Companies in the creative field plan to ease up on hiring plans and increase hiring freezes in the second half of the year, according to a new survey from The Creative Group, a marketing/creative staffing division of Robert Half International Inc. (NYSE: RHI).

The survey found 21% of hiring managers at advertising agencies and marketing departments said they will add new positions to their creative teams in the second half of 2015. Although this is down from 33% in a similar survey six months ago, it is an increase from 12% in a year-ago survey.

 Additionally, 13% project hiring freezes, up from 5% in the same survey six months ago; 66% anticipate maintaining current staff levels and 1% expect to reduce the size of their staff.

Recruiting remains difficult for advertising and marketing executives; 42% said it is challenging to find skilled creative professionals today, up 1% from six months ago. Hiring managers at large advertising agencies (100-plus employees) and large marketing departments (1,000-plus employees) expect the greatest difficulty, with 55% of respondents in each group reporting it is somewhat or very challenging to find the talent they seek.

“With continued demand for creative talent and a shrinking pool of skilled applicants, it’s more important than ever for companies to move quickly when hiring, or they risk losing out to more nimble firms,” said Diane Domeyer, executive director of The Creative Group. “Offering competitive pay and perks that support work-life balance can be instrumental in attracting candidates with hard-to-find skills. Salaries that were competitive even a year ago likely need to be re-evaluated.”

Marketing and advertising executives were asked, “In which of the following areas do you expect to hire in the second half of 2015?” The top responses were:

• Creative/art direction: 27%
• Account services: 27%
• Content marketing: 26%
• Interactive media: 26%
• Brand/product management: 25%
• Web design/production: 25%
• Media services: 25%
• Public relations: 25%
• Digital marketing: 24%
• Marketing research: 23%

The survey is based on more than 400 telephone interviews — approximately 200 with marketing executives randomly selected from companies with 100 or more employees and 200 with advertising executives randomly selected from agencies with 20 or more employees.