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Post by mangekyoalleluia on May 19, 2017 13:15:11 GMT
So here's the situation, I want some advice for a... friend that's totally not me on what to do next or what you would do. My friend has come out of admin jobs recently (past 2 months) being uninspired, bored and wants a career change to Marketing/Communications, he's been going for those jobs but has found it kinda hard to get them as naturally, he has no experience in those fields.
Anyway he's getting pretty bored and frustrated as is and would rather just get any job, he's been out of a job long term in the past (6+ months) and doesn't want to go through that again, so should he keep pursuing what he wants to do in Marketing/Comms, though that could take months upon months and maybe an internship but he'd do what he wants. Or should he just go for another Admin job in the meantime, then apply for marketing later on?
Thoughts?
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Post by Rey Kahuka on May 19, 2017 13:16:10 GMT
Organized crime.
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Post by Deleted on May 19, 2017 13:37:50 GMT
It is probably pretty hard to walk into a marketing job without some kind of experience or being on a graduate scheme or something.
Without this, I'd say you have probably two routes. Get your foot into the door of a larger company and schmoozy up to the marketing team and boss as much as you can and then ask for a transfer after a year or so (or apply for a job internally if and when one comes up), obviously don't ask to move internally when you've only been there for a month or so. You might want to consider applying for sales jobs though as they are related.
Or, because social media is all the rage these days, build up a large social media following, then become an affiliate for one or more companies that are trying to sell their products or services. You can often sign up to become an affiliate on websites and stuff. Then sell their products/services on social media or your blog or even your own website (webhosting is pretty cheap). Then when you get good at this you'll have something to show prospective employers and you can tell them about your numbers and stuff. It will take a while before this takes off and a certain amount of creativity to get good at it. But I'd be really impressed if someone came to an interview and had shown the initiative to get something like this off the ground. Although you might get so good at this you don't even want the job in marketing any more.
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Post by mangekyoalleluia on May 19, 2017 13:42:44 GMT
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Post by mangekyoalleluia on May 19, 2017 13:52:08 GMT
It is probably pretty hard to walk into a marketing job without some kind of experience or being on a graduate scheme or something. Without this, I'd say you have probably two routes. Get your foot into the door of a larger company and schmoozy up to the marketing team and boss as much as you can and then ask for a transfer after a year or so (or apply for a job internally if and when one comes up), obviously don't ask to move internally when you've only been there for a month or so. You might want to consider applying for sales jobs though as they are related. Or, because social media is all the rage these days, build up a large social media following, then become an affiliate for one or more companies that are trying to sell their products or services. You can often sign up to become an affiliate on websites and stuff. Then sell their products/services on social media or your blog or even your own website (webhosting is pretty cheap). Then when you get good at this you'll have something to show prospective employers and you can tell them about your numbers and stuff. It will take a while before this takes off and a certain amount of creativity to get good at it. But I'd be really impressed if someone came to an interview and had shown the initiative to get something like this off the ground. Although you might get so good at this you don't even want the job in marketing any more. Yeah exactly that's the problem, you can always intern but my friend wants to just work full time, he's done sales in the past but also a bit put off of that as well. Your 2nd route is an interesting one for sure, quite enterprising but I'm not sure he's quite up to that, it's an idea anyway. |
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Post by Terrapin Station on May 19, 2017 13:55:58 GMT
"Marketing/communications" is very broad and vague.
What specifically in those fields is the job being pursued?
One can work a job and be applying to other jobs at the same time, by the way. If they're both M-F 9-5ers that can make going to interviews tough, but just say you have a doctor's appointment (though note if you're doing that a lot, and especially if you're dressing differently on those days, it will soon be obvious--my wife (she's a consultant for financial businesses) sees that a lot). Temping is a good thing to do while looking for another job, too. Tell the temp agency that you want short-term assignments, and you want at least a couple weeks off between assignments.
You could also get a job that's not a M-F 9-5er while looking for another job, and schedule your interviews for your time off.
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Post by klawrencio79 on May 19, 2017 13:57:54 GMT
It is probably pretty hard to walk into a marketing job without some kind of experience or being on a graduate scheme or something. Without this, I'd say you have probably two routes. Get your foot into the door of a larger company and schmoozy up to the marketing team and boss as much as you can and then ask for a transfer after a year or so (or apply for a job internally if and when one comes up), obviously don't ask to move internally when you've only been there for a month or so. You might want to consider applying for sales jobs though as they are related. Or, because social media is all the rage these days, build up a large social media following, then become an affiliate for one or more companies that are trying to sell their products or services. You can often sign up to become an affiliate on websites and stuff. Then sell their products/services on social media or your blog or even your own website (webhosting is pretty cheap). Then when you get good at this you'll have something to show prospective employers and you can tell them about your numbers and stuff. It will take a while before this takes off and a certain amount of creativity to get good at it. But I'd be really impressed if someone came to an interview and had shown the initiative to get something like this off the ground. Although you might get so good at this you don't even want the job in marketing any more. Yeah exactly that's the problem, you can always intern but my friend wants to just work full time, he's done sales in the past but also a bit put off of that as well. Your 2nd route is an interesting one for sure, quite enterprising but I'm not sure he's quite up to that, it's an idea anyway. If he really wants to get into marketing and communications (based on the zero experience he has with it), then he needs to sack up and earn his stripes in the entranceway. You can't just waltz into a full-time job with zero experience, zero training and really zero anything beyond wanting to do it. And just as an aside, being in marketing isn't like playing Mad Men. It can also be a tedious, boring day-to-day slog fraught with unrealistic deadlines and client demands that can be just as uninspiring and soul-crushing as working in admin. |
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Post by mangekyoalleluia on May 19, 2017 14:04:30 GMT
"Marketing/communications" is very broad and vague. What specifically in those fields is the job being pursued? One can work a job and be applying to other jobs at the same time, by the way. If they're both M-F 9-5ers that can make going to interviews tough, but just say you have a doctor's appointment (though note if you're doing that a lot, and especially if you're dressing differently on those days, it will soon be obvious--my wife (she's a consultant for financial businesses) sees that a lot). Temping is a good thing to do while looking for another job, too. Tell the temp agency that you want short-term assignments, and you want at least a couple weeks off between assignments. You could also get a job that's not a M-F 9-5er while looking for another job, and schedule your interviews for your time off. Would need to narrow that down for sure, but maybe online/digital marketing ideally, working for a media agency, magazine or website would be the goal, or comms for the sme thing. Yeah he's thought of doing something part time/weekend work while he thinks about how to go about this, thing he's temped a fair bit in the past so now he wants more solid, continous employment, just so it looks a bit better on the CV, being somewhere for a year or more rather than a few months at a time. |
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Post by mangekyoalleluia on May 19, 2017 14:05:55 GMT
Yeah exactly that's the problem, you can always intern but my friend wants to just work full time, he's done sales in the past but also a bit put off of that as well. Your 2nd route is an interesting one for sure, quite enterprising but I'm not sure he's quite up to that, it's an idea anyway. If he really wants to get into marketing and communications (based on the zero experience he has with it), then he needs to sack up and earn his stripes in the entranceway. You can't just waltz into a full-time job with zero experience, zero training and really zero anything beyond wanting to do it. And just as an aside, being in marketing isn't like playing Mad Men. It can also be a tedious, boring day-to-day slog fraught with unrealistic deadlines and client demands that can be just as uninspiring and soul-crushing as working in admin. Yeah that's the reality of it, he's willing to intern and all and summer would be good time for it, hell he has all the free time now anyway. And yeah I'm aware, Mad Men is advertising btw  but trust me, I'm pretty sure it's better than Admin with the jobs he's done. |
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Post by Deleted on May 19, 2017 14:21:54 GMT
Yeah exactly that's the problem, you can always intern but my friend wants to just work full time, he's done sales in the past but also a bit put off of that as well.
Your 2nd route is an interesting one for sure, quite enterprising but I'm not sure he's quite up to that, it's an idea anyway. Yeah, I gotta say there's a couple of red flags right there. |
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Post by mangekyoalleluia on May 19, 2017 14:26:28 GMT
Yeah exactly that's the problem, you can always intern but my friend wants to just work full time, he's done sales in the past but also a bit put off of that as well.
Your 2nd route is an interesting one for sure, quite enterprising but I'm not sure he's quite up to that, it's an idea anyway. Yeah, I gotta say there's a couple of red flags right there. Eh really? Sales isn't for everyone, no need to persist in fields if you clearly don't enjoy/have no desire for them imo. The entrepreneurial route is an interesting one but again not something everyone wants to do. |
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Post by Deleted on May 19, 2017 14:43:31 GMT
Yeah, I gotta say there's a couple of red flags right there. Eh really? Sales isn't for everyone, no need to persist in fields if you clearly don't enjoy/have no desire for them imo. The entrepreneurial route is an interesting one but again not something everyone wants to do. Yeah, not every job is the right fit for everyone, but it is about applying yourself, it's a cliché you hear so often that it can lose its meaning, but you have to know what it means to 'apply yourself' until it sinks right through into your bones if you want to be a success. From the little you've told me, it doesn't sound like he's prepared to apply himself, and you're his friend! A marketing boss is going to get a lot of applicants, so they're not going to settle for someone who will most probably be there just to make up the numbers. Like I say though, the 2nd route I mentioned, I would be really, really impressed with someone who had done this successfully, I'd take that over most people who had just worked in a marketing team any day of the week. Someone like this would probably be gold, someone who has experience just working in a marketing team, well, you'd never be quite certain what you are getting. |
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Post by Deleted on May 19, 2017 14:58:37 GMT
Also, I would consider leaving the sales experience off his CV completely if he has done this and then moved onto to do an admin job. Because really, that is a step down, and any employer is going to wonder "why?". Unless there are some huge mitigating circumstances to explain this, like the company going under, then it is going to look bad. Even being made redundant isn't going to cut it, because no one is going to make their best sales guy redundant.
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Post by Terrapin Station on May 19, 2017 15:29:39 GMT
"Marketing/communications" is very broad and vague. What specifically in those fields is the job being pursued? One can work a job and be applying to other jobs at the same time, by the way. If they're both M-F 9-5ers that can make going to interviews tough, but just say you have a doctor's appointment (though note if you're doing that a lot, and especially if you're dressing differently on those days, it will soon be obvious--my wife (she's a consultant for financial businesses) sees that a lot). Temping is a good thing to do while looking for another job, too. Tell the temp agency that you want short-term assignments, and you want at least a couple weeks off between assignments. You could also get a job that's not a M-F 9-5er while looking for another job, and schedule your interviews for your time off. Would need to narrow that down for sure, but maybe online/digital marketing ideally, working for a media agency, magazine or website would be the goal, or comms for the sme thing. Yeah he's thought of doing something part time/weekend work while he thinks about how to go about this, thing he's temped a fair bit in the past so now he wants more solid, continous employment, just so it looks a bit better on the CV, being somewhere for a year or more rather than a few months at a time. Your priorities need to be set though. If you really want to work for some company doing online marketing, say, then your present job doesn't mean squat for that if it's not in a field related to online marketing. The present job would only serve the function of providing some income and appropriate time windows (to attend interviews, etc.) to search for the job you want. You can't worry about how it looks on your resume. You're not trying to get a job in that field. It's just a stopgap while you do everything you can do to get your foot in the door of a an online marketing company. |
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but trust me, I'm pretty sure it's better than Admin with the jobs he's done.