by Rosa Rolo, Managing Director of Major Players
In our last update, we described a market making real, but uneven, progress - Q3 is when that changed. Hiring has accelerated, the balance has shifted towards candidates, and for anyone hiring in the final quarter of the year, the way we’ve been operating in the last three years is no longer working.
Permanent hiring is where we're seeing huge demand, with movement across the board at both mid and senior level - and clients are far more committed to the process, with more briefs making it all the way through to placement rather than stalling at offer stage which we’d seen in previous quarters due to uncertainty or hesitancy. The wider UK market is starting to echo it: September's KPMG and REC Report on Jobs recorded the first rise in permanent placements since September 2022, and as we've said before, the Creative Industries tend to be an early marker for where the broader market follows.
What's been encouraging is the mix behind it - a combination of investment hires, brand-new roles created to support growth, and replacements being made where previously they weren't. Budgets are moving in the same direction too; marketing budgets recorded their second-highest reading in two years in the latest IPA Bellwether, with video spend at a seven-quarter high.
Demand is strongest across channel-specific roles - specialists who own a single channel end to end, from paid social, YouTube and TikTok to CRM and lifecycle, and increasingly AI search, where GEO and AEO have gone from emerging, to staffed and priced almost overnight. Media and social continue to be strong, and brand continues to be a priority as businesses invest in long-term brand building rather than short-term activation alone. Moreover, across almost every brief, AI fluency is now treated as a given rather than a bonus.
Where that demand sits varies across the market. Consumer and challenger brands are among the most active hirers we work with - several already have their second and third waves of hiring mapped out, with creative strategists, performance creative and paid social the most consistent briefs. Tech and platform businesses are hiring for the capabilities AI is creating,from AI search specialists to CRM and lifecycle talent with real technical depth. And agencies remain split: independents continue to hire with confidence, while networks are still restructuring - and whilst there is some hiring at a senior level we’ve seen much more at the mid market level and a renewed investment in junior talent.
Freelance opportunities are also increasing - bookings are up 20% on the previous quarter and the competition to book the right talent is becoming more competitive. We’ve also spotted a number of businesses are moving spend from freelance into permanent headcount, replacing ongoing freelance cover with a full-timehires which counteracts some of that freelance growth.
For anyone hiring, the biggest shift is this: the candidate-rich market many businesses still assume no longer exists, especially in those high demand skillsets we’ve talked about. 'The Great Unrest' we identified in our Census, with 55% planning to move roles in the next 6–12 months is happening. There are more people on the market overall, with candidate availability rising at its sharpest rate in three months, but the best people aren't available for long, and starting salaries rose at their quickest pace since January.
With movement comes more volatility. We're seeing more counter-offers, and more candidates with multiple offers on the table, and we’re talking to our clients about the importance of being really clear on their employee proposition and vision in a way that simply hasn't been as pressing over the last three years. Why should someone join your business, what development is on offer, and most importantly what does the business stand for?
Whilst the market is moving in a positive direction there is still volatility. We're still seeing, though less often, offers pulled and rounds of investment that clients were expecting not land, with some hires paused until revenue justifies them, and replacements pushed back into 2027 pending budget sign-off. Nationally, open vacancies have now fallen for 34 consecutive months, and the IPA has pointed to a gap between spend and sentiment, with marketers investing without full confidence in what comes next.
As we head into the final quarter and towards 2027, planningis vital. Businesses that have a clear vision for 2027 will attract the best talent; it’s then about moving quickly through processes and getting the offer right first time are the ones best placed to secure the talent they need, while staying realistic about the risks. At Major Players, we helping our clients, brandsand agencies stay ahead of that shift with the market insight, and the specialist talent, to move quickly when it counts. If you'd like to discuss any of this, we'd love to hear from you at talk@majorplayers.co.uk.
.png)
.webp)
