It's probably the question we're asked most often. "What's the market like?"
Whether it's agency leaders wanting an overview of who's available, people who are contemplating starting to look for a new role or (unfortunately still) somebody whose role has been made redundant.
With January now in the rear-view mirror, here at TG&TG we have therefore been looking back at 2025 and how the hiring trends reflected agencies’ overall sentiment.
The benefit of some distance is that we can look at 2025 as a whole and the good news is that we saw an increase in positive feeling albeit starting from a pretty low base in the previous 12 months.
Lean teams replenished
Coming out of 2024, many agencies were wrestling with increased salaries coupled with declining revenue. As a result, this time last year, we noted that teams were as lean as ever.
"One win has increased headcount by 5-10%"
The upshot was that as new business wins came online, agencies often needed to hire multiple people. This trend has certainly continued - in some mid-sized agencies, one win has increased headcount by 5-10%.
Return of £80,000+ roles
The need for leaner teams was particularly felt among roles just below the SLT. Those at £80,000-£100,000 were among the most squeezed. Happily, that trend seems to have been turned around with more £80,000+ roles appearing in H2 and into January.
Investment hires
Among these more senior roles are a number of investment hires. Roles which are brand new to the agency and reflect an either the expansion of current work or the creation of a new offering. New layers of management have also be added to some agencies.