It’s hard to escape a sense of uncertainty and fragility in the employment landscape today – the green ‘open to work’ bands on LinkedIn are a visceral indicator. Of course, if you’re anything like me, your network is not just formed of researchers but people in diverse roles client-side, too. Here, it can feel like the reorganisations are coming thick and fast, across sectors – which will often have a knock-on effect on insight budgets.

In this sector, certainly there are agencies that are growing and hiring, and I’m counting my own situation as relatively fortunate so far in this respect. But scratching beneath the surface all is not always as it seems, because no agency wants to project that they’re having a tough time. Private one-to-one conversations across the sector reveal a mixed picture, with some agencies finding this year particularly challenging. 

Personally, I’ve never had so many approaches from freelancers too, and I’ve been reliably informed that independent consultants are finding it difficult. A leading recruiter told me that they’ve never seen such a difficult job market in the sector as they are seeing at present, over many years. 

The macro indicators in the UK are of an increase in unemployment – to 5% – in the months July to September, according to the Office for National Statistics – the highest rate since the period covering December 2020 to February 2021. 

With an economic landscape that hasn’t seen substantial growth in many years, and in this sector the headwinds of AI and other factors such as in-housing taking effect, it is fair to say that we can’t be confident that there’s going to be abundant growth in research spend any time soon.

I am hoping for an upturn for all – if I’ve learnt anything in recent years of paying attention to the sector’s movements, things can change quickly. But if we accept that there is ongoing uncertainty and possibly a shrinkage in the sector at least as a plausible scenario, we are left with a few considerations.

Collectively as a sector we might wish to take certain actions, working with MRS and other organisations such as Aura to continue to prove and maximise the value of research and to adapt to the changing circumstances. Individual agencies will each have their own strategies to seek to thrive in the landscape.

I’m interested in all of this, as someone engaged in our sector and involved in running an agency. But right now, I’m thinking hard about the layer below that – the individual human impact. When I see those green ‘open to work’ banners, I think how lonely an experience it might be to be out of work in today’s market. I can’t help but project myself into the challenges some may be experiencing. 

I want to say to people working in this sector: if you can carve out the time, energy (and possibly some financial resources), it’s worth reflecting on what agency you might ideally wish to take over your own personal development. Simply put: don’t rely on your employer to do this for you.

There will be scores of people in our sector sitting there with questions over their future career stability and with decades still to run to pay off the mortgage (if they are fortunate enough to have a mortgage) and fill up the pension pot.  

Employers should take responsibility for training their employees to do their jobs to the best of their ability now and for potential future needs, but they’re not thinking about their staff’s long-term careers, in the main.

If the scenario does play out that we see more redundancies and freelancers finding it hard to get work in a shrinking market, then it will become harder to stand out.

It’s only a good thing to start investing in personal branding now – making connections, building a presence in LinkedIn and other forums, considering if there is any training that will help you differentiate. It may be a long game – it hopefully will – but the steps taken today could play out in benefits years down the line.

Think about, for example:

• Are you growing your network on LinkedIn, and in any other communities (eg MRS) you could tap into?
• Are you fostering enduring relationships you might draw on in years to come?
• Are you keeping a finger on shifting sector dynamics such as the growth of AI tools?
• Are you standing out in any way compared to the countless others who have a solid educational background and an impressive career trajectory?  What makes you more interesting as a potential hire, contractor, project lead or freelancer?
• Do you have any sense of a game-plan, ultimately, for maximising your resilience and desirability in an uncertain future market?

There’s more I want to say on this topic of taking personal agency over career development, so this is just the start – and as ever, I’d love to invite feedback and discussion. I’d particularly love to hear from anyone with a more optimistic stance than me – give me a positive scenario to play with, please.

Louise McLaren is managing director (London) at Lovebrands and a columnist for Research Live