Applying for a Job in Marketing - Essay Example

J O B S T U D Y R E P O RT Contents Contents 2 3 Introduction 4 Methodology 4 Findings 5 Self-Assessment 8 Curriculum Vitae 9 Covering Letter 13 Conclusions 15 Bibliography 16 Abstract In this document the author carries out studies the different specifications, skills, abilities, knowledge, experience and qualifications needed by a candidate when applying for a job in Marketing. The job that has been chosen by the candidate is the position of Marketing Assistant. In order to carry out this study the author chose five different organizations operating in the United Kingdom and interviewed marketing personnel working in those organizations. The organizations that were chosen for this study were Tesco, Coke Cola, HSBC, Axa Insurance and the Salvation Army. The author felt that choosing different organization in different industries and different sectors would give a good cross sectional overview for the report. According to the findings of the study it was apparent that depending on the type of the organization, marketing assistants were required to carry out many different tasks ranging from marketing planning, corporate communications and advertising copy writing. Based on the findings of the study and the author's knowledge, skills and abilities a curriculum vitae and covering letter were designed. The covering letter that was designed was of a generic nature to help the author to customize it with minimum effort to match specific marketing positions that she wishes to apply for in the next few weeks. Introduction The objective of this report is for the author to study the job of a Marketing Assistant from different angles and to assess herself in terms of the findings. In order to carry out this study the author chose five different organizations from different sectors and studied the specifications that have been set out by these organizations for qualifications that were necessary for role. In this report the author will describe the methodology that will be used to study the job of the Marketing Assistant, the manner in which the findings will be presented and the self assessment. Based on the findings and the self assessment the author will design and develop a generic curriculum vitae and a covering letter for herself, which she intends to use when applying for the position of Marketing Assistant. These two documents will also be included in this report. Methodology In order to carry out an in depth and meaningful study of role of a Marketing Assistant the author will collect information from five different companies in different sectors and industries on what these organizations look for in their potential candidates. The five companies that were chosen by the author are as follows 1. Coke Cola Corporation - Beverage Company - Private Sector 2. Tesco Supermarket - Retail Store - Private Sector 3. Axa Insurance Company - Insurance Company - Private Sector 4. HSBC - Financial Company - Private Sector 5. Salvation Army - Not for Profit - Non Governmental Sector The author studied the job descriptions of Marketing Assistants in the above companies and also interviewed individuals working in the marketing departments in the above companies before writing this report. In order to gain a good knowledge of the labour market and future prospects for individuals working as Marketing Assistants in these organizations, the author also interviewed former marketing assistants in these companies and asked them on how easy or hard it was for them to find jobs and if the experience they had gained while at the previous companies were sufficient. The author specifically studied the following areas pertaining to the job. 1. Tasks and responsibilities 2. Entry requirements 3. Training, development and future prospects 4. Terms and Conditions 5. Work environment and corporate culture 6. Labour market conditions and employment prospects Based on the findings the author then carried out a self-assessment and designed and developed a curriculum vitae and covering letter for herself that would be suitable to apply for vacancies as a Marketing Assistant. Findings In this section the author will discuss the findings that were made when interviewing personnel working in the Marketing Assistant role and also by analyzing the job descriptions and job postings relating to the role of Marketing Assistant in the chosen organizations. Since all the organizations that were chosen for this study were big companies the role of Marketing Assistant in many of the organizations were considered as the stepping stones to specialist careers within the marketing field. Therefore they were given an overall knowledge in marketing, communications and advertising at a basic level. Tasks and responsibilities - Creating marketing strategies for new products and services for approval by the marketing managers, identifying target markets and how to attract the market, working with market research organizations and learning and gaining information that they have about the attraction and appeal for the products, fundraising, speaking to advertising and different media organizations and sourcing them for approval by the marketing manager and the organization upper management, creating draft copies of press releases and event planning were duties that were common to the role of Marketing Assistant in all the organizations. Entry Requirements - All the organizations that were reviewed required excellent verbal and written communication skills, even though it was a marketing role, sales experience was considered as an advantage as it was seen that the candidates would then have a good knowledge how it felt to be out in the field selling the product or service that was marketed. The ability to write good marketing plans and an excellent practical knowledge of marketing planning and marketing strategy implementation was considered to be an asset. Further if the candidates had part of full professional qualifications from Chartered Institute of Marketing that was an added advantage. A minimum qualification of graduating high school is necessary to work as a marketing assistant. Any previous experience whether in a paying or non-paying role is considered advantageous as well. Terms and Conditions - All the organizations that were studied required the marketing assistants to be flexible with the schedules that they worked because it required long hours and travel in most companies like Coke Cola and Tesco. Only high achievers have usually been able to make it up the ranks and usually a Marketing Assistant, unless he or she has a very thorough knowledge of all the aspects of marketing should not expect a promotion to Marketing Coordinator in the first year. Training opportunities and Prospects - All the companies that were studied had excellent training opportunities. Some of the organizations like Coke Cola even provided its Marketing Assistants with secondment opportunities in different countries located throughout the European region. Also since all the organizations that were studied were huge corporations and since they provided the Marketing Assistants with an overall knowledge of the marketing field, the future prospects of the Marketing Assistants to find jobs in other organizations were limitless. Marketing Assistants in these organizations were much sort after and head hunters were often known to especially source candidates for their clients from these organizations. Environment, life style and corporate culture - The working conditions in all the five organizations that were studied were very good, they all provided with the employees with a very good benefits plan, also training and development was given pride of place. The corporate culture of the organization was one of drive, initiative, innovation and result orientation for all the organizations, thus making it necessary for candidates to be able to "hit the ground running". Labour market, employment opportunities and employment trends - Even though the current market conditions are not very conducive to job seekers, Marketing Assistant with experience in the companies that have been studied have had no shortage of job offers. However due to the economic crisis, organizations are currently reluctant to recruit and are rather looking at making cuts to their marketing departments. However in normal market conditions the employment opportunities in this field are average. In booming market conditions as has been seen in the past 5 years, Marketing Assistant positions were rampant throughout the Kingdom. Self-Assessment Since the author has worked in several different industries and has experience in the areas of advertising, communication planning and marketing as a whole, the author feels that she has a very good chance of gaining a job as a Marketing Assistant. However since the current labour market conditions are very tight the author feels that she would require more qualifications to help her stand out from other candidates who would have similar experience as her. Therefore the author has now decided to follow courses in marketing with the Chartered Institute of Marketing. Pursuing such a qualification, while having the strong marketing, communications and advertising background that she has the author feels that she will be able to secure a job in the next few months. Curriculum Vitae In this section the author has designed and developed a curriculum vitae that is based on the findings that have been made in this document. The curriculum vitae, takes into account the author's previous experience, the skills and abilities that the author has developed through the years. It is developed in a manner that would be appealing to the recruiter and would provide the recruiter with all the necessary information on the author and her skills, knowledge and abilities. Carrie Anderson 34 Cross Yards, Standish Gate, Lancaster Lancashire MN1 5DX 161-895-4567 carrie.anderson@gmail.com Profile Highly motivated individual with 2 years working in marketing and advertising. Experience in the IT and Financial industries and charitable and not-for profit sectors. Thorough knowledge of fund raising, writing marketing plans, helping account managers to develop business. Experienced in gaining management buy in for marketing and advertising strategies that have been designed and developed. Work Experience Great Ormond Street Hospital - Nov 2008 - Present (Not for profit - Health Services) Marketing, Communication and Advertising Assistant Recruitment - Calling for proposals for different advertising campaigns from advertising agencies, reading through the proposals, short listing the advertising companies for the marketing manager to look through, setting up interviews, going through advertising portfolios, making arrangements for contracts to be signed. Developed fund raising strategies for different units of the hospital - Assisting in the fund raising budgets, coming up with ideas for different strategies that can be undertaken to raise funds, checking on different groups of the general public that can be targeted for charitable contributions, speaking to different media organizations and making recommendations to the marketing manager on which, organizations should be hired. Public Relations related activities - This can include anything from being seen at different not for profit conferences, where benefactors frequent, in an attempt to raise funds, creating public relations budgets, briefing staff on different communications that go out to the public and keeping them informed of what to expect, helping staff prepare for questions that maybe asked by reporters about the different communications and even difficult, and public cases.. Damage Control - Briefing staff who have legal allegations or malpractice suits on how to respond and what to say to the reporters and journalists, taking calls from journalists and reporters and diverting difficult calls to the marketing manager. . Corporate Communications - Helping in speech writing for the CEO and other top officials in the hospital as and when necessary, assisting in the designing and development of press releases, arranging for press conferences and preparing staff and on different questions that maybe asked by the reporters and journalists and advising them on how to respond to those questions. Aviva Insurance Company- Oct 2007 - Oct 2008 (Insurance Industry) Marketing and Advertising Assistant Advertising Campaign - In the event that there is no budget to hire an outside agency to carry out an advertising campaign, copy writing and helping design and develop advertisements, assisting in the choosing of media and different media organizations and short listing them to be viewed by the marketing manager for approval from the marketing director. Marketing Material and Brochures - Assisting the Marketing Manager in designing and developing marketing material and Marketing brochures and other marketing related material. Budgeting and Petty Cash - Assisting the marketing manager in keeping track of marketing expenditure in the department, paying invoices, handling the petty cash relating to the marketing division, assisting in the preparation of year end budgets and forecasts for the department. Party Planning - Assisting in the marketing manager in arranging events, conferences and parties whenever required. Sourcing caterers, cocktail providers, looking for venues and carrying out all duties that pertain to event planning . Virtusa Inc - Sep 2005 - Sep 2007 (IT Industry) Human Resources Assistant Strategic resource planning - reviewed current resources within the organisation and forecasted future needs of the company, developed strategies to use excess human resources and when resources were scarce developed strategies to increase resources. Conducted surveys and research trends to stay abreast of the highly volatile and competitive job market. Conducted career counselling sessions and counselled employees on career development strategies Conducted exit interviews and gathered information on root causes of turnover, reported back to management with the causes and recommendations on how to mitigate turnover Designed processes, policies and procedures - Recruitment process, Secondment policy, Mentoring program, Succession planning process and Talent development process. Skills Gap Analysis - Analysed current skills of employees, forecasted future needs and developed strategies on how best to manage and increase skill levels adequately. Recruitment - Posted positions, sourced candidates, liaised with recruitment agencies, pre-screened, prepared phone screening scripts, phone screened, prepared interview guides, conducted interviews, made recommendations to hiring manager, conducted reference checks and oriented new employees. Designed and implemented a mentoring program Designed and implemented a talent development program for the organization Recommended and developed Succession Planning within the company Worked as Business Analyst when the organization developed its resource management application Performance Management - Trained employees on how to prepare for performance review, trained managers on how to conduct a performance review, performance improvement plan, guided and advised managers on how and when to put employees on performance improvement plans Trained line managers on respect in the workplace, how to manage employees, basic time management and other essential management tools. Technologies Microsoft Office Packages including Word, Excel, Power Point and Access Academic Background CIPD Diploma in Human Resources Management 2003 - 2004 Higher National Diploma - 2001 - 2003 Secondary Education 1995 - 2000 Lancashire High School, Lancaster, Lancashire Certifications CIPD Associate Member 2005 Covering Letter In this section the author has designed a covering letter that can be used for several different jobs. It is a generic cover letter that will suit most Marketing, Communications and Advertising Assistant type positions that are located in most parts of the United Kingdom. The covering letter gives a one page overview of the skills, abilities, knowledge and experience of the author. Further the covering letter is designed and developed in a manner that shows the candidate in the best possible light and appeals to recruiters. Carrie Anderson 34 Cross Yards, Standish Gate, Lancaster Lancashire MN1 5DX 161-895-4567 carrie.anderson@gmail.com Dear Sir/Madam, I am forwarding you my resume for a suitable position of Marketing/Communications and Advertising Assistant. Having completed the Higher National Diploma and having specialist knowledge in Marketing, Communications Planning and Advertising in the IT, Financial/Insurance industry and Healthcare industries. I also have specialist knowledge in carrying out fund raising activities. I feel that I have the necessary skills, qualifications and know how to fit into a similar position. During the past 5 years I have built relationships with different media organizations, advertising firms, negotiated contracts and developed effective media sourcing strategies to suit the needs of the organizations I have worked for. I have a passion for Marketing and firmly believe that any product or service is only as good as the marketing strategies that are implemented to sell it. Innovation and creativity have been a trademark of my career which has helped me immensely when developing marketing and advertising strategies and aligning it to the product or the service. Further my negotiation and superior persuasion skills have always helped generate enthusiasm and management buy in for my recommendations. As you will see from my resume I have a broad range of experience in the capacity of a Marketing, Communications and Advertising Assistant. I have designed and delivered advertising and fund raising campaigns, I have been involved in Event and Conference Planning, I have helped to source media organizations, interview them, prepare contracts and select organizations for short listing to be handed over the marketing manager. I am a very quick learner with a thirst for knowledge, a good head for numbers and am eager to take on new challenges. As you can see I'm ideally suited to a generalist role and I would welcome the opportunity to meet with you and further discuss how my experience and background can be of potential value to your client. Thank you for your consideration and I look forward to hearing from you in the near future. Sincerely, Carrie Anderson Conclusions Various organizations require different skills to fulfill their expected roles and responsibilities as a Marketing Assistant. While some organizations believe that knowledge and experience in advertising and communication planning is necessary for the role, other organizations need only marketing experience. Since the author has experience in all three areas, the Curriculum Vitae and Covering letter that was designed and developed for this report, reflects those knowledge, skills and abilities that the author possesses. 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