Introducing the Membership Bespoke Salary Guide

Recruiting in the Membership Sector

If we thought 2020 was an interesting year, 2021 certainly comes in a close second. With all the challenges and changes we have seen over the last 12 months, what does that mean for recruiting in the membership sector?

There’s no escaping that we have all had to adapt the way we work and hire into our teams. What does this mean in hard facts, though? What impact has the pandemic and general economic changes had on the Membership sector? The UK has had a double whammy with Brexit now also affecting us all. Most importantly, what impact has this had on salaries for our sector?

We’ve compiled this Membership Sector Salary Guide to walk you through what’s happening in the industry in terms of recruiting trends and remuneration packages. It’s a blueprint to help drive your recruitment strategy in 2022 and beyond.

This Membership Salary Guide covers roles from marketing to membership, policy to PR and everything in between. Whether you are looking at roles within trade associations, regulatory bodies, membership associations or political parties – whatever the size of your organisation, this is a comprehensive guide to salaries in your sector.

Membership Sector Recruiting Trends

Alongside the salary information, we unpick general recruiting trends from across the industry as well highlighting specific departmental trends covering the recruitment of marketing, events and membership colleagues.

With increasing competition for talent both in the membership arena and from outside the sector, knowing the trends and expected salaries will put you in the best position for successful recruiting.

Some of the trends explored in the salary guide include:

• Flexible and Hybrid Working – what is the state of play for membership organisations when it comes to hybrid working? Given that memberships organisations are people-focused businesses where events and collaboration are key, we look at how realistic it is to have a remote working model
• Candidate shortages and, as a result, candidates holding the cards - membership organisations, like all companies who are hiring, will have faced challenges around candidate shortages. It’s not always about salaries too. Whilst this detail is important, successful recruiting and attraction strategies detail the wider benefits package, including training and development opportunities
• A need to improve the candidate experience - leading on from the above, a poor candidate experience will not only lead to dropouts along the recruiting process, but people will be quick to share their experience with their peers. Don’t be the company they are talking about for all the wrong reasons
• A desire to reduce bias in recruiting – thankfully, the pandemic hasn’t shifted Diversity and Inclusion from the business agenda. If anything, it has helped keep it front of mind as companies become more aware of how working from home can exacerbate socio-economic differences. 

Explore in more detail

These are just some of the highlights and recruitment trends in the membership sector. The salary guide explores each area in more detail as well as talking through other trends which are influencing hiring in our sector. 

We hope you’ll find the salary guide to be a vital tool to benchmark your business against. With increasing competition to attract the best talent, greater emphasis should be placed on your recruitment strategy, the remuneration you offer, as well as wider package benefits and career development opportunities.

As the only specialist recruiter in the membership sector, the guide is based on our sector knowledge, collected from positions we have actively recruited for in the past year. It also incorporates further data shared by clients and candidates from salaries across their business and roles they have worked in. We’d like to thank everyone who shared their insights. 

To request access to the guide, simply fill in the form below, and we will be in touch with the access details.

If you have any queries on the guide or would like to discuss recruiting in the membership sector, contact the Membership Bespoke team.