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 cœur 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