Our question this week is an excellent one for anyone who is looking to start their career in marketing: “How can I make myself stand out as a strong candidate for my first full-time marketing role?”
The job market is tough at the moment. It can be hard to stand out amongst other candidates. It’s even more difficult if you are looking for your first role in the industry.
I’m going to walk through a few ways that you can identify the right role for you, increase your chances of being invited to interview, and demonstrate your suitability for the role to hiring managers.
Finding The Right Opportunities To Apply For
One of the most important steps in standing out amongst a sea of other applicants is making sure you are applying for the right roles.
When you are looking through the job boards or speaking with recruiters, it’s critical that you consider the following:
Do I Want To Be A Specialist Or A Generalist Marketer?
Marketing is an extremely broad industry. It covers online and offline, acquisition and retention, creative and technical – email, paid, organic, CRM, and social.
There are many types of work that can be carried out under the “marketing” umbrella. You may have a clear idea of what type of marketing interests you, or you might still be unsure.
If you are unsure, then it may be a good idea to look at a more generalist role for your first one. This would be one that gives you exposure to different types of marketing. For example, a role that means you’ll be working on a paid ad campaign one day and an email campaign another.
This way, after a few years in the role you’ll have solid experience in a range of disciplines and can make a more informed decision about the direction you want your career to go in.
Having a broad experience also makes it easier for you to work collaboratively with other marketers in the future, as you’ll have an understanding of what their work entails.
In-house Or Agency?
Speak to any marketer, and they will tell you that there are some big differences between working in-house for a brand and working for clients in an agency.
It is worth considering these when looking for your first role. For example, when working as an in-house marketer, you will likely get to really dig deep into marketing for that one industry.
You may be working with other industry specialists and will have the opportunity to learn a lot about how to market to that particular audience.
However, there’s a risk that you may not have many other marketers to learn from. You may be in a team of one or two other marketers, and you may not benefit from the wisdom of a wide range of experienced colleagues. Your stakeholders will be the business’s decision-makers, potentially very senior members of staff.
However, working for an agency gives you exposure to many more industries, businesses and types of activities.
If you are looking to focus on SEO, for example, your likelihood of being involved in complicated SEO processes like migrations and technical audits will increase.
Your stakeholders will mainly be clients, other agencies, and perhaps your agency’s development team. However, you will always be one step removed from the business you are marketing for and the decisions made about it.
Do I Need To Research Marketing Channels Further?
You may need to pause your search for your new role to do some more research. Spend some time looking into the different marketing channels and the skills needed for them.
If you have any connections who are marketers, spend some time speaking to them about what they enjoy about their roles and what their favorite marketing activities are. This way, you can start to get a feel for what roles you might thrive in.
Applying For Roles
Once you have identified the jobs that you are interested in, it’s time to start applying. This is your opportunity for first impressions. There are many guides available on how to structure your resume to show off your skills.
For your first role in the marketing industry, you need to pay attention to the skills listed in the job adverts and make sure you include and demonstrate them in your resume.
That’s tricky to do, though, if this is your first marketing job. So how do you evidence your suitability through your application?
Transferrable Skills
Look at the skills involved in the marketing activities the role would require you to carry out. Read through the job description and pick out any specific behavior traits it mentions. Think back through your recent work or voluntary experience and pick out where those skills overlap with the job requirements.
For example, if you have worked in retail or customer service, you will have likely developed excellent stakeholder management skills. These are always useful for marketing roles. Working as an administrator in an office will have given you experience in meeting tight timelines. Your prize-winning art school submission evidences your creativity!
Whatever your previous experience is, there will most likely be aspects from which you can draw parallels to the requirements of the role you are applying for.
Remember, if you are applying for entry-level marketing roles, the hiring team should be expecting you to have little to no formal work experience within the industry.
Demonstrating that you are aware of what the role entails, and that you have already begun cultivating the skills needed for it will set you apart from a vast number of other candidates.
Voluntary Experience
Voluntary work experience in marketing will help you stand out. It will further demonstrate that you understand different marketing techniques and job requirements. Many charities will be grateful for assistance with their marketing.
If you do this, just make sure that you feel confident enough in your knowledge that you are not going to make serious mistakes or that you will be given a supervisor who can help guide you.
If you can’t find suitable voluntary experience you could try approaching local marketing agencies and seeing if they offer work experience placements.
Even a week of work will give you experience you can include on a resume and, perhaps more importantly, will help you create a network of other marketers.
Get A Resume Check From A Marketing Recruitment Specialist
Finally, if you are unsure that your resume is showcasing all of your transferrable skills and marketing knowledge in a way that is attractive to hiring managers, consider a resume review.
Many recruiters will offer you the opportunity to have your resume reviewed by them for free. Look for ones that specialize in recruiting for marketing roles.
You benefit from their years of experience working with candidates. They may even forward you for any appropriate roles they are recruiting for.
Nailing The Interviews
Remember, if you are applying for the right types of roles, no one is going to expect you to have all the answers during your interview. They will know that you are looking to break into the industry.
I have a lot of experience in hiring marketing interns and early-career colleagues. The candidates who have impressed me the most for these roles are those who have shown that they understand what it entails and can demonstrate a passion for marketing.