Of the more than 1,350 event professionals who took part in the survey, carried out by ESP Recruitment and Zing Insights, 91% of respondents said they expected their company’s workforce to say the same or increase over the next year.
Liz Sinclair, director at ESP Recruitment, said the results show that people are feeling more secure in their jobs across most sectors of the industry.
"There are more opportunities for candidates than in previous years and in certain sectors, it has become a candidates’ market," she said. "Employers are having to compete to get the best ones."
The survey also examined how event professionals look for new jobs, with recruitment consultants still considered to be the most effective way to source a job, with 26.7% of those surveyed choosing this.
But in an age of social media, it's not surprising that other alternatives are being considered. The use of sites such as LinkedIn, for example is growing, albeit slowly, from 3% in 2011 to 8% in 2013, and word of mouth is also proving popular, with 26% citing this, compared to 21% in 2011.
Facebook, surprisingly, does not even register among respondents, perhaps because it is perceived as more of a personal, rather than a professional tool. It is a similar story for Twitter, which is maybe seen as too ‘public’ for job solicitations.
Event professionals also appear to be under-investing in social media when it comes to using the channel to promote events. Just 21% of those surveyed said they had an advanced social media marketing strategy in place, compared to 17% in 2011, while 57% said they had one at a basic level, compared to 54% in 2011.
According to Sinclair, this is a missed opportunity as social media is a great way to push information to followers and build a community.
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