Michael Page: How much money will CMOs in Malaysia make in 2020?

CMOs in Malaysia's FMCG industry can expect to earn an annual base salary range of RM464k to RM774k, according to the Michael Page Salary Benchmark 2020. Meanwhile, those in the head of marketing position will bring home between RM309k to RM557k. As for regional head of communications, they will take home RM240k to RM264k. On the digital front, director of digital transformation and director of eCommerce will between RM240k to RM300k and RM240k to RM360k respectively. Group digital marketing managers can expect an annual base salary range of RM216k to RM240k.

Sales, marketing and retail is the most active hiring function in Malaysia's FMCG industry. This is followed by digital and eCommerce, HR and procurement and supply chain.

The roles in demand for Malaysia's FMCG sector are digital marketing manager, key account manager, brand/product manager, retail operations manager, and HR business partner.

About 15% to 25% expect a salary increase when switching jobs within similar industries.

According to Michael Page, the top three hiring trends for this sector are the strong demand for talent at middle management particularly within sales and marketing-related positions; companies offering incentives and bonuses to attract and retain talent; and companies aggressively recruiting talent with digital marketing and/or omnichannel experience. Meanwhile, the trending skills are digital marketing and analytics, omnichannel and eCommerce, and talent management.

Meanwhile on a whole, 53% of Malaysians are inclined to work overseas in 2020 and 67% believe they will take less than three months to find a new job. Also, more than two-thirds (63%) foresee themselves having better career progression in 2020, as compared to 67% this year. About 62% are positive about the job market as compared to 72% in 2019.

Separately, a third of Malaysian professionals feel their company is behind in digital transformation.

Paul Cooper, managing director, Michael Page Malaysia said the start of a new decade always sparks a sense of excitement as companies will imagine where their businesses might be 10 years from now.  In Malaysia, the sense of starting afresh is a palpable one, Cooper said, as the country continues to embrace its new political and business realities. According to him, many of the companies that it spoke to remain bullish about the year ahead, willing to put aside "some obvious storm clouds on the horizon from a macro-economic point of view, and embrace what we see as excellent economic fundamentals for this economy".

According to the recent Global Competitiveness Report by the World Economic Forum (WEF), Malaysia has perfect scores for both macro-economic stability and its credit gap. Specifically, Malaysia scored a healthy 10-year average of 4.8% in terms of annual GDP growth, as well as a five-year average of 3.1% in terms of foreign direct investment. The WEF also ranks Malaysia third in the world for companies embracing disruptive ideas, and fourth overall for its entrepreneurial culture.

Here are the salary scales for marketers in other industries:

Tech

Business services

Financial services

Engineering

The Michael Page Salary Benchmark is derived from 5,000 data points in its proprietary data and network in Malaysia, which includes job advertisements and placements made between July 2018 and June 2019. It also incorporates salary projections for 2020, the Job Applicant Confidence Index, insights from its business leaders, its recruiters’ interactions with companies and industry professionals, as well as other supplemental information from its various studies were also taken into consideration.

(Read also: MY 2020 salary scale: Brand management and programmatic folks in demand)