'Jos Can' is a blog written from my perspective of being an academic grad trying to break into the world of marketing communications. The name 'Jos Can' is both a reference to my name, and also to the sentiment that I can work in marketing!
If you've read the 'About Me' tab you'll know that I have been on my marketing career path for quite a while now. 'Jos Can' arose from the troubles I have experienced along the way in trying to achieve success by finding a permanent role that suits my interests and abilities. The troubles I refer to were far too often related to my degree in Human Sciences, which I studied for at UCL.
When I first started this blog my agency experiences (a sector that I am very interested in) amounted to a fortnight's worth of experience in a creative communications agency, and another few weeks in a PR agency. However, even with this good experience under my belt, following the recent surge in competition within the graduate job
market it never seemed to be enough. And the issue of my lack of industry-related degree seemed to be alleviated all the more - I was struggling big time to find my way into an agency role that didn't destroy my bank balance.
Just some of the things that seemed wrong during the recruitment processes I was going through were:
- My concern that my degree was being thought of as 'generic' and not really that useful, and that the competitive institution I'd studied at wasn't being appreciated.
- Seeing legions of job descriptions stipulating the necessity of having a marketing degree, for jobs whose role requirements didn't quite marry up to the need for this particular expertise.
- Feeling like my degree was tainting an employer's impression of me -
making me automatically unsuitable since I didn't have that coveted
'relevant degree' despite all the efforts I'd made to gain experience in
the field.
- It seemed like there was this recruitment trend that had developed, that was leaving academic grads like me behind, with employers becoming increasingly focused on degree subject as a quick means of sorting through hordes of applications.
Thankfully, things have moved on for me now and, with a solid half a year's agency experience under my belt, I am finding there to be less of a focus on my degree during the recruitment process. Indeed, a lot of professionals I have spoken to have praised the academic degree, which is of course great news.
Through this blog I aim to explore the different facets of this situation. I hope to be able to do it justice and will strive to remain as partial as my emotions will allow(!) I believe I am not alone in feeling undervalued for having read for a degree in a more academic subject, and I would like to invite others like me to read and share in this issue.
Now finally at a more stable stage of my career, I will be reflecting back on my journey into marketing communictions, talking about the work I'm involved with now, as well as engaging with what's going on in the graduate recruitment industry.
Finally, I would also like to use the blog as an outlet for my interest in marketing - a place to write about campaigns and industry activities that catch my eye.
I hope you enjoy 'Jos Can'. Please feel free to get in touch via the details provided on the Contact Me tab.
