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If You Want a Marketing or Creative Career Then You Need to Read This
Advice from an experienced marketing Jedi
Apparently, the more grey hair you have, the wiser you are.
I am not sure if that's true, but given the amount of grey hair I am now producing, I certainly hope it is. Based on that, and for the purposes of this article, you can call me the Obi-Wan of Marketing. Obviously, the Alec Guinness version, not the Ewan McGregor one.
With so many years of marketing experience under my robe, I would be remiss not to pass some advice on to future marketing Jedis. I have been a fresh face graduate applying for jobs and also been the wrinkle-faced guy on the other side of the table hiring marketing staff. From a marketing assistant to the Director of Marketing for a global organization, I have learned a bit.
Here are some tips that may help whether you are 18 and applying for your first job or 58 and wanting to move into marketing.
To Be a Creative, You Need to Get Creative
Marketers need to be creative.
Sure, there are many other skills required, but I focused on creativity when I was hiring marketing staff and putting myself forward for positions. I wanted creative people who could come up with ideas and execute them. I sought creative people who had a passion for advertising and promotions and brand development.
The job market in marketing is competitive. I would advertise a role and get inundated with resumes. Of those, 99% would be effectively the same. Each of them had Googled ‘marketing resume template’ and filled in the blanks.
I’ll let you in on a secret —most of those I didn't read. I lost interest. Much like a writer, you need to capture attention in an ocean of words. I gravitated to the ones that stood out.
The ones who created a website for the position instead of a resume. The ones who added color (but no photos — this isn't Tinder!) or came up with a different format or just injected a bit of creativity. Something that showed me they had a creative brain and would be an added resource to my marketing team. Not another marketing clone.
