Marketing and Media graduates can look forward to good job prospects within the sector, with vacancies up by 40pc.  reports Laura Noonan

MEDIA and marketing graduates seem to have dodged the worst of the economic slowdown, with leading recruiters reporting a substantial year-on-year uplift in the number of industry jobs they have on offer.

Mainstream website Findajob.ie is advertising almost 40pc more marketing jobs than this time last year, while specialist recruiter Prosperity has seen its media and marketing ads jump 44pc.

"The last downturn saw a constriction in the marketing/advertising sectors, but Irish business has seen a massive shift since then in the emphasis on the value of marketing," says Prosperity boss Garry Mullan.

"Irish companies now realise the immense value of brand and presence and they are generally unlikely to scale this side of the business down by much over the coming year or so."

While the jobs market is largely buoyant, some sectors are faring better than others.

Findajob.ie marketing manager Aisling Nagle says the demand for marketing professionals is particularly high in the b2b and fast-moving consumer goods sectors, while Mullan stresses the considerable rise in demand for digital media and marketing specialists.

"There has been a definite decline in print design jobs," Mullan adds, stressing that there has been a marginal increase in the demand for website designers and a "significant increase" in demand for web developers.

Pay packers are also holding firm, with several jobs on offer carrying salaries north of the �100,000 mark and Findajob.ie predicting a "modest 4 to 5pc" increase in media and marketing packages this year amid deteriorating economic conditions