96% of Marketing Teams Are Running on a Skills Deficit

Signal

Only 4% of marketing and creative leaders say they have the talent they need to complete priority projects. Nearly two-thirds report that skills gaps have widened over the past year.

Making It Make Sense

The skills marketing teams need today may not be the skills they need in six months. CMOs who build a bench alongside internal upskilling will stay ahead of a gap that permanent hiring alone can’t close.

This data comes from Robert Half’s annual Demand for Skilled Talent survey, which polled more than 2,000 U.S. hiring managers. Marketing and creative ranked among the most talent-starved functions, behind only legal. And the hiring process itself is getting harder: 65% of managers said AI-generated applications have made it more difficult to evaluate candidates, with 58% reporting greater difficulty identifying qualified talent compared to a year ago.

The paradox is worth sitting with. Many organizations cut marketing headcount expecting AI to absorb the work. Now they’re finding that the remaining teams lack the skills to direct AI effectively, and the candidates applying look better on paper than they perform in practice.

What this means for your team

The gap isn’t going to close through a single round of hiring. It requires a mix: contract specialists who bring current expertise for immediate priorities, internal development that builds AI fluency across the existing team, and an honest assessment of which roles need permanent investment and which need flexible capacity. The CMOs who build that bench now will have options when the next shift arrives.