How To Hack Your Degree And Get A Job in Marketing.
I wish I read this, like 3 years ago.
Last May, I graduated from university, and after spending the summer in the USA, I found myself back at home needing to find a job. Faced with what can be a daunting task of standing out to an employer for jobs that experienced people will be fighting for, I researched ways on how to achieve my goals. Surprisingly, although there is ample content on the internet on how to be a successful graduate, none went into great detail in the area of digital marketing. That's why I'm hoping the lessons I learned can help somebody to get a step ahead, hack their degree and get a job in marketing.
Nowadays, especially in marketing, having just a degree is not enough. That's the bad news. The good news is that there are many different ways to get ahead. Some obvious and some not. The following are just a few lessons I learned which hopefully will make life easier for somebody reading this.
"I Need Experience To Get A Job But A Job To Get Experience."
This can feel like a tough roadblock between you and your goals. The trick is to figure out how you can prove that you can produce results. Maybe a local coffee shop needs help building their online presence via social media, or a charity you know needs to improve their website. At worst, leveraging opportunities such as these will help someone in need and allow you to exercise your digital abilities at the same time. If you do well, you can tell a potential employer about how you've produced some REAL results. Show them how you increased website visits by X amount or how you undertook both online & offline research to see what keywords they should rank for. On this one, a little effort & initiative can go a long way.
Upgrade Your Skillset.
I'm not sure why, but they don't tell you in university that you can get the Google Analytics Individual Certification, the Google AdWords Individual Certification or the Hubspot Inbound Certification online, for free. For free!!
All of HubSpot's courses, in one place.
Certifications like these will not only make you stand out from the crowd, it'll help you with college projects & you'll be more prepared for the real digital workplace. The internet is abundant with resources nowadays.
Some of my personal favourites:
Lynda.com - Wide range of video-based courses which are clear & easy to understand.
Codeacademy.com - Interactive lessons on coding & programming
Find Your Niche And Double Down.
One of the hardest yet most important things can be to figure out what your niche is. Saying this, most of the time it can be right in front of you. For me, I love strategy, CRM & email marketing. I also have a passion for graphic design. Take a step back and look at what excites you, what you wonder about and what doesn't feel like a chore. Then try it out. To me, marketing is about doing. You can plan and plan but until you actually do something, You will know nothing, Jon Snow.
Optimise The Brand Of You.
Managing your online presence is very important, especially if you want a job in marketing. Employers will think that if you can't manage your own brand, how the hell are you going to market theirs. Go into LinkedIn profiles of experts in your area of marketing and look at how their profile is presented. At very worst you need a professional profile picture, past work experience & skills you possess. To get ahead, work on getting recommendations from past colleagues & post about industry topics that you find interesting. Make sure your Twitter isn't showing tweets about how hungover you are today.
Let's even flip the lid, show off your SEO expertise by owning the search results for your name.
Ask your friend who has a blog can you write a guest post, write an article for your local paper & ensure you have got an optimised online profile. I haven't done enough on this, but it's something I've been researching. Go to Brand Yourself for more. Credit to Padraig O'Connor on this one.
Get Reading.
I'll be the first to admit that I was the worst at reading books throughout most of my college life. Since leaving, I feel like I've read more than in all of my academic life put together, and I wish I had more time to do so. No don't get me wrong, reading books will not give you the secret formula to becoming an expert in a day. What it will provide you with is a more focused mindset and the ability to apply your knowledge. Some of the best I recommend are Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook by Gary Vaynerchuk, Upgrade Your Life by Pat Divily & Content Inc by Joe Pulizzi.
These are just a few ways which I believe you can kickstart a career in marketing. I'm sure there are hundreds if not thousands of other ideas out there, which is exciting, but this is merely my perspective on the topic. Hopefully, some of the lessons that I learned while beginning my career in marketing can help you get ahead in yours.
Let me know your thoughts in the comments below. I'd love to hear from you.
"There are no traffic jams along the extra mile." - Roger Staubach