Good morning. My name is Kory McEnaney, and I am an upcoming senior at UMKC. I
am majoring in Business Administration with an emphasis in management; however,
I plan on attending grad. school with an emphasis in Marketing. I, too, am very
interested in pursuing a career in marketing, with a long-term goal of becoming
a Marketing Manager, or perhaps even a CMO. Do you have any suggestions for what
type of industries to involve myself in (i.e. advertising agencies, health
industries, etc) that may provide greater opportunities for advancement when it
comes to marketing?
Also, as a general question, what suggestions do you
have as far as accepting a job opportunity out of college even if it may not be
the exact field you are wanting to pursue in the long-term?
Thank you.
Kory,
ReplyDeleteGetting started in Marketing with the right industry and firm is critical. Most importantly is learn the marketing discipline that will become the foundation for the rest of your business career. Companies that have that asset are consumer packaged goods companies in first place followed by consumer goods and services. Then larger B2B firms.
How to get started if you cannot get into these firms, by the way, any position with them at least gets you in the door, is to take a job where you are involved with a value added product and not just an every day lower priced product. The will provide a better and tougher challenge both for learning and when you wish to upgrade your self in second job.
Hope that helps
Lew
Kory,
ReplyDeleteIn my judgment, the adage that "every journey starts with a first step" applies well to your question. While it would be ideal for your first job out of college to be in your "exact field", I believe it is more important to get started in any job the presents itself. Once there, find ways to contribute above and beyond. Good people with positive contributions always get noticed and always move along their journey in ways that you never would have anticipated. Good luck!
Kory,
ReplyDeleteThere are a number of paths you can take - as pointed out, the key is to get noticed in whatever you do. I actually started out in the ad agency world which helped me understand creative and media strategies & processes before I joined Hallmark. However, you can sometimes get pigeon-holed as an "agency" person which can make it more difficult to have credibility when interviewing with larger companies, especially if product development falls under marketing. CPG companies (e.g. P&G) do have the greatest discipline for marketing strategies & processes that will provide you benefit throughout your career - but I've sometimes seen that the big budgets can make their marketing folks less nimble and scrappy. Smaller companies give you the opportunity to learn a lot of different roles - this gives you a chance to figure out if you have a more specific passion that you'd like pursue since marketing includes such a broad spectrum of disciplines. There is no right or wrong answer for your first job - it's more about having passion & patience to learn & grow in a business setting, and having the self-awareness to know when you need to change or broaden your experience.