A focus on Marketing, Events, Sales: every new hire has to earn its place

About the author: Andrea Pell leads Handle’s Marketing, Sales and Events division and has spent almost 20 years recruiting across events and exhibitions, business information, creative brands, SaaS businesses and agencies.

A focus on Marketing, Event Operations, and Sales Recruitment: every new hire has to earn its place

Hiring decisions are being examined more closely

One of the biggest changes I’m seeing in 2026 is how closely businesses are looking at every hiring decision, and the conversation goes far beyond whether part of the role could be handled by AI.

Businesses are still recruiting. Across the Sales, Marketing and Events roles represented in our figures, hiring between January and August is 6% higher than during the same period in 2025.

However, that growth is coming with greater scrutiny. Budgets are being examined carefully, approval processes can involve more people and hiring managers are being asked to show exactly what a new person will contribute.

In the sectors I work with, that contribution usually needs to connect to something tangible. Can this person generate revenue, strengthen client relationships or build new partnerships? Will they help launch a campaign, increase audience engagement or deliver an important event? Are they bringing expertise that the current team doesn’t have—or providing capacity to prevent a busy team from becoming overstretched?

That level of questioning is understandable. Creative, commercial and events businesses are operating in fast-moving markets. Technology is changing how work gets done, priorities can shift quickly and every addition to a team needs to support a clear business objective.

Even replacement hires are being reconsidered

I’m seeing this most clearly when someone leaves a role unexpectedly. In the past, a leaver would often trigger a relatively straightforward replacement process: update the job description, approve the salary and begin recruiting someone with a similar background.
Now, many of my clients are using that moment to step back and reassess the role.

They’re asking whether the responsibilities have changed, whether the same skills will be needed over the next 12 months and whether the position should still sit at the same level. They’re also considering whether they need a permanent replacement immediately or whether temporary support would give them time to make a better long-term decision.

For example, an events business may decide it needs stronger operational expertise as its programme grows. A SaaS company replacing an account manager may recognise that customer retention now matters more than new-business development. An agency recruiting into marketing may need someone with stronger digital or data skills than the previous person brought.

The vacancy might have been created by a departure, but the eventual hire is increasingly shaped by where the business is going next.

Flexibility is playing an important role

Greater scrutiny doesn’t necessarily mean that recruitment slows down. Often, it changes the type of hire a business makes. Temporary and fixed-term opportunities provide a practical way to add skills and capacity without rushing into a permanent decision. This is particularly relevant across the markets I support, where workloads can be project-led, seasonal or connected to immovable delivery dates.

An exhibitions business cannot postpone an event because its operations team is short-staffed. A marketing campaign still has to launch on time, and a commercial team cannot ignore an opportunity to win or grow an important account.

In those situations, flexible recruitment gives businesses access to experienced people at the point they are needed most.

That might mean bringing in an Event Producer to lead a specific programme, adding a Marketing Manager to deliver a campaign or hiring an experienced sales professional to pursue a defined growth opportunity. It can also mean providing temporary cover while the business takes time to properly assess what the permanent role should look like.

The important point is that flexible hiring is no longer simply viewed as a stopgap. Used well, it becomes part of a deliberate workforce strategy, with a clear purpose, timeframe and expected outcome.

If you’re reviewing a vacancy or reconsidering the skills your team needs, an early conversation can help you understand salaries, candidate availability and the most appropriate hiring route before you commit to a search.