Enhancing Employability in Marketing - Essay Example

Enhancing Employability in Marketing Marketing careers are one of the most popular jobs available for graduates in the job market. However, the job market is also saturated with qualified graduates and therefore one needs to have more skills than the rest of job seekers. Besides having the prerequisite degree and academic prowess, a graduate needs to have soft skills such having good interpersonal skills and IT (information technology). Marketing involves interacting with potential clients and communicating with them constantly. The world has achieved tremendous grounds in the technological advancement and therefore much of the marketing is done through technology based communication (Clark 2004, p. 203). As such, a little creativity is needed which will determine whether graduates secure jobs and afterwards they can keep them by being able to perform. Bolstering a marketing degree with other professional qualifications related to finance is also important so that potential employers can be attracted to your technical capabilities in marketing (Gibbs, Steel & Kuiper 2011, p. 379). Current Employability/Graduate Trends in Marketing According to recent studies and research in the job market, marketing careers are on the increase whereas other careers are decreasing. This is a good indication that the marketing industry is growing and opening new areas for graduates to work and explore. Despite the fact that many industries have recently undergone serious cutbacks during the previous economic hard times, marketing is still an important aspect of firms. Marketing forms the basis of attracting and selling a firm to new clients while still maintaining the already existing clientele. It follows then that in the face of a shrinking economy and earnings, firms have to invest in marketing in order to keep afloat in the corporate world. Thanks to technology, the marketing can be simple or complicated depending on the amount of capital available (Bennett 2002, p. 464). Gone are the days when business directories were the major modes of advertising a business. With the advent of the internet, marketing campaigns have become relatively easy because all that a firm needs is to open a website and upload all its required information there. In the past, business firms needed to spend a lot of capital in sending mail to their customers. When potential customers go online to search for goods and services, there is are huge potential that is created for sales both now and in the future. These adverts are created by marketing career people because they know what the client wants and they understand their goods and services. As such, being able to understand the market trends and having IT skills is very important in the marketing filed (Achrol & Kotler 1999, p. 152). Recent changes in the way business reposition themselves for competitive advantage has led changing trends on what is required of marketers. Marketing people must also change with time and adapt to the new market demands by first becoming technology savvy. This entails being able to develop and implement all the different ways in which business can market themselves through technology. The jobs in marketing can be very vague (generalized) or specialised depending on a business’s size. In large business firms, there are many activities and campaigns that need coordination and therefore they usually need specialized marketers. On the other hand, small business outfits need a marketer who is able to handle all forms of challenging marketing problems with no specialized training. However, some firms usually need a marketer who can popularize their goods and services to the general public without much use of resources or technology (Brousseau, Driver, Eneroth & Larson 1996, p. 59). Career Paths of a Marketing Degree Marketing as course encompasses a wide array of activities that are related to conceptions about the delivery of goods and services. In this regards, there are many options in which career paths may be oriented based mainly on the objectives and personal liking of individuals. Marketing forms a core component of undertakings in a business since it is very important to growth of any institution in the corporate world. Much of the activities and exercises in the marketing field are geared towards development and implementation of strategies that can lead to growth. Individuals that are in touch with customers’ decisions about different goods and services are creative have a very huge potential in having a successful marketing career. Many of the programs offered under the marketing faculty provide students with the knowledge and education to fit in many areas such as advertising, sales, consumer behaviour and research and public relations (Harvey 2001, p. 101). One of the important and conventional career paths in marketing is the sales option which is often confused with marketing. These two (sales and marketing) are used interchangeably but they do not always mean the same. On the one hand, a sales career is about being self driven and having a persistence to sell merchandise and ideas to clients through commission based salaries. On the other hand, marketing roles use soft selling approaches which are directed towards a particular market segment via technology. As such, the results of marketing may be less tangible that those of sales careers but nonetheless are important. However, these two career paths operate in symbiotic manner because they depend on one another for success within a firm (Leenders & Wierenga 2002, p. 315). There are other important career paths in marketing such as advertising, branding, consumer research and public relations. All these careers require different skills that will make sure that an individual performs and generates sales. In advertising, branding and sales promotion, one has to be technology savvy because these paths entail creativity. Creativity is often put into use through technology where different options of making goods and services attractive to clients are developed. On the other hand, research, customer behaviours and public relation career paths require good communication and relation skills because of the high contact with clients. In most cases, good relational attributes are very important for all markets because these careers form an important bridge through clients perceive and understand firms in relation to goods and services being offered (Robertson & Smith 2001, p. 454). Expectations of Employers from Marketing Graduates Marketing skills are fast evolving and becoming localized to target particular market segments. These skills are wide and transcend beyond individual firms and programs. All these skills are intricately interwoven with technology which has revolutionalized technical marketing environments. There has been a very heated debate on which skills need to be learnt in schools and which need be inborn among the potential marketers searching for jobs (Andrews & Higson 2008, p. 419). The important thing is that all these different skills must be possessed by all markets in varying levels so that one can have a fulfilling career in marketing. Academic qualifications alone are not enough to secure a job in marketing because employers are also seeking out individual capabilities which will ensure resilience in the highly competitive corporate world. Moreover, challenges in the marketing field are many and different and as such, they require innovation which relies on innate abilities to conquer them (Schlee & Harich 2010, p. 349). Analytical skills are one of the most desired traits in marketing graduates and which employers value highly. Marketing is highly associated with data maelstrom within which high speed data flows. This data is about many things that impacts a business firm such client financial transactions, behavioural patterns of markets among others which would require good analytical skills. However, these skills are predicated upon the ability to understand and decode patterns and trends beneath the data and numbers analysed. Business firms are slowly moving away from reports and annual large volumes of reports into a world of insights driven by real time data analysis. As such, people who can deliver these insights are becoming quite valuable to employers in marketing firms (Schibrowsky, Peltier & Boyt 2002, p. 48). Agility in project management as a skill is highly regarded among employers because of fragmentation of the marketing field. In the past, many firms used to plan for very few marketing campaigns per annum and then relax. Such a practice has been overtaken by events time because new opportunities arise everyday and it is only the prepared companies that can take advantage of them. Priorities keep on constantly changing which require instantaneous response failure to which many opportunities will be lost. The use of agile methods of marketing is currently being implemented in large scale in different firms. These methods rely largely on specialized software which requires special skills to handle them (Hills, Hultman & Miles 2007, p. 110). Thriving in the marketing career requires a lot of imagination which comes through experimental curiosity mixed with rigor. The granularity in marketing makes it impossible to manage things top down which may not allow testing and implementation of new dew ideas. Many of the activities carried out in marketing need to be carried out as tests. This means that new alternatives should be continually implemented in response to shifts in the markets like opportunities and threats. However, there should be a balance between how new ideas are implemented and old ones are discarded. Sometimes it is not a guarantee that new ideas are the best or will work out but one should be careful on how to implement them and if they do not work it is always advisable to revert back to the old strategies (Hogan, Barrett & Hogan 2007, 1273). Another highly ranking skill in marketing is the ability to be a systematic thinker. Systemic thinking is important because fragmentation of marketing has led to many different parts that must be conceptualized on different levels. Optimization of marketing campaigns is only possible through integration of the different systems so that they can work in tandem. In this regards, there has to be alignment of goals and objectives by a marketer. The success of marketing campaigns as a whole is highly dependent on how individual segments perform to contribute to the whole scheme. It follows then that systemic thinking will be very important for a marketer who wants to launch successful marketing campaigns within an organization (Romaniuk & Snart 2000, p. 32). In virtually all areas of marketing, employers are looking for technology savvy and creative people who not only have good academic papers but they can do other things allied to marketing. The modern day marketing careers and campaigns revolve around technology and therefore sound knowledge of IT is very important. Besides having sound IT skills, creativity is also important because the use of IT and development of new ideas depends on individual creativity and innovation. The development of cloud computing has necessitated the possession of sound IT skills because many forms are moving into cloud computing. It is only the company that has employees with good IT skills that can tap the potential and benefits that come with technology based media of communication and advertising (Leenders & Wierenga 2002, p. 311). Changes in Employment Selection Methods There have been instrumental changes in the way in which employees are choosing their potential employees to work for them. In the past, a lot of importance was attached to academic qualifications and experience at the expense of other innate skills. However, things have changed with time and many employers are increasingly insisting on the possession of innate skills on top of being academically qualified. This essentially means that academic qualifications still remain highly regarded but one must be able to manoeuvre around. As such, companies are increasing going for skills that match their objectives and goals which does not automatically mean looking for the best qualified person in academics. Many people that are first class material tend to be poor in interpersonal skills which are important in marketing. Good relations with other people are quite important above having good grades (Hills, Hultman & Miles 2007, p. 106). The digressing and challenging corporate world requires resilient people that can work under tremendous pressure and deliver. In this perspective, employers are looking for markets that are innovative and having the ability to multitask in different assignments. These assignments come with different levels of challenges and difficulties which necessitates wide consultations and adoptions of new strategies. Success in marketing is about being strategic and lashing onto opportunities as they arise. This is because the far in between opportunities that arise in marketing can mean survival or extinction of a firm. In the end, it is all about being all rounded and possessing some crucial skills for survival in a competitive world (Churchill & Iacobucci 2009, p. 54). Conclusion Marketing careers are one of the most popular jobs available for graduates in the job market. However, the job market is also saturated with qualified graduates and therefore one needs to have more skills than the rest of job seekers. Although there may be a decrease in overall global jobs, marketing jobs are ever increasing because firms have to make themselves known to their potential customers. Due to the many career paths that can be followed in marketing, potential employers usually look for different skills in graduates which will help them in their work. Some of the most important skills include being technology savvy, creative and having good interpersonal skills. Cover Letter Dear sir/Madam, I believe I have the capability, skills and enthusiasm to work in your organization owing to my good education background in matters pertaining to marketing and financial management. I am currently pursuing BA (Hons) Marketing sandwich degree which has exposed me to different skills and knowledge in marketing. I am suited to fill any post in Advertising, Marketing and PR due to my education and the experience that I have amassed so far. As evident from the attached resume, I have worked in different positions in the field of marketing. As a marketer, I have worked in two different positions of customer service and sales assistant in two different companies. These two positions had many challenging responsibilities which I handled with ease to the total satisfaction of both my employers and clients. Such a high record of performance has been possible through high levels of motivation and discipline and good organizational skills. Regardless of the positions that I have held or assignments given to me, I have always produced top-notch work. This can be attributed to my dedication and making sure that my work stands out from the rest. In both promotional work involving external clients and internal corporate issues, I take time to articulate and handle the underlying issues as distinct and integral components in a bigger system. Moreover, I have had the opportunity to work directly with clients by designing and producing unique promotional materials for them. You may think that I am interested in the money that has been offered for this position. While the money and remuneration package is good and I fit the role perfectly, I am more interested working in a position where I can contribute immensely and my efforts are appreciated in order to get a long-term commitment. Sincerely, Bibliography Achrol, R. S., & Kotler, P. 1999, “Marketing in the network economy”, The Journal of Marketing, vol. 63, pp. 146-163. Andrews, J., & Higson, H. 2008, “Graduate employability, ‘soft skills’ versus ‘hard’ business knowledge: A European study”, Higher Education in Europe, vol. 33, no. 4, pp. 411-422. Bennett, R. 2002, “Employers' Demands for Personal Transferable Skills in Graduates: a content analysis of 1000 job advertisements and an associated empirical study”, Journal of Vocational Education and training, vol. 54, no. 4, pp. 457-476. Brousseau, K. R., Driver, M. J., Eneroth, K., & Larson, R. 1996, “Career pandemonium: Realigning organizations and individuals”, The Academy of Management Executive, vol. 10, no. 4, pp. 52-66. Clark, J. 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