Finding a Marketing Job

Out of any other jobs in which our sales recruiters headhunt for, marketing jobs are by far the most competitive to obtain and are far less in abundance when compared to sales jobs.

Applicants all over the country struggle with transitioning from sales to marketing positions or landing their first marketing job out of college.

This is especially true in a down economy as marketing recruitment is more a long-term business strategy while recruiting sales personnel can prove to be a more timely fix to a firm's cash flow problems.

However, despite the economy and one's background, obtaining a job in marketing is a lot easier than one thinks.

Laying the Foundation

In a perfect world, companies would hand out marketing jobs to those with no experience, however we don't live in a perfect world so the job seekers have to meet the employers half-way.

This means that instead of throwing out your resume to each marketing opening, taking the time to learn different facets of marketing such as digital media, social media, e-commerce, search engine optimization, blogging and more is key.

Even if you don't have the experience in a marketing job, become an expert at the above skills, list these strengths on your resume (preferably at the top) and you should see more responses than previously witnessed.

Remaining in the Industry

If you have sales experience in a particular industry, you should look for marketing jobs within that vertical. For instance, hiring companies are more apt to hire a marketing professional in software with a sales background in IT as opposed to someone selling in online travel. Don't expect the resume reader or executive recruiter to put two and two together.

Discuss your industry expertise on both your objective section of your resume as well as touching upon it on your cover letter / initial email. This will put another feather in your cap.

Recruiter or Job Boards?

In order to find your first marketing job, should you go through a recruiter? Should you comb the job boards or should you look at individual websites? The answer is all of the above, however you should expect your best results when combing the job boards and corporate websites.

Sometimes companies will have open marketing positions available for so long that they become willing to look at other options and this is where you are most likely to land the marketing job you want.

Remember that anything worthwhile takes work and can be frustrating, though obtaining a marketing job is within your reach, you just have to know how to approach the job search process.

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