Sunday 23 September 2012

Unemployment is over!


Big apologies for my silence recently everyone (I know you’ve missed me) - I’m back and ready and raring to blog.

The past few months have been a time of unemployment for me – not altogether an unenjoyable period in my life (lie-ins never get dull), but definitely a time of doubts, fears, and questions. After five months as an exec in a great agency which gave me the chance I needed to learn my chosen trade, I seemed to be in a good position. However, my job hunt was still without its challenges. I wasn’t searching for my first position – I had three relevant internships under my belt, not to mention the good half a year I’d spent in a full time agency role – but having worked primarily in experiential, to some potential employers I wasn’t experienced enough to enter as an Account Exec working with other channels. Which leads me to my other problem, which was that I wasn’t quite sure what disciplines I wanted to work in, having not had exposure to them all.

My experiences of the workplace had, however, opened my mind to other important considerations when job hunting. I knew that a well-matched culture was important to me. And now I was on the first rung of the career ladder I felt that I didn’t have to go to every interview nervous and desperate to impress, because I was fully aware that I was making an important and career-defining choice and could afford to be more picky. This certainly helped me in interviews and I viewed it as more of a two-way process, with me trying to find out as much as I could about the company, people and culture so that I could make a decision for myself. That way I also didn’t count many rejections as failures and get disheartened, because some that I went to just weren’t right.

I think when you’re just starting out it’s better to go for whatever you can get; back then I was certainly in the habit of convincing myself that I would love whatever it was I was going for. And that really helped me, for even if it turned out whatever I was doing wasn’t for me, that experience was still valuable and it has put me in a better position in the long-term.





Next post – a day in the life! I’ll be taking you through my experiences as an Account Exec at my new integrated agency.

Monday 9 July 2012

The Graduate Without A Future

Whilst browsing Facebook last Wednesday I noticed a trending videos called ‘A 2.1 just won’t cut it any more’. Well, you have to have been living under a rock for the past three years to have missed that, so not exactly a hugely intriguing revelation. Everyone knows that there are exactly 3.5 trillion other graduates out there to compete against for employment, and that you must complete 49 unpaid internships in order to qualify to fill out a job application form. But I clicked through anyway, curious to see another perspective on this issue which is affecting myself as well as thousands of other young career contenders, hopeful for some constructive advice in the very least.

It turned out that the video was published on The Guardian website, as part of their newly established Comment Is Free online series called ‘The Graduate Without A Future’. Cheery, no? I settled down, readying myself for some quality journalism, as one would expect from the Guardian (no sarcasm). Instead, I was treated to a lamentation of the ‘futureless’ graduates of 2012 – seven and a half minutes of completely useless despair and melodrama. 


 One of the main features of the report was the stories of two 2012 graduates from Sussex university. Neither were asked very much about their individual career goals, so instead of an interesting and relevant interview focused on what jobs they were looking to pursue and how they were going to go about obtaining them, their portrayal focused largely around their ‘ambition’ to avoid ending up in a “mindless sales job”.  In line with the video’s title, they also talked about how throughout their time at uni they had made conscious efforts to get involved with extra-curricular activities. As students and recent graduates, I think we’re all probably quite familiar with the notion of enhancing your CV with activities and societies as well as work experience, and this is really important for graduates like myself who have traditional academic degrees. Take the rise in degrees with placement years; this is a significant sign of the increase in employers’ expectations for graduates coming straight out of uni. The presenter, a Guardian writer called John Harris, seemed outraged at the thought of these girls doing anything with their three years but studying. The fact is, that involvement in these extras is now part and parcel of the personal development we’re expected to undertake at uni, and complaining about it will get us nowhere. One of the grads, India, told us how left her small hometown in Essex in order to pursue better things; surely this involves making the most of the opportunities on offer in a big city like Brighton? Harris may mourn the new necessity of diverting your attention from your studies to prepare for post graduate life before you’ve even secured your degree, and I agree that your priority should be studying, but as the other grad, Chrissy, rightly pointed out, if she hadn’t been trying to get involved with other things, “What would I have done for three years, just mucked around and got a degree?” It is true, a degree alone is not enough any more. But instead of lamenting this, should we not celebrate all the extra skills we will develop as a result of involvement in extra-curricular projects?

The second half of the video featured a visit to the Graduate Recruitment Bureau, a recruitment consultancy specialising in graduate recruitment which is based in Brighton (the setting for this happy tale). Dan Hawes, the founder of the company and actually someone who was kind enough to agree to be interviewed for this blog a few months ago, was interviewed by Harris, giving his perspective on the importance of rivalling the competition from fellow grads by supplementing your degree with extra experience.

In his interview, Dan explained how the GRB typically works to recruit STEM graduates for its clients (that’s those who’ve studied Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) – no crime for a company to have a specialism. However, the report managed to twist even this seemingly innocent admission into a negative. As they entered the GRB office,  Harris’ voiceover uttered this sombre statement: “If you study humanities, the kind of jobs open to you may well come down to working at a place like this. As well as debasing the value of humanities degrees, Harris also managed to insult the company who had just given him a relevant and constructive interview. Nice.

My annoyance with the angle of this report peaked at the mention of student loan debt. Erm…why did how much debt these girls have need to be discussed? It seemed that this was mentioned simply to further demonise the situation of these ‘graduates with no future’. Student loan repayments are no more of a detriment to a graduate’s bank balance than they would be if the job market was hunky dory, because repayments are relative to earnings. The hyperbole of the presenter raising the subject of debt and portraying it as a distressing issue spoke volumes for the type of messaging that the report is attempting to convey. But then again, what is media without a little bit of hype? …Even if that hype can only amount to the fact that the entry phone system at the Graduate Recruitment Bureau doesn’t work...SO WHAT?!


You can watch the video below. Do you agree with me?







Wednesday 13 June 2012

My interview with the IPA

You may have heard of Gradvantage, a blog run by graduates at the IPA (Institute of Practitioners in Advertising) which is all about helping grads get into marcomms. I got in touch with the blog in order to promote the Class of INITIALS programme, and was invited to add my own piece to their blog about my story of getting into and working in a marketing agency. You can read my interview-style guest post at

http://gradvantage.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/jos-can-can-you.html

Tuesday 17 April 2012

Join the Class of INITIALS! A graduate marketing placement opportunity

This blog post is all about a great initiative that has been introduced recently for passionate marketeers such as ourselves!


Class of INITIALS is the new work experience programme for graduates looking to enter the exciting world of agency marketing.

INITIALS Marketing is a creative communications agency with a fantastic culture. Spanning multiple disciplines, from shopper to digital, promotional to direct, design to experiential, the world of INITIALS is fast-paced and always fun!

I myself have been working on the experiential team at INITIALS for the past three months as a Communications Exec. I've learnt a huge amount, been handed my fair share of responsibility, and have been involved in some amazing national-scale projects. But I'm sure you guys are all fed up of reading other people's success stories, which is why I've waited until now to share mine with you - the launch of Class of INITIALS means that you have the same opportunity that I had to bag your dream marketing job!

Last summer, I spent two weeks at INITIALS along with a number of other students/graduates. I left with some great experience under my belt, but with no concrete promise of a job. Just under a year later, however, luck was with me and I was invited back to fill the position I'm in now. This year the graduate programme has more of an official structure to it, with 5 graduates being selected via a challenging (but fun!) recruitment process to carry out a four week work placement between July and September. For the right graduate there could be a job at the end!

Applications are being accepted via the INITIALS' Facebook page, where you can also find out a few more details about the company and some great past work, as well as what's on offer. Please don't hesitate to comment/contact me if you have any questions!

Good luck!

P.S. You might notice that the date for feedback on your round 2 application is BEFORE round 2 actually takes place. INITIALS will be aiming to get back to you with an answer by 22nd June, not 2nd!

Sunday 25 March 2012

Interview with the Graduate Recruitment Bureau

Today's blog post is an interview with Dan Hawes, co-founder of the Graduate Recruitment Bureau.

The GRB is a recruitment agency specialising in placing graduates into graduate jobs. I ask Dan some of the questions that had been been at the forefront of my mind when starting this blog, such as the true merits of an academic degree, the effects of the recession on the graduate job market, and advice on how to maximise your chances when applying for jobs. His answers offer unrivaled insight into the perspective of someone with expertise in handling recruitment into all sorts of industries, including marketing. Be sure to comment and let me know what you guys think!


- Do the recruiters you work with at GRB tend to have a preference for certain types of degrees over others? For example, do they look for degrees that are directly relevant to the job role, do they specify a preference for top universities etc.?

Our clients look for graduate calibre individuals with a mixture of hard and soft skills. In over 15 years of matching students and graduates into full time employment (internships and graduate jobs) we have worked with a diverse range of graduates. The most popular with our clients tend be STEM graduates – those who have studied Science, Technology, Engineering or Maths degrees. Very often employers will also be specific about where these graduates have studied, such as Russell Group Unis, as these Unis require strong A Level qualifications. We explain to our clients to look beyond the general Uni rankings and instead look at those that are exceptional by degree subject area. Sometimes this will include non-Russell group Universities. There may be other reasons recruiters choose certain degree subjects and unis due to historical success or even down to where the Chief Exec studied! 
It could be argued that this is a lazy way to recruit but it has increased of late as recruiters have faced an unprecedented amount of applicants and need a quick way to manage who gets through. This could be set to change with the introduction of HEAR qualifications which removes the 2.1, 2.2 and Third classification and instead includes other non-academic skills learnt during a person’s time at Uni much the way a GPA score is used in the States which will force recruiters to take a more inclusive approach.

- How much do you think degree subject matters in the graduate recruitment process?
Depends on the graduate job. If you want to be a Doctor then definitely but less so if you want to get into Sales. Apart from in depth knowledge of a subject, studying for a degree in a University environment equips an individual with many transferable skills.

- Do recruiters look favourably on candidates from the more 'elite' universities, or does that not really matter? 

As an example, if you were considering someone who had studied English at UCL (top of The Guardian's University Guide 2012 league table for English) versus someone who had studied English at University College Plymouth St Mark and St John (bottom of The Guardian's University Guide 2012 league table for English), and they were more or less equal in terms of experience and application quality, would you be swayed to accept/reject based on the university attended?
Again this comes down to the recruiter's preference. In the example you have given a company based in Plymouth may chose the local graduate over one that needs to relocate so it really depends on their criteria and the priority they assign to each.

Do you have a point of view about the benefits of studying an academic degree in a traditional subject? Is there any tangible difference between the skills that academic grads tend to bring to job roles versus grads from 'newer' and more specific subjects?
Both types of course have their merits depending how the individual embraces the learning opportunity. In my experience, I took a vocational subject (Business) so I could get an all-round understanding of how business operates but what I really valued was my year in industry which closed the loop in terms of my understanding and gave me extra skills and therefore advantages over other graduates.

- Do you think that academic grads from top unis are less favoured than they were before the recession?
No, the opposite! For many larger recruiters a strong academic degree still trumps a vocational degree. Last year saw the most graduates enter the job market ever which unfortunately coincided with the on-going recession. This meant recruiters had the upper hand and many raised the bar in terms of what they were looking for so in fact 2011 was a record year from GRB placements as the majority of candidates were exactly the calibre they were looking for.

- If a graduate does not have a degree specific to the role to which they are applying, what other traits, achievements and experiences do you look for?
The degree subject takes precedence for most of our clients. Where we help graduates start a career in sales or recruitment, the degree subject is less important, and instead clients demand a range of skills and competences. This could be demonstrated through paid or unpaid work experience, sport, extra-curricular activity or other achievements.
- I see from your LinkedIn profile that you studied Business - do you think that this has fared you better (in terms of skills development and employability) than if you had studied something more traditional?
It gave me a basic understanding of business, for sure, and is still a desirable course for certain employers (and great if you want to start your own business!) It was the year in industry that really helped improve my skillset and commercial awareness compared to other graduates at the time.

- What do you think that academic grads could do to better themselves in their uni life/job hunt and achieve their career goals?
We see so many graduates who leave graduate job hunting to the last minute but we are noticing a change (at last). GRB are on a mission to push this trend further. We have designed a year-by-year action plan from fresher to graduate to help students make the most of their time at uni, build their skill set, create an amazing CV and secure work before they graduate. It works – I’ve seen it happen but we so many get distracted along the way – come on everyone, focus!

- Do you think a marketing degree is necessary to be successful in marketing?
Not necessarily. It definitely helps to know the theory but if you show you have relevant skills from other experiences you have had (like writing a blog!) then you will get a recruiter's attention.



Sunday 4 March 2012

Article for AllAboutCareers.com

Have you heard about AllAboutCareers.com?


There are loads of careers information websites out there for students, but this one in particular stands out for me. It offers all the usual handy information, like a calendar of upcoming uni/careers events, and info and advice on different jobs and courses (not just at university). More unique are its sections for features, blogs and a Q&A forum, which are mainly written by users and make for a great community feel.

Overall the website is more social, informal and just plain amusing than your typical student web resource, and I would recommend it to all students and young grads.

So I was really very chuffed to be asked to write a little piece for them. I decided to write about how my blog has facilitated my job search. It was good to get it all down and fully realise the results I have seen from this blog. I hope by reading it you will be inspired to start your own blog!  Please follow the link: Writing a marketing blog

Monday 27 February 2012

Help!!

Today I checked my Twitter to find that someone had tweeted me:

"Hi I have just seen your blog on a website that a friend contributed to. I think you are my guardian angel, I've emailed you at your Gmail account for some advice on non-graduate aspiring marketing students making it into this industry! Help !! x"

As I read Amy's email I couldn't help thinking how much she sounded like me in my final year of university. Of course I was more than happy to try and offer what advice I could. I thought it would be great if I published Amy's message and my reply, in order to share our dialogue in the hope it might help one or two of you. I would also be really happy (and I'm sure Amy would appreciate it too!) if anyone had any comments to make about her position, and to add to the advice I have given.


Hi Jos,

My name is Amy Jackson and I recently found your blog whilst reading a friends contribution to the website TargetjobsBloggers.

Your About Me section really interested me and I thought I'd email you mainly for some advice, I hope this is ok.

I am in my last two months at University studying a Journalism and English Literature degree. My dream job is to be a Marketing and Advertisiting Co-ordinator. However, after a four year degree of something that isn't directly related, I am struggling. At 18 I was unsure as what I wanted to do at University, but as the years have gone on, I've realised I have found something I am passionate about and feel I could put my whole self into.

I have done many placements in the last four years, I have travelled to Vietnam and Africa with the BBC, worked in publishing houses working with events management and helped to arrange many charity events around the North East. However, no immediate connection to Marketing and Advertising.

I have an interview on Thursday for a 5 month placement with DiFFERENT Marketing and Advertising, in Newcastle. The email I got back regarding a graduate job invited me along for a chat about my options, and they said I would be more suited for a PR role. I am unsure as to how this meeting will go and what my options are, but if you could give me some tips on how impress at this sort of interview, then I'd really appreciate it.

Besides not actually doing a marketing degree, I regulary read books about it and speak to other people who are involved in this industry. My experience is limited but I want to show I can learn quickly.

Best Wishes,

Amy Jackson

 

Hi Amy,
Thanks so much for getting in touch! It’s great to know that people are reading Jos Can and taking something from it, as well as the fact we are able to connect and share advice and experiences. Your email struck a chord with me as I was in your exact position in my third year of university.
You seem really on the ball though, passionate and knowledgeable, which will definitely work in your favour. You mentioned you read marketing-related books and network with people in the industry – this is a brilliant demonstration of your commitment and enthusiasm, and you should definitely bring this up in the interview. These traits will probably be your greatest assets.
You mention that you have been invited to have a “chat about your options”, which seems to imply that the exact nature of the placement is not set in stone or that there is more than one available. So they might start off by explaining a bit more about what it is they’re expecting the hired candidate(s) to get up to, which will be a great chance for you to make connections to your own interests and past experiences in order to demonstrate your suitability.
Equally they might ask you what sort of career you’re looking for in order to scope out how right you are for what they have in mind. In this instance, I wouldn’t spend too long talking about the exact thing you’re looking for. For example, if you were interested in doing events for big sports brands but they were looking for someone to support the social media for a food and beverages client, you could focus instead on what you want to get out of the role – “I’m looking for something challenging, where I can take on responsibility and make a difference to a company”…”I’m a fast learner so this would be a great experience to work alongside and learn from industry experts”..., but obviously tailor it to what it is you think they’re looking for.  In a lot of interviews I’ve been to, they have been hesitant about revealing that a lot of the role will be admin/support–focused as they are aware it is not very appealing, but although it wasn’t what I was after, by showing that I wasn’t loath to get involved with that sort of stuff I found my way in, which then provided a chance for me to prove myself in other tasks that came along as part of the role.
When preparing for an interview I find it a good exercise to imagine yourself as the interviewer and that you have someone you have never met before coming in to talk to you. What would you want to know? Surely: why has this person decided to try for the job? So this is where you would talk about your passion for marketing. You can say where your interest came from - perhaps a particular campaign that first caught your eye, or the fact that you have always paid attention to brands and how they are interacting with their consumers. You said you've come to realise you have "found something you're passionate about and could put your whole self into", so make sure they see that and you'll be halfway there!
Try not to present your degree as anything but an asset (I know I have a terrible tendency to jump straight in and apologise for my lack of marketing degree!) You can point out how your degree has allowed you to develop important skills, in writing (an obvious one)/analysing (from deciphering news articles)/teamwork (from any group project work) etc.… You know that you want a job that allows you to use these skills, and marketing, coupled with your interest in the industry, fits this well.
Please forgive my majorly vague interpretation of your degree! It just goes to show how not everyone will have a really distinct idea of what it is you worked on as part of your degree, so it’s really important that you can clearly explain what skills you developed, and translate that to the job role you’re after.  Similarly, don’t view the fact that you haven’t had any experience directly related to marketing as a flaw. I’ll bet you’ll have picked up lots of useful skills in your past work experiences – they sound really interesting and unique and I think they would make you stand out.
It’s my (cynical) suspicion that they have suggested PR because of your writing and journalism-focused degree. Don’t let them pigeon-hole you if that’s not what you’re interested in! If it turns out in the interview that the placement you are going for is more focused towards PR, take the opportunity to find out all you can about what you’d be doing, as well as opportunities for the future - the placement is still likely to be worthwhile, and you certainly don't want to reject it then and there.

So! There's my humble advice - has anyone else got any comments to help Amy before her interview? Maybe you're in the same position as her and have struggled due to a lack of relevant experience. Are you from a similar course and able to pinpoint the key benefits/transferable skills of her degree? Or are you in the same boat and just want to complain! Even any words of encouragement that have come to mind whilst reading Amy's message. Personally, I think she sounds like she would be a great asset to any marketing team, and even if this opportunity isn't right or doesn't work out, that she'll no doubt go on to be successful in pursuing her dream. 

Saturday 18 February 2012

Guest blog post by language grad, Marie

Visit Marie's blog at
Grad and Looking


Today's post has been written by Marie, a French and Cultural Studies graduate whose career goal is to work in advertising. She writes spiritedly about the intense competition faced by those of us chasing our dreams in this popular industry, and highlights the main challenges and, even more helpfully, how we can face them.

Her story, of how she was inspired to carry out an internship in China in order to get that little bit closer to her dream job, emphasises just how much of a challenge today's job market can be. As she rightly points out, an internship abroad is not a viable option for all of us, but it just goes to show how important it is to make the most of the opportunities we are presented with. And, as I pointed out in my TARGETjobs blog post last week, the extra hurdles that we have to jump will just make us that much stronger candidates than if we had only to walk to the finish line.


Graduated and looking…

Hey everyone! My name’s Marie and like Jos (and many of you reading this) I am trying to break into the increasingly difficult marcoms industry – more specifically advertising.  A recent French and Cultural Studies graduate from the University of Sussex I know that there are two main things that advertising agencies think twice about when I apply:

1) I don’t come from a business/marketing/advertising background
2) My lack of agency experience (particularly because when I was first applying for grad schemes this time last year, I’d only had a couple of weeks of experience at an independent B2B agency in London)

So what to do you when any one of those two things are held against you? Well determination and pro-activeness play a huge part.  During my final year last year I applied for virtually nearly every advertising grad scheme that was out there that appealed to me, from AMV BBDO, to Iris, to Ogilvy, balancing uni deadlines with application deadlines, which always seemed to coincide. Unfortunately, despite all the hard work, out of the fifteen or so applications I sent I only received one invitation to interview (and as you can see from this blog entry, I didn’t get through to that agency’s assessment day that year). What had I done wrong? I had worked so hard and spent so much time on every single application. Couldn’t they see my extreme passion for the industry and eagerness to learn? I knew that my lack of experience was my main hindrance and that I needed to go out and get some, but I also knew that if I didn’t focus on the one important matter of gaining a good degree, my chances of working within the industry could be taken away from me completely. So for the last few months of my degree, I knuckled down and the hard work of a 4-year course finally paid off! But as graduation approached, reality dawned on me. Whenever bumping into relatives and family friends the same old questions and exclamations kept resurfacing, “What will you do now you’ve finished?”, “What, you haven’t got a job!?”, “There are lots of sales and recruitment roles out there, why don’t you pursue those options instead?”, “How about teaching? Lots of language students go into teaching…”.  The questions were never-ending, and whilst annoying, I knew that they all had my best interest at heart. But I didn’t want to go into sales, or recruitment, or teaching despite the constant competition and rejection I knew I was putting myself up for. There were simply industries that I wasn’t passionate about.  As the questions kept flooding in I started to do some research and finally found my solution: I was going to do an internship… in Shanghai.

Yes, that’s right Shanghai, China. I took the extreme option of moving halfway across the world for several months in order for me to get some of that integral work experience under my belt. And what an experience it was! It was undoubtedly worth every single penny that I had scrimped and saved up for during the summer at my part-time job. But why China of all places? Well three reasons really. Firstly, I’ve always had a soft spot for China, having grown up in Hong Kong until the age of 11, and I knew that I always wanted to go back. Secondly, being a language geek, I knew sometime after uni I wanted to start learning Mandarin, so what better excuse than to go and learn the language whilst being immersed by it! And finally, and maybe most importantly, the fact that China is an emerging market, that has not only become the second largest global ad market but that it is expected to surpass the UK and become the biggest consumer market in the next 10-15 years. As a result of this huge expansion, I know that employers, no matter what industry you want to go into, will start to look for potential employees who have had experience and understand the subtle differences between China and the West. It was easy for me. I didn’t need much persuading as I have never been one to be afraid of a challenge, particularly one that involved travelling and living abroad, having already spent a year living in France in my 3rd year.

So last October, after 4 months of saving, I said goodbye to my family and friends, got on a plane and joined 30 other interns from around the world to take part in a two-month internship organised by CRCC Asia Ltd. I was working as a marketing and events intern for a small independent local advertising agency whose main channel is a website dedicated to helping expats moving to and living in Shanghai (I wont go into great detail about my internship but if you want to know more about what I did there feel free to visit my blog www.gradandlooking.blogspot.com). Whilst it wasn’t specifically an advertising internship that I had initially asked for when applying for the programme, I threw myself into it and as I was working for an SME, I learnt an extensive amount about event marketing, event management and social media marketing, and was given a huge amount of responsibility from negotiating with sponsors to devising and planning the agency’s biggest event of the year! I also learnt about Chinese business culture, including the importance of networking and guan’xi, and keeping ones face (mian’xi) and more importantly I learnt so much about myself as a person. Despite the never-ending cultural shocks that I faced in a city that is in a continuous state of change and growth, I never felt lost.  Even though frustration became a frequent sentiment in my day-to-day life as a graduate on my very own journey to the East, I learnt and improved upon many skills that were unbeknown to me! Whether it was my acting abilities during my first weekend when trying to look for coat hangers and struggling to find the word in my phrasebook (I am proud to say that I am pretty good at charades now!), or my ability in hiding my true feelings towards some unknown Chinese delicacy that I had to eat out of politeness (there were many dishes whose ingredients were unrecognisable, and perhaps to my relief will continue to remain unknown), or successfully holding my own on the metro and reaching my desired metro stop without being shoved and pushed off the stop before, Shanghai showed me that I can adapt to any unfamiliar situation.

Now I’m back in the UK, my life in Shanghai seems like a blur and I miss China terribly – I know it’s a place I would love to return to in the future to live and work. So what am I doing now? Well unfortunately I missed out on the majority of advertising grad schemes whilst away, but I have managed to apply for the few schemes whose deadlines were after Christmas and consequently been invited to interviews and an assessment day. I am also applying to entry-level advertising account executive job vacancies that I have seen, but surprisingly I have seen that even with me having several months of experience, for most vacancies this isn’t enough – they want at least a year’s worth! We just can’t win. For that reason I feel that grad schemes are so important to aspiring ad execs like myself, and that more companies should have them, or at least have a few trainee vacancies as many of us cannot afford to work for free for a year, especially with our student debt looming above us! Without a doubt my two-months of overseas experience have been integral to the success of my grad scheme applications this year, and I now have so much more to talk about during those important competency based questions that we are all so familiar with! However despite the fact that there is a high possibility that I may have to undertake some more work experience whilst working part time, I do not regret any part of my expensive decision to go abroad. I am not saying that you all have to go to the same extreme lengths that I have (after all going all the way to China might not appeal to everyone’s tastes and pockets), but that the key to getting noticed in the marcoms industry is to definitely get as much work experience as you can whether it’s an independent local agency or one in the big cities like London, Manchester, Birmingham etc. It really annoys me when I see headlines and reports stating how lazy our generation are. If they call people who are working for free for months on end just to get a foot on the career ladder in order to start paying off our scarily high debts lazy, I don’t know what more they expect from us. We all just have to keep at it and maintain our sense of humour. Be determined, be pro-active, be patient, and hopefully someone somewhere will see how much we want that ever-important first job. Good luck to you all J!

Marie xox

(If you have any questions or comments please don’t hesitate to contact me by following me on Twitter @mklw20 or connecting with me on LinkedIn).

Thursday 16 February 2012

Guest blog post for TARGETjobs

Yesterday, TARGETjobs Bloggers published a post I had written for them that documents my journey into marketing.

I talk about how the graduate job hunt can be frustrating and demoralising, but that we should see how, through dedication and self-motivation, the challenge of pursuing a job in your chosen sector can make you a much better candidate in interviews as well as when you actually start your job.

So don't shy away from a competitive sector if you are really interested in it - relish in the trials and tribulations of your job hunt and see it as a means of bettering yourself, because you can bet that all your hard work will make you far better in your job once you manage to obtain it.

Please go to TARGETjobs Bloggers to read my post. I hope you enjoy it!

Sunday 12 February 2012

Guest blog post by marketing graduate, Cassie


 This week's post has been written by Cassie, an American who studied Marketing Communication. She has been determined in her job hunt following graduation and has managed to bag herself a great job in the SEO sector. However, Cassie shows us in her post that even if you have a relevant degree, getting a job is not all plain sailing. She has some great insights into the marketing field and the job market, as well as some crucial tips for succeeding in your graduate job hunt. I hope you enjoy her thoughtful and engaging post.



How to Start Your Career in Marketing - 6 Tips

I remember being eager to graduate from college and pursue my career. Six months before I was set to graduate, I started perfecting my resume, portfolio, and interviewing skills. After graduation, I attended countless interviews and career fairs. I particularly remember attending a two day, intensive business career fair at Purdue West Lafayette. After going through the rounds, I hadn’t gained any solid job prospects—or at least any good ones. As I drove home, Katy Perry’s song, “Firework” came on the radio. As I belted out the lyrics, tears began flowing down my cheeks. I had gone through so much stress preparing for this career fair and for all of the interviews, I finally broke down because I felt as though I wasn’t good enough, smart enough, or worthy enough for my dream job. There didn’t seem to be many options out there and I started questioning my collegiate decisions. Katy’s song spoke to me, “Do you ever feel like a plastic bag, drifting through the wind, ready to start again? Do you ever feel, feel so paper thin, like a house of cards, one blow from caving in?” I most certainly felt this way throughout my entire job hunt, which lasted about eleven months. However, there is hope. With much persistence and patience, you WILL succeed! “Cause baby you’re a firework. Come on show ‘em what you’re worth.”

A huge shift is occurring in how we apply for jobs. When my parents started in the work force, they looked for jobs in the local newspaper and mailed in a resume and cover letter. Now, there is an overabundance of online job application sites such as:  Career Builder, Monster, Indeed, and Simply Hired, just to name a few.  With this current recession and high competition for jobs, you must be very creative and relentless in your job hunt. That being said, here are my 6 tips in starting your career in marketing:

1. Take the right classes and internships
After I had received my bachelor’s degree in marketing communication, I realized many people working in marketing had master’s degrees—mostly because marketing is very broad and it’s easier to get a job if you are more specialized. I majored in marketing because I enjoyed business, writing, and I was creative. However, many employers are looking for more pin-pointed, technical degrees. In hindsight, I would’ve gotten a bachelor of science degree instead of a bachelor of arts degree because you can still attain a mathematical background and also take essential marketing electives. Then, I would’ve minored in marketing or advertising.

Think of what you want to do in marketing. Do you want to plan events and help companies get media coverage? Then maybe you want to specialize in public relations. Do you want to create graphics and logos? Then go into graphic design. If you want to complete budgets for marketing campaigns, having a finance or accounting background is very helpful. Tailor your internships to you degree and your interests. It’s always better to take a three month internship and learn you do or don’t enjoy doing something before you actually start your career. Internships definitely leverage you in your career hunt. If it wasn’t for my experience with SEO in my internship, I may not have my current job.

2. Network
Build your network! I can’t stress this enough. While in school, make many friends and keep their contact information. Join groups and organizations that tailor to your interests and career goals. This also will help you keep up with recent trends in marketing and advertising. Make an account on LinkedIn and start building your network before you graduate college. Perfect your LinkedIn page. If you are creative, build an online portfolio—sites like Coroflot.com let you do it for free. Make business cards with your contact information, LinkedIn, Twitter handle, portfolio, and/or website link to hand out to friends, professors, or anyone who may be interested in hiring you. Locate marketing companies, even if they aren’t hiring, see if you can meet up with an account manager or marketing representative for coffee and pick their brain on how they got into the business and maybe get some tips from them. Who knows? Maybe they will like you so much, they will eventually hire you or recommend you to someone they know. Companies like to hire people they know. So, help them get to know you. 

3. Perfect your resume and interviewing skills
I know this one seems like a no-brainer. I thought I had a perfect, colorful, and creative resume. When I had interviewed for my internship and previous jobs, everyone gloated how wonderful of an interviewee I was. I thought I didn’t need to practice anymore. Wrong! Have as many people go over your resume as possible. I suggest keeping your resume as concise as possible—keep it to one page. HR reps only glance at your resume since they review thousands a day, and most of the time they don’t even look at the second page. Also, stick to the basic fonts and little formatting. With larger companies, they put all submitted resumes through a computer filter. This filter doesn’t see your cool design on your resume, it only picks up formatting and vocabulary. Many colleges will help you with your resume and interview skills. I suggest making an appointment with them about three to six months before you graduate.

4. Research companies
In addition to extensively researching companies you interview with, research companies that you may like to work for. Follow them on Twitter, Facebook, and on LinkedIn. Sometimes companies post jobs on LinkedIn that they do not post on their website. If you are feeling really bold, contact the HR rep on LinkedIn. This is the person that actually posts the jobs on behalf of the company. This is precisely how I networked to get my current position. I did a lot of research online regarding SEO companies in Indiana. I found Slingshot SEO and began following their blog. I started following them on LinkedIn and contacted the HR rep after I had applied to a few jobs within their company and didn’t receive any feedback. From me reaching out to her in a respectful and enthusiastic manner, I was able to land an interview, which eventually led to me getting my dream job at a wonderful company!

5. Perfect your job hunt
There is an incredible number of career sites. You will have to decide for yourself which ones work best for you. For me, I used Indeed.com and Simplyhired.com. I stopped going to these sites every day, only to complete a lengthy, mundane search for jobs. Instead, I set email alerts. Then, Indeed or Simply Hired will send you a daily email digest of the job title you are looking for within your location parameters. Which, is much easier than searching manually every day. After you create your LinkedIn account, follow companies and search for jobs. You can also have a daily email digest from LinkedIn sent straight to your inbox every day. If your college has a career network, use that as well. You can also find career fairs at your school. Mark these career fairs on your calendar in advance and research the companies that are attending the fair.

6. Relax and have fun
Looking for a job and going through countless, dead-end interviews can really hurt your self-esteem and self-worth. Make sure you do fun activities to relieve your stress and distract your mind. You are obviously in marketing because you are a creative person—hone into that. Draw, paint, play an instrument—do anything that will get your mind off of trying to find a job. As long as you keep trying, your dream job will come. It is only a matter of time. You don’t want to keep getting down on yourself because you won’t be as enthusiastic and passionate in your interviews! And, an added project or hobby can always be something interesting to talk about during an interview. Don’t get discouraged; practice makes perfect. 

“À cÅ“ur vaillant rien d'impossible.”—Nothing is impossible for a willing heart.

Author Bio: Cassie is a Lead Generation Specialist at Slingshot SEO, located in Indianapolis, Indiana. She blogs about traveling at cassaleenietravels.blogspot.com. Apart from traveling and keeping up with SEO trends, she enjoys art, photography, and music. Follow her on Twitter @cassaleenie.

- Cassie

Saturday 4 February 2012

Human Sciences

Since leaving uni I feel like I've rather forgotten my old love for science. So when I recently re-discovered a book I had read whilst applying to study science at university, Unweaving the Rainbow by Richard Dawkins, I found myself transported back to the 17 year old me who was so inspired by science and the challenge of its study.

Forget every preconception you have about Dawkins and his attitudes to religion. Whatever your religious beliefs, it is true that his heavy-handedness regarding his position on the absolute truth of science might make his character, and consequently any of his publications, unappealing to some. But if you have read any of his books (and you really should), you will know just how intensely passionate he is about science. It is a popular notion that scientific truths are far less wondrous than their religious or supernatural counterparts, and it is this belief that Dawkins aims to discredit in Unweaving The Rainbow. It is not a book that shoves atheism down your throat, but a handbook for those who think that there is no mystery to appreciate behind the wonder of science. Dawkins distinguishes features of our universe that demonstrate this wonder, delineating the mystique behind scientific triumphs such as evolutionary time, light and DNA fingerprinting. He carefully offers analogies and thorough examples in order to deepen the reader's understanding, with enjoyable wit and astounding intellect, which even extends to a peppering of poetic quotation that would make even the artsiest science-phobe feel at ease.

The opening lines of the book, which Dawkins has long earmarked to be read at his funeral, offer a taste of the scientific wonder that he presents to the reader:

"We are going to die, and that makes us the lucky ones. Most people are never going to die because they are never going to be born. The potential people who could have been here in my place but who will in fact never see the light of day outnumber the sand grains of Arabia. Certainly those unborn ghosts include greater poets than Keats, scientists greater than Newton. We know this because the set of possible people allowed by our DNA so massively outnumbers the set of actual people. In the teeth of these stupefying odds it is you and I, in our ordinariness, that are here. We privileged few, who won the lottery of birth against all odds, how dare we whine at our inevitable return to that prior state from which the vast majority have never stirred?"

Such an outlook is probably quite a radical one for most of us, and this same feeling is replicated throughout the book, as Dawkins unweaves the technicalities of the wonders of this world that can only be fully appreciated through a scientific examination.

Science versus The Arts

For some reason, it seems to be an unhappy trend for science to be viewed by the general public as scary and inaccessible, not to mention boring. The average person will know at least a little bit about literature, geography, history, and other 'arts' subjects, but the components of science, as numerous as they are, always seem to be lumped together, with outsiders knowing very little about sub divisions of science, and barely caring. This leads me to the purpose of this post, which is not, as it might have seemed up until now, to review a favourite popular science book of mine (although I definitely recommend you read it, whatever your background!), but to use it as a springboard to write a little about my degree.

"What is Human Sciences?"

Explaining my degree has been a formidable task ever since I applied for it. There is no easy way to explain it, since it is comprised of such vastly different topics; pretty much all of the modules I took as part of my degree were completely different. I can't even categorise it by saying that it is the study of humans from all different angles, because a small proportion of my modules were to do with animals! Bit of a nightmare (especially when incorrect assumptions regarding its content lead me places I don't expect, see previous blog post).

The responses I have met with over the years have consistently been ones of confusion.

"I do/did Human Sciences."

"*Pause. Look blank*
"Is that Human Biology?"
No it is not Human Biology, if it was Human Biology it would be called Human Biology.

"So you're training to be a doctor?"
No, little sister, I am not doing medicine. And please stop going around telling everyone I am, since I've been home for Christmas I've had two family friends come up to me in Tesco and congratulate me.

"Is that about sex and stuff?"
Yes, my degree is entirely about sex. Not. [Actually parts of it was to be fair. Interesting stuff ;)]

"Is that even a real degree?"
Of course it's a real degree! Oxford offer it! 

The actual answer is not a simple one.

For anyone who might actually be interested(!), here's a link to the UCL website where you can read some information about the degree. As is noted, there is incredible scope for flexibility and almost complete freedom in what you can choose to study. Your first year is a compulsory mix of what you might call the more hardcore sciences (Anatomy, Biochemistry, Genetics and Physiology), alongside social science modules (Geography, Anthropology and Psychology), as well as Statistics - an important lesson for any student of science. The aim is to provide you with a basic grounding in the social, medical, behavioural and biological study of humans so that you are well able to choose which direction you wish to pursue your studies according to your interests.

In second and third years you are able to choose literally any module you want from the whole university, which amounts to over 50 options across numerous departments. The range available reflects what I've already mentioned - that is, a mix of the life and behavioural/social sciences - but some options that you might not expect include Philosophy, History (of Art/Medicine/Science), Business, Archaeology, Economics and Earth Sciences to name a few. The only stipulation in choosing modules is that you must choose courses from at least three departments, so as to ensure that the degree is inter-disciplinary. This is also reflected in the research project (that dreaded 'dissertation') of your third year, which must be focused on two or three different disciplines, at least one social and one biological. Mine was an exploration of the study of how human altruism has evolved, from the perspectives of evolutionary biology, economics and neuroscience; but other examples of Human Sciences dissertations include topics such as: obesity, pain, cholera, and human mating preferences. This gives you some idea of just how drastically different the Human Sciences degree can be for each student.

What do employers think about Human Sciences?

So hopefully now you know a little more about what is involved in the Human Sciences degree! I believe it is a degree only offered by about five or six universities in England, and the course structure and content differs vastly between these unis too. So I recognise that I cannot expect a lot of people to be completely familiar with it. As I touched on before, I find it a shame that the vast subdivisions within science are generally less well understood than arts subjects. Everyone has a pretty clear impression of what an English degree involves; but how employers view my degree is a concern of mine. Does it spark their interest or even make me stand out as a candidate with a unique background? Or does the lack of clarity regarding its content leave them unsure about my suitability to a role? What with marketing employers seemingly tending to favour arts degrees such as English owing to their heavy focus on writing, I fear that employers will be misled by the degree name and type (Human Sciences BSc) and will discount me as lacking in this skill.

Do I regret studying Human Sciences?

Despite these concerns, rereading Unweaving The Rainbow following the completion of my degree has been a pleasant reminder of how, no matter how frustrating my job hunt gets, I have no regrets about my choice of degree course. Often I have found myself getting frustrated when my degree is overlooked (or maybe worse, looked at too intently - again see previous blog post). But the thrill of academic study, in particular the unique and varied course of study I undertook, is something that I would have always regretted not aiming for.

Doing an academic degree allowed me to satisfy my appetite for learning for its own sake, and also take some quite cool classes  (looking at human bones in archaeology, tutorials about the evolution of homosexuality, free trips to London Zoo) which I probably won't have the chance to do again. It also meant I was motivated to obtain as much knowledge and experience in my chosen field as possible in order to compete with marketing students, a challenge that I have really enjoyed. I want to, and will hopefully, work in marketing for the rest of my life, and so far I have not met with too much of a challenge having to 'learn on the job'. So, really, I am very glad to have spent my three years at uni as a 'Humsci' :)

Sunday 29 January 2012

The virtues of being rejected

 So, I got rejected from the DAS Accelerate graduate scheme.

Had to get that out of the way first!

The programme is an excellent opportunity for graduates to gain a fully comprehensive introduction to and training in the industry of marketing communications, through joining one of four streams (Brand, Corporate, Healthcare and CRM), and carrying out placements in a number of agencies that are part of the Omnicom Group, one of the largest in the world. I was absolutely gutted that my application form was rejected. Especially since last year I reached the stage following the application form, which is an Open Day consisting of an introduction to the scheme through presentations, networking with Omnicom employees and previous grads, as well as an interview. 

The fact I got through last year and not this year is something I have been quite puzzled about. This year I applied with an equally strong, if not stronger, brand essay; and not only that but I had three more experiences in marketing under my belt, including one carried out in one of their own agencies. I guess there’s no hard and fast rule as to what gets you through, but having worked on my application for many months prior to the deadline with a much better knowledge of the industry and the actual job I was applying to, it made being rejected with no feedback all the more difficult to bear. But anyway, onwards and upwards I guess.


A little story about my science degree 

I have decided to recount my experience of last year’s Open Day because it is one of the most tangible examples I have of my degree impacting on my application in an unfavourable way.

This bear is sad because he has
graduated, but it turns out his degree
isn't doing him much good

 Sitting down for my interview, my interviewer introduced herself as an employee at a PR agency in the Healthcare section. She looked at me encouragingly, expecting me to take an avid interest in this and seemingly hoping that we might bond over our shared career interests. I was puzzled. I myself knew that my degree did not involve the study of any hardcore science subjects that might form the appropriate foundation for a career in healthcare communications. But I had not considered that the recruiters might have looked at my BSc degree and made the assumption that I was suited to and/or interested in this particular stream. 


 I cannot explain to you how quickly her potential fondness for me melted when I impulsively exclaimed “Oh! No, I know I do Human Sciences, but it’s not really about hardcore science and health all that much. I’m much more interested in the Brand stream”, nor can I explain the figurative drop in temperature that followed this proclamation. 

 
ERROR. 

That would have been us in my
interview.
Although this was the truth, I hadn’t considered that my degree might have caused the scheme organisers to believe they were creating a match made in heaven by assigning this particular lady to interview me. Consequently, the shock at finding myself being interviewed by someone who was expecting me to share an interest in what they do for a living meant that I lost all tact, and pretty much extinguished any hope of us ever bonding. Had I been prepared for such an occurrence, I would have definitely dedicated some time to discussing our (supposedly) mutual interest, before gently steering her towards my preference for the brand stream. 

On the day it was made clear that the healthcare stream was the hardest stream to recruit for. I’ve often wondered whether the reason I was let through last was because they saw my degree and let me through because they were short on applicants suited to or interested in the healthcare stream. This year I stipulated in my cover letter that I was interested in the brand stream, and as I’m sure it’s probably the most popular, perhaps this is why I was not put through. Though of course, you can never say for sure. 

What did I learn?

I do not mean to entirely blame DAS for my lack of success last year; I know that I was nowhere near good enough then, and of course it was my fault that my disinterest in healthcare had the impact it did on my interview. By sharing the story I wanted to highlight what I took away from the experience, which I hope might also be of some help to you. Leaving the interview, I felt that sinking feeling when you know things haven't gone well. I also couldn't help feeling frustrated that I had been pigeonholed into healthcare. I knew then that I had to use my work experience to move away from my degree and show my interests and capabilities in my preferred areas. 

It also emphasised to me how important it is that you look at yourself objectively, see yourself as the recruiter will see you, and use the perspective of how others see you to strengthen your application by making your interests and goals transparent. In my cover letter to DAS, I had dedicated a paragraph to talking about my degree. Reading this back now it is easier to see why the recruiters might have been persuaded of my desire to apply my BSc degree to my career. Whilst my original intention of including this paragraph - to demonstrate how my degree had benefited me - was a correct approach, I had emphasised the wrong aspects of it, such as content. Had I read it back objectively, I might have realised that this approach might mislead the recruiters into assuming a passion for science and healthcare. Then I might have been better able to write from a more relevant angle, such as how the inter-disciplinary nature of the degree makes me suited to the placement style of the scheme. And although I didn't get through this year, I can look back over my application with a certainty that I made my interests clear, and would have avoided any crossed wires at interview!

Saturday 28 January 2012

Guest blog post by fellow academic grad, Galina

Today's post is written by Galina Rusak, a Cambridge graduate who wants very much to get into advertising. Galina contacted me after seeing a tweet by Milkround about my blog (yay!), and I asked her if she would be interested in sharing some of her story here. Galina is very passionate about getting her dream job, as is pretty obvious from her application to Saatchi and Saatchi, which has seen her create a Facebook page called The Graduate. The page is somewhere where all those who are chasing their dream jobs can gather together to share information and tips - I recommend that anyone who is on the edge of embarking on their career Like this page. 


 I hope you enjoy what Galina has to say. I'm very excited to publish her post as I'm sure it will resonate with a lot of you.

If at first you don't succeed...

This week has been rather confusing. A lot of positive things have happened. One of them was that I was invited by Joscelyne to write this guest blog. Another was that I received an email from a big Advertising agency letting me know I'm through to the second round of their application process! I felt so good after I got that email. But then, I got another one. A Marketing company to which I had sent my CV and Cover Letter, emailed me that I was not short-listed for an interview. It really does confuse me sometimes how HR people go about selecting the right candidates from, admittedly, a seemingly infinite number of applicants. But that's a topic for a different blog post.

You know, I'm not unused to being rejected (by institutions and companies, I mean). When I first contacted the University of Cambridge with questions about their undergraduate selective process, they advised me to explore other options. That didn't stop me from chasing my dream. I applied a couple of years later, after having obtained further qualifications, and I got in. I am now a proud Cambridge graduate with a BA(Hons) in Classics. My degree opened up a whole new world to me! Its multidisciplinary nature (languages, literature, history, philosophy, linguistics, art and archaeology) meant I had to think differently depending on what subject I was working on. Towards the end of my degree, I could combine these different types of thinking and apply them to a single problem. This is a highly transferrable skill to any profession. I'm sure you can think of at least one valuable skill that you've acquired at uni, too.

I also got rejected last year when I applied to that same Advertising agency I mentioned above. Back then my CV must have ended up in the bin straight away. I learned my lesson. I realised that, just like with Cambridge, I needed to get a bit more experience and show a lot more commitment if I wanted them to consider my application.

After I graduated last Summer, I did a marketing internship in a small start-up. It taught me a lot. I had to work out how to create and run a Google AdWords campaign, for starters. The product we were providing was a sustainability management software, so I had to read up on sustainable development issues, energy efficiency, corporate social responsibility and carbon reduction commitment. The few months I spent in this company proved invaluable to me. A business is a business and, whatever industry you have chosen to build a career in, you stand no chance unless you can demonstrate that you are reliable and professional. I believe that the applications I send out now are much stronger than those I sent in my final year at uni. It is because I take my time to think about what role I'm applying to, what skills and competencies to highlight in my Cover Letter, and most importantly, what company I'm applying to! Last year I used applications as a welcome break from writing my essays. I had fun with them. There were bold projects and long creative sessions with my friends. None of that paid off. I do think that this year I got through to the second round with the Advertising company in question because my approach was much more structured. I researched their work and their sub-divisions and applied my knowledge when answering the questions on their application form. I also read a couple of books on Advertising which gave me an insight into the nature of the work so I could mention more relevant skills and experiences in my CV. David Ogilvy's book, Ogilvy on Advertising (1983) is an absolute must if you want to work in Advertising. The book was written before terms like “social media”, “digital marketing” and “triple bottom line” even existed but it is still considered The Bible for advertisers.

Going back to that second email and the rejection from the Marketing company... I actually emailed them back today saying that they should reconsider their decision. After all, my experience has taught me to always try again! In my email, I attached a link to a Facebook page I created  on Monday called The Graduate. The page functions as a hub for students, graduates and anyone who is trying to get a job they actually want in the tough economic climate in which we have found ourselves. The Graduate is, in fact, my response to Saatchi and Saatchi's Brief 1 for their Summer Scholarship. The idea is that I must accumulate as many Like's as possible to be allowed to move on to Brief 2. If you would like to have a look and see what other people have already shared on The Graduate Facebook Wall, feel free! Perhaps you'll find a link or a suggestion there that will lead you to your Dream Job. Or you could share something you know that could help someone else? I would also really appreciate it if you could Like and Share the page with your friends so I can get a little bit closer to my Dream Job.

I'll be happy to answer any questions about applications I've made and what the results were, how I answered questions, and, if I'm lucky enough to have a few interviews this time around, I'd gladly share my experiences with you. Just keep an eye on The Graduate and use it to get in touch with me.