As specialist recruiters in library, archives, knowledge, information and records management we often advise candidates, recruiting organisations and colleagues about competitive salaries.
We realised there was a fantastic opportunity to conduct research and produce a salary survey for the industry that would act as a quick point of reference for candidates and employers. It is the first salary survey that the team at Sue Hill Recruitment has created jointly with our colleagues from TFPL.
As the economy begins to improve and new jobs are being created it is important that employers compete for the top talent. Employers will be able to use the salary survey to their competitive advantage, ensuring they are competing for the best talent can retain their most valuable employees. For our candidates, who often ask us where to pitch themselves for their next career move, or when looking for a promotion in their current organisation, we hope that it will help them to benchmark themselves.
Insights from the research
Of particular interest is information on the salary differences between sectors. We discovered that salaries for different sectors do not vary quite as much as you might think - particularly for those who are at the start of their careers. However, once people reach management level the commercial sector begins to move away from the non-commercial sector in terms of higher remuneration. Unsurprisingly the financial services sector outweighs the other sectors in terms of pay, offering as much as £10,000 more for some senior roles within information such as Head of Research.
We have noticed that the skills which employees are looking for has shifted towards some of the softer skills. Both sectors are calling out for client facing and customer service skills, a focus on perhaps some of the softer skills within the information profession. This is true for example of information teams working closely with the core business and in academia to improve student satisfaction ratings. These softer skills include those needed to sell the information service and demonstrate its importance, especially in the light of departmental cuts.
For those who live in the UK outside of London, or who may be looking to leave the capital, the most effective way of finding a KIM role would be to focus on the public sector and local authorities where over 50% of their roles are based outside of London. This compares to just over 20% for the financial services sector.
Other highlights from the Survey
- Following on from the crash of 2008-9, there is a definite candidate shortage for mid-level roles across all sectors.
- Another knock-on effect is the lack of trainee-level roles leading to a real shortage of skills in technology and in KM.
- Our conversations with employers show they are keen to find new entrants who can bring new ways of ‘finding things out’ and who can use social media for research and promotional purposes.
- 47% of those who work in information roles in the financial services sector do not have an information qualification.
Our salary survey can be found here.
Victoria is a Recruitment Consultant at Sue Hill Recruitment in the UK.