LONDON: More than one-third of PR pros in the UK have no qualms about changing jobs after only two years.
LONDON: More than one-third of PR pros in the UK have no qualms
about changing jobs after only two years.
That was the main finding of a study conducted recently by
PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Executive Search and Selection group. The survey
found that 37% of PR pros think it is ’acceptable’ to change jobs every
two or three years, compared with only 21% of the survey population as a
whole. Meanwhile, 33.3% of PR pros said stints of four or five years
were acceptable, and a loyal 7.4% said the duration should be
longer.
’We know the PR market well, but we are surprised by the attitudes
toward job mobility in PR,’ said PWC partner Alannah Hunt. ’These are
not young account executives - who traditionally butterfly from one job
to the next fairly quickly - but people at the top end of the market
who, in other professions, are looking for stability at this stage in
their careers.’
The survey examined 1,400 responses from employees working in the PR,
finance, information technology, manufacturing and human resources
industries, among others. Roughly 200 of the respondents were PR pros.
However, the survey did not break down responses from PR pros by age or
years in the profession.
Not surprisingly, an increase in salary is a prime motivation for
job-hopping. Three-quarters (74%) of respondents said they would be
enticed by the lure of more money, even if they were not actively job
hunting at the time.
But despite toiling in an industry not known for modesty, PR job hunters
were reluctant to apply for a job when they did not meet all of the
stated requirements - only 41% said they would do so. By comparison, 69%
of finance professionals sought jobs for which they were not entirely
qualified.
Finally, the survey found that 63% of PR pros have used the Net at some
stage of the job application process, even if only to find out
information about a potential employer. This compared favorably with 40%
in manufacturing and 47% in HR.