Opportunities to further your career within the Marketing industry

Over the past couple of years, the marketing industry has been constantly growing. Particularly the digital marketing sector is flourishing, and more and more job opportunities are offered to specialists. Furthermore, industry experts say that the marketing industry will never be strongly affected by economic downturns as companies usually continue to invest in the acquisition of new customers and retention of old customers via marketing measures. Unlike the technology industry, marketing is not affected by a skills shortage as the employment market in the United Kingdom is extremely competitive.

Marketing, advertising and PR agencies represent the industries with the most job opportunities for marketers. Besides them, there is a multiplicity of other employers as marketing skills are needed across almost all industries, including the consumer, financial and information technology sector. There is also a relatively large number of not-for-profit organisations, which depend on talented marketers, such as educational institutions and charities.

Recent Changes

One of the most typical characteristics of the marketing industry is change. In the past, telemarketing and print adverts were the most effective and used marketing measures. With the growing importance of digital, things have changed: companies replaced most traditional marketing channels with digital ones, such as email and search marketing. Due to this development, it is important for marketers to change with the times and always update one’s skill sets based on present trends, even if they differentiate a lot from previous ones.

Future Prospects

Compared to other industries, the percentage of unemployed marketing professionals is extremely low in the United Kingdom (around six percent). According to recent statistics, over 80 percent of marketers find a job within the first couple of months after they graduate. The majority of those employed in a marketing position state that the job meets their expectations. In other words, the likelihood that you find a job you like is very high for marketers in the UK.

• Salt’s advice for getting a job in Marketing

  Employers’ Requirements

  No matter if it is a large or a smaller company, employers expect marketing professionals to be tech-savvy and at the same time be up to date about the latest ways to market businesses. Some core skills, which help every marketing professional to land a job, are the ability to plan and implement successful marketing campaigns, the development of engaging web content and a profound understanding of analytics. If the employing organisation is small, marketers are usually expected to conduct a variety of marketing tasks, while larger companies tend to employ specialists in certain fields.

  CV Requirements

  CV requirements for marketing jobs depend strongly on the area of specialisms that you work in. However, according to the majority of hiring managers, some skills upgrade the CV of every marketing professional. Among these competencies are the ability to plan and think in a very strategic way and your communications skills, particularly as a marketer, it is crucial to be able to express your ideas and concepts in a verbal and written way. Besides that, hiring managers prefer CVs with analytics and presentation experience. Qualitative and quantitative market research is considered as a big bonus as well.

  Marketing Job Interview Preparation

  In no other industry is it so crucial to market yourself in an interview and establish the right chemistry with the interviewer as it is in marketing. Essentially, if you can market yourself, you’re likely to be a good marketer and are proving you’re able to market the products or services in the right way to the target audience. Besides these fundamental principles, you should also be prepared to answer some commonly asked questions, including:

  1. Please give an example of a successful marketing campaign that you have run in the past.
  2. Can you work effectively and efficiently within budgetary constraints?
  3. Which benefits could you bring the company?
  4. Have you ever implemented a marketing measure which did not succeed? If so, please describe what happened.

  Educational Requirements

  For marketing executive roles, most employers expect a bachelor’s degree in marketing or business administration from their future employees. Marketers who would like to land a manager position are sometimes also required to have a master’s degree. Apart from the degree, marketing specialist should also try to gain as much experience as possible from the beginning (e.g. in the form of internships) as relevant experience is sometimes as much valued as a university degree.