Marketing Job Hunting – Lessons and Experiences

There are certain types of businesses I know I am supposed to work with.  We share similar passions and values, but we also have much to teach each other.  We both believe we are on this planet to make a difference, and invest in what is good and right.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve learned a lot about myself and what’s important to me in my career.  And here are some of my thoughts…

Infuriating Job Ads

Why are job ads so vague and use such generic words?  Everyone has a professional team, believes in customer service, and it is almost impossible to really understand what their business is about.  And if they say their company name and you visit their website, this doesn’t really help either.

I then see two styles of websites:

1. The “I love stock images” website, with little about who is really behind the company.  Or…

2. The “buddy buddy” website, showing a young team, that all look like college buddies, having a great time at work.

Businesses writing job ads have way too much focus on the actual tasks, and not enough focus on the kind of person that would make their team or business better.

Culture

I’ve realised that a company’s values, beliefs and culture are the most important elements you need to consider when deciding where you work.

As professionals we spend 40 hours or most of our waking week working, so having a match of culture is the best way to ensure a happy working life, and to improve productivity and make you excited about heading to work each day.

Throughout my working life, I’ve realised I’m a Generation XY, and I thrive in a working culture that supports:

• A fun and passionate working environment
• Flexibility
• Creativity
• Respect
• Integrity
• Authenticity

Culture is really about the foundation of the attitude of the business.

Marketing Skills

It is understandable that to succeed in any job, you do require certain skills.  When a business is looking for a new staff member, in an ideal world, the new member would be able to step in and get done what needs to be done as quickly as possible to achieve the best outcomes from the role.  But are employers expecting too much?

The Marketing field is an ever expanding, ever changing world, of new tools and new channels to participate in on a weekly basis.  But there are some things businesses need to understand:

Marketing is Not Sales and Marketing is Not Graphic Design

Marketing comprises of very specialised skills, where the professional needs to generate leads for the business via various campaigns, and also engage and nurture the database or potential customers of a business to increase the chance that they will become customers in the long run.

Selling is a dedicated field and a completely different role from marketing.  And quite a lot of Graphic Designers spend 3 or 4 years learning their craft, attending universities or technical college and learning the ins and outs of their tools like Adobe Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, and/or Dreamweaver.  To use these tools well, you need a different skill set, passion and almost personality.

So based on this, how can a good marketer be expected to step away from what they do best, and sell or do graphic or web design?

Know the Path, but Don’t Walk the Path

This isn’t to say that marketers shouldn’t have a basic understanding of selling or design – they definitely should!  But these tasks should be left to the experts, to get the best results in any business.

Teams and Teamwork

In recently reading “GO Put Your Strengths to Work” by Marcus Buckingham, he says there is too much pressure in today’s teams for everyone in the team to know everyone’s job and be able to back each other up.

While this sounds good in theory, in practice, it doesn’t really work.  And I’ve witnessed this SO many times…

Each professional has strengths and weaknesses.  And how do they know what they are?  Well, Marcus says, strengths make you feel strong and energised while you are doing the work, and weaknesses make you feel weak and tired while doing the work.

This does make sense, if you think about it.

So if you keep team members focused on doing tasks related to their strengths and what they enjoy doing, your team will be a lot more productive in the short term AND the long term.

I really recommend picking up Marcus’s book if you are keen to learn more about this.  Here is it on Amazon.

Just to Summarise…

People are not kidding when they say that “job hunting” is more time consuming and tiring that actually working in a full time job.

But I have faith, that the right business, that wants to benefits from my skills, creative mind, passion and great attitude, is just around the corner.