The most sought-after skills in the creative industries
Want to future-proof your creative career? Or pivot to a better paying role in the same field? We asked a recruitment expert about the skills employers in this sector are keen to see from candidates right now.
The COVID-19 pandemic was, on the whole, not a great time to work in a creative industry.
But in a surprising yet welcome turn of events, the effects, by and large, haven’t lingered... In fact, the 2021 Australian census showed that creative employment is growing at a rate more than 50% higher than the rest of the workforce.
One important thing that is changing, however, is the type of creative skills that employers (and recruiters) are seeking.
The digital skills needed in creative careers
Gone are the days when specialising in a single discipline meant you were set up for life in one career with total job security.
In this digital, post-COVID era and ‘non-linear career’ age, the key to success is being proactive, embracing change, hyping up your transferable soft skills, and regularly updating your hard skills to stay ahead of the game. Why?
A 2021 study by RMIT found that:
- 87% of jobs in Australia require digital literacy skills
- Digital training can help employees earn more
- 50,600 Australians reported lacking necessary skills or education as their main difficulty in finding work
- One in three Australians said their day-to-day tasks are different to what they were before the pandemic, or that they have more responsibilities since the onset of COVID-19
As businesses feel the pinch of the economic downturn and look to combine multiple roles into one job, upskilling is one of the easiest (and fastest) ways to future-proof your career.
“I think employers want candidates who can speak multiple creative languages,” explains Vicki-Anne Craigen, director at recruitment agency Creative Recruiters, which specialises in recruiting talent across design and creative, digital, account management and strategy, marketing, studio and production.
“And by that, I mean creatives who can work across all sorts of different tools and platforms … because [employers are] trying to get bigger bang for their buck.”
“Projects today, they're really complex and multi-layered,” Vicki-Anne adds. “So the ability to understand how different teams work, to align objectives across disciplines, I think is a huge competitive advantage that candidates need. And somehow they need to find a way to communicate that at [an] interview.”
Those ‘unicorns’ that have been fortunate enough to have this hybrid skill across the end-to-end process, they're being snapped up in a heartbeat, and they're the ones that are getting the bigger salaries, for sure,” she explains.
Technical skills in demand at creative workplaces
Of the employers that Creative Recruiters works with, Vicki-Anne highlights the following software skills as hotly requested, with knowledge of any of them putting job seekers “at an advantage”:Visual effects and motion graphics software (such as Adobe After Effects)
Learn it with this 13-week Animation and Motion Graphics Design courseVideo editing software (such as Adobe Premiere Pro)
Learn it with this 10-week Introduction to Video Production3D modelling software
Learn it with this 13-week Introduction to 3D Modelling and Rendering
The future skills hotlist
Bridging the gap between the technical and the creative, and being able to work between those two different disciplines (and two different teams), is an emerging niche that many businesses are zeroing in on today, notes Vicki-Anne.
"Brands are investing in customised experiences using data and interactive design," she explains. "So any content creator that understands how to use interactive design and data together, they're the people I think that the focus is going to be on moving forward for sure.”
According to Vicki-Anne, creative employers are after those who know how to use analytics tools to influence business strategy, can translate data into actionable insights, and apply technical knowledge to design work.
The most sought-after specialisations are:
User experience design (UX) / User interface design (UI)
Learn it with this 13-week UX Design 1 courseDigital product design
Learn it with this 10-week Design for Digital Technologies courseData analysis
Learn it with this 14-week Data and Analysis course
The AI revolution
The reach of generative AI is ever-growing in almost every creative industry: fashion brands are harnessing the power of automation to create handbags, and vocal artists are producing entire tracks using AI-generated music.
But as Vicki-Anne notes, most businesses today are looking for creatives that understand how to use AI as a tool to enhance efficiency, not replace creativity.
“Creatives—and when I say creatives, we're talking everyone from designers to production to copywriters to marketers—really do need to integrate that into their workflows now,” she explains.
The AI tools that Vicki-Anne singles out include:
- Midjourney
- Adobe Firefly
- ChatGPT
Ask a student advisor about upcoming artificial intelligence courses. They will be able to steer you in the right direction.
Thinking of a total creative career pivot?
If you’re looking for a total creative career pivot, Vicki-Anne also highlights a handful of roles that remain among the most requested at Creative Recruiters.
“There's still a really high demand for motion designers, videographers, video editors and animators,” she says. “If I had a kid in uni right now, I'd be telling them to study those.”
Want personalised course advice?
Get in touch with our team at a time that suits you by:
