Finding qualified people isn’t the hardest part of the hiring process for most employers inadvertising and marketing, according to a new study.

Rather, the most common challenge cites by marketing executivesis generating interest among qualified people to work for them.

The survey of 400 marketing and advertising executives wasconducted by the Creative Group, a company that specializes inadvertising recruitment.

While they work for firms devoted to generating interest inproducts, 31 percent of the advertising chiefs polled sayconvincing top-notch workers to buy into their company is thegreatest hiring challenge they face.

Twenty-eight percent of those surveyed say designing acompensation package is the greatest challenge. Roughly the samepercentage says not being able to offer high enough pay or generousenough benefits was the main reason that qualified applicants optednot to join their company.

The other hiring challenges cited by executives are rather banalin comparison. Fourteen percent cite reviewing applicationmaterials, 13 percent say creating job descriptions and 10 percentsay asking the right interview questions.

Again, it may seem odd that today’s “Mad Men” would have doubtsabout their ability to “ask the right questions” during a jobinterview, but then again, perhaps the anxiety voiced by the adexecutives reflects a healthy skepticism about traditional hiringprocesses, as well as an openness to changing the strategy.

Thirty-five percent of executives say that the most commonreason an applicant would turn down a job offer is because he orshe took a job elsewhere, sometimes as the result of acounter-offer. Seventeen percent says the top reason was thatcandidates did not see a strong potential for career growth at thecompany.

A separate study by the Creative Group focused on compensationin the industry estimated that salaries in the advertising andmarketing field will rise 3.6 percent next year, while positions inareas of the highest demand, such as user experience and mobiledesign, will likely see even greater pay bumps.

As employers in other fields have consistently said in the pastyear, hiring has become difficult as the economy has rebounded andwages have risen. The tight labor market has forced employers tore-think their compensation packages, as displayed most prominentlyby moves from big players — Wal-Mart, McDonald’s, Starbucks — toraise wages and boost benefits, including for entry-levelworkers.