As in the past, Quirk’s included a look at the state of the industry from the perspective of the unemployed in its 2019 researcher salary survey. 

Based on the survey findings, it appears the MR industry’s unemployed are a group of highly-experienced and educated researchers. Forty-five percent of unemployed respondents reported being a master’s program graduate and just under 10% hold a Ph.D. In terms of gender ratios, 52% of respondents selected male, 45% female and 3% non-binary when asked their gender. 

As our survey has shown us over the years, the unemployed are faced with many hurdles no matter the state of the economy. This year, the open-ended question, “What do you think is the greatest difficulty in finding employment?” provided more thought-provoking findings. 

While the majority of responses focused on age, experience and finding the right fit, respondents also touched on topics ranging from poor recruitment techniques to noncompete agreements: 

“Being on the operations/programming side of market research, most of the jobs are offshored. I've been training to become a data scientist specializing in market research.” 

“I was let go from one of the largest sample providers in the industry and their noncompete is iron clad. I can't risk being sued like so many of my ex-colleagues.” 

“Getting employers to understand the reasons behind work gap (family caregiving responsibilities).”

Age 

Of those surveyed who said they were unemployed, the largest reported group, by age, were 46-55 years of age (34%), followed by 56-65 (23%). So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that numerous respondents reported age-related challenges again in this year’s survey. 

“Rampant ageism.”

“Age – 55+.” 

“My skills are not up to date. Age discrimination. My skill set is for more junior positions.” 

“Age and last salary. HR professionals are pressing to pay poor salaries due to the high demand.”

“My age and spending the previous 14 years with one company.” 

Experience 

Others pointed to level of experience as a challenge, noting how few senior-level positions are currently available. 

“Finding a senior-level position. Many junior and mid-level roles are available, but ones that lead departments or teams are harder to find.”

“Few open positions at VP/executive level with ability to telecommute.” 

“Finding mid-level positions. Much of what I currently find are entry-level or senior-level positions.” 

“As a senior-level individual contributor, I have too much experience of one kind, and not enough of the other.” 

“Scarcity of senior-level sales management positions in marketplace.”

“Age discrimination and lack of senior roles with industry consolidation. Demand is mostly for data scientist and digital researchers in ad agencies.” 

“Finding senior-level MR roles requiring expertise in my industry (travel, hospitality, leisure industries).”

“Being a sr./experienced (aka older) worker. I am overqualified for most roles; very few at my level are available. Get push-back to more junior roles, even if I'm interested. Tech/start-up firms all very young and don't seem as open to an older employee. Also, lots of 'hunter' sales roles, and that is not my strength. I've successfully sold more consultatively over my career, but that doesn't seem very valued anymore.” 

Finding the right fit

This year, a number of respondents pointed to identifying the right fit – within a team or company – as being the greatest difficulty in finding employment. 

“Finding the right team and position. I liken my search and all searches to that of baseball players. We each have developed our own niche and skills and while some employers are looking for someone to play 1st base, I am more of a pitcher.” 

“Finding match between position requirements & personal background/experience... and then meeting salary expectations.” 

“Identifying the right opportunities.” 

“Places that understand that remote working works.” 

And for some, that fit may be found outside of research and insights. A majority (67%) of unemployed respondents reported that they have expanded their job search outside of the MR industry, though that number is down 10% compared to our 2018 survey.

For complete survey results and information on methodology, visit quirks.com/tools/salary-survey.