It’s going to be a busy hiring season for marketing and creative (M&C) hiring managers for the rest of the year, the latest Robert Half survey indicates.

The survey’s results say that in the second half of 2024, 55% of M&C managers are hiring for new permanent roles. The report includes responses from 1,800 managers with hiring responsibilities in marketing and creative, as well as finance and accounting, tech, legal, admin and customer support, and HR at companies with 20 or more employees.

The talent solutions and business consulting firm’s data also reveals that 36% of M&C managers are hiring for vacated positions, while 60% of M&C hiring managers report that they plan on hiring more contract professionals in the back half of 2024.

The areas where managers are mostly likely to use contract talent include brand, product and event marketing, digital marketing (such as email, SEO and social media marketing) and marketing automation.

M&C professionals in highest demand include account supervisor, content manager, digital marketing manager, event coordinator, graphic designer, marketing manager, production coordinator and PR director.

An April Robert Half survey revealed that that 66% of marketing and creative hiring managers planned on hiring entry-level professionals – defined as those with two or less years of experience – in the first half of 2024.

Across multiple sectors, 90% of hiring managers report difficulty finding skilled professionals. Meanwhile, 32% anticipate it taking longer to hire between now and the end of 2025 than it did in the first half of 2024, while another 45% expect it to take about the same amount of time.

Other broad hiring challenges managers anticipate include lack of applicants with the required skill sets (51%) and also finding candidates who align with company culture (49%).