Career Path Analysis - Essay Example

CAREER PATH ANALYSIS CAREER PATH ANALYSIS As the last days of the final year of my studiesapproached, I was in the state of confusion as to what I should do after earning my degree. Should I pursue further studies? Or should I put all the education I have received to use and get a job based on my degree? I weighed down my options carefully and came to a conclusion that having this degree in marketing would be good enough for now and I was very excited at the prospect of getting a job, so I decided to go with that. I had already decided that I would get a job in the field of marketing and had taken my courses accordingly. There are endless possibilities in the field of marketing as marketing is an integral part of the business of any organization. I could get a job in strategic marketing and analysis or product development or communication and promotion field in the marketing department of an organization. I have developed the skills necessary for the job. Since my childhood, I have been interested in people and have been well aware of my surroundings, and from my education I have learned how to deduce information and read between the lines in problematic situations, and efficiently work on deadlines. My written and oral skills are very refined. And above all that, I am driven by my ambition to be the best no matter what I am. Over the years, many people have asked me: Why marketing? Why not accounting or finance or some other major? And to that I reply that there are many fields inside marketing as well and that there is bound to be one that will suit you. There are advertising and sales jobs. You can be involved as a creative part of the company or you can be part of an analysis and research team. Apart from that, I possess the major skills required for a marketing job. Promotion, branding, selling, communication, creative design and research are the components I find attractive in a job. The thing I like best about marketing is that there is unlimited room and opportunities to be creative. I will be able to work with new and interesting people who are not from your workplace on different campaigns. In marketing, I will be able to integrate my interests within my career. I am, for instance, very interested in environmental issues and I can actively participate in that as well with my marketing career. There are a lot of jobs in marketing and your skills will be utilised according to the company which hires you. In some marketing jobs, a lot of travelling is required, which is one of the reasons I like marketing. In others, however, no travelling of any kind is part of the job, except traveling to and from work. With social media marketing as one of the biggest marketing platforms, the demand for marketing professionals has also increased. It is very necessary for a company to have a marketing profile online, and communication through social media is a very significant part of that. In marketing, if I choose to be a market researcher, I will be promoting the products of my company using a combination of numerical data and expertise on market. The availability of infinite data from sources such as the World Wide Web and supermarket scanners, this job is very relevant to the field. The demand for researchers around the world is increasing day by day. The job requires a cultural understanding, awareness of the position of the markets, and efficiency in quantitative methods. Marketing research is a very interesting job and it has unlimited room for expansion. I can also go for product and brand managing. Being a product or brand manager, I will be in charge of an entire product line. I will be responsible for profit and growth of all the products in that product line. I will be the CEO with respect to that particular brand or the products. Coordination with other departments will be required and with their help, the product will be delivered and the brand will be launched. In this job, I can also be promoted to a vice president of marketing, director or manager depending on my performance. However, the career path which I find most interesting is advertising, communication and public relations marketing. Public relations marketers are in charge of looking over and handling the company’s interaction with people who are not part of the company, such as media, reporters, consumers, investors and the public in general. They are also responsible for handling interactions with the employees. They represent the company and speak for the company. They protect the vital assets of the company, which are its reputation and its public trust. To reach the top in this career path, I will have to excel in analysis, evaluation, and written as well as oral communication. They should be able to develop strategies and communication plans to interact with the public in the best way possible and to connect with them. Being a marketer, I will be required to master a few skills and be aware of my responsibilities to myself and to the company. The following basic skills are required: 1. Interpersonal and communication skills: I will have to connect with the customer and be able to understand thoroughly what they want. I should be able to relay this information to the people who are in charge of fulfilling the needs of the client. I should be able to make the consumers connect with me in campaigning of the product. 2. Teamwork: Teamwork is a very important trait of a marketer. I will be working with different people from different fields in campaigns and I should be able to work along with them in harmony. As a manager, it will be my job to see that everyone is getting along and is part of a packed team and that the accountants, people in charge of the creative team, and executives are all close to one another and work together as a well-oiled machine. Only then would the team be able to cater to the needs of the customers. 3. Commercial awareness: I should be well aware of the standing of the markets at all times. I should know what the customers want and also what they need. Market researchers should have extensive commercial awareness in order to thrive. To help refine this skill and gain information of the market, trade publications and press releases of different companies should be made use of. 4. IT skills: In the present day marketing, it is necessary that I have the IT skills required to keep up with the online marketing techniques, as marketing is increasingly being done online. I should be able to make use of different software to analyse and store data and statistics that I gather. 5. Creativity: Creativity never goes to waste in a marketing job and is quite a sought after skill. Depending upon the job I get, I will be required to be creative. Whether it is to write copies for marketing and press releases or to help in laying out the design of the media, being creative will get me bonus points. My creative ideas can contribute in the initial stages of planning a campaign and it will make me an active part of the campaign. Creative minds tend to be media savvy and that is also a great skill. My education has enabled me to master the skills which were not part of me naturally. I have taken part in extracurricular activities during my education, which have helped in building these skills. I was part of the organising team of an event which was held in my college by my society. I also wrote various newsletters and articles for the college magazine and was the class treasurer. This helped to develop my project managing skills. The way I handled my studies with my social life and the part time job I used to do has refined my organisational skills. My interpersonal skills are well honed as I was always a very active part of the classroom. It not only helped my relation with the family – having good interpersonal and communication skills has proven to boost performance, increase the learning ability and provide motivation (West & Turner 2011). My other strong point is teamwork. I love working in teams and always ready to work with people from other departments. I am always up for taking one for the team, and if a member of the team is having trouble doing something I am good at, I am more than happy to help him or her with it. Working in a team increases the productivity by multiple times as compared to working individually (Baldwin & Migneault 1996). I am very creative and that gives me an upper hand in starting off my career in marketing. It gives the company a great advantage in competition. It is mainly used in entrepreneurship and is linked with innovation, vision and leadership (Fillis 2002). My IT skills can be of great use to the company that hires me, as being a 20th century kid, I grew up in the era of technology. I am very efficient with social media networking and while managing a brand, social media is of utmost importance as the brand name is always in the eyes of people through proper marketing (Helen n.d.).I am also very well updated with the markets and I have been told that my commercial awareness is remarkable. With the help of my commercial awareness I have the power of knowledge which can even influence some change in the company (Warner 2002). I will be responsible for a number of things in the marketing field. I will be required to have an understanding of the local culture and the trends that are being followed so that I can come up with a product which would attract people. I should be smooth yet precise in carrying out the marketing activities, and should make sure that brand activity and promotion are same at all places. I should keep track of market data and analyse it. I should be in contact with the sales department and coordinate with them at every step and make sure that every member is doing his or her best and is equally involved in the project. I want to work in a company where all my skills will be utilised and maximised. I am seeking a job in the public relations management department of a large multinational company where I get job security and get everything I have been dreaming of and working for. An ideal job for me would be where I get to travel a lot and meet new people. An international marketing executive is what I want to be in five to ten years – it is my dream. Being realistic, I see myself working hard for a multinational company with good credits and a bright future in five years. If I am already not the top, I will be working hard to get there. A job in marketing has been my goal from the beginning, and creating, managing and enhancing brand while interacting with different people and travelling frequently is something that will make me very happy. Bibliography BALDWIN, D. A. & MIGNEAULT, R. L. (1996) Humanistic Management by Teamwork: An organizational and administrative alternative for academic libraries. Englewood: Colo, Libraries Unlimited. FILLIS, I. (2002) An Andalusian dog or a rising star? Creativity and the marketing/entrepreneurship interface. Journal of Marketing Management. 18. p. 379-395. HELEN. (n.d.) 5 Great Benefits of Social Media Marketing For Your Small Business. [Online] Social Media Sorcerer. Available from: [Accessed 27 January 2013]. WARNER, J. (2002) Janus Performance Management System: A Complete Performance Management Support Process for Individuals, Teams, and the Entire Organization. Amherst, Mass: HRD Press.  WEST, R. L. & TURNER, L. H. (2011) Understanding Interpersonal Communication: Making Choices in Changing Times. Boston: Wadsworth. Read More