning, media planners as well as account and project managers are also in demand.
“From analysing our database of over 400 requests in the last year and talking to many agencies and client enterprises, we believe this list is a good indicator of where the highest demands for people will be in the months ahead,” says Una Herlihy.
“We are seeing consistent requirements for traditional skillsets like client service, planning and copywriting. But newer skills such as content strategy, UX/UI, digital strategy and long-form specialist writers are also cropping up more and more,” she adds.
The survey follows on from additional research analysis comes on the heels of The Indie List’s annual Freelance Survey which showed that the majority of Indie Listers were a lot busier in 2021 than they were in 2020, with the engagement numbers increasing from 45% to 65%. In addition, the survey noted that three-quarters of freelancers anticipated a sizeable increase in demand for their services in 2022.
For more information go to www.indielist.ie
