Question

Topic: Career/Training

Young Marketer Career Advise Needed...

Posted by Anonymous on 5/9/2005 at 2:44 PM ET 250 Points
Dear Marketing Profs:

I need peoples take on my situation and what they think is the best route for me going forward.

Quick summary of my situation:

I graduated college in Jan 2003 from a small college in New York with a Bachelor in Marketing and a Bachelor in Management. I worked for a small software company as a sales assistant/marketing assistant for 11 months. The company went of business and I was unemployed. I had a job offer to work full time as a Marketing Intern (Coordinator) for the local office of a Temporary Marketing staffing firm.

I learned a lot about marketing from them but in the 7 months I was there I was not given any real marketing responsibilities. The work environment was bad as well as the job it self was dead end. The company delayed an extra 3 months to offer me permanent employment. I looked else where and an excellent career building opportunity came to me working for a large publishing/trade show organizer as an Event Coordinator. Desperation kind of got the best of me because although it wasn’t exactly what I was looking for it was a much better position.

Here are my challenges:

I have been working for the past 9 months. (I know it’s not long)

The responsibilities are good at my current position but growth potential is limited. I have not learned much in this position. I am bored! I live 42 miles one way from my place of employment. I spend roughly a 1 ½ to 2 hours each way to get to work. The commuting has wreaked havoc on my psyche and overall well being. Now you must be saying why don’t I move closer? I have seriously considered it however I am 25 and looking to save money as well as afford my current lifestyle which trust me is not that extravagant. My salary is just enough to pay my bills and afford a very crummy apartment. The cost of living in New York is flat out insane.

My family is planning to move to Jersey in the next 8 months to 1 year. I have gone on a few interviews and I am being very selective this time.

My goal now is to find a marketing coordinator or Assistant position at about 40K a year. Presently I am making significantly less.

* My ultimate goal is to be a brand or marketing manager in one of the following industries: Food, Beverage, Supplements, Automotive, Entertainment or Publishing.

My questions are:

1)I am telling potential employers my reason for looking again is my family is moving to New Jersey. It’s ridiculous to commute from central NJ to where I am now. Does this sound good?
2) Should I go for a sales position at this point? Reasons being higher income, more likely to get into an industry I want to be in as well as there are a lot more opportunities.
3) Is it to early to consider going for my MBA with 3 yrs professional experience?
4) I have thought of relocating to Phoenix or Tampa but have no idea how to get employment there? I mean applying through the internet is obvious and maybe calling local employment agencies but I have no idea how to fast track into an outer state job.
5) Most of the industries I like are on the West Coast. Should I wait to go graduate school on the west coast before I make a move?
6) If I stay employed at my current position and receive a 5% raise in January I would still barely afford rent. What do I do? I cannot go through another winter of commuting.

I am ready to move to move on and even move if it makes complete sense. My criteria is affordable living and warm weather as well a great place live. Please advise. Thank you…
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RESPONSES

  • Posted on 5/10/2005 at 12:50 AM Accepted
    Sorry in advance for the commercial, but it seems to be in order as a response to your question.

    Pick up a copy of The Potato Chip Difference : How to apply leading edge marketing strategies to landing the job you want. There are sections of the book that deal with just about everything you're asking.

    If this were the job of your dreams, the commute and the modest salary would be irrelevant. If the pay were double what it is now, and you hated the job, you should still leave. Net, it isn't about the money or the commute. It's about the job not being what you want.

    And if you go to another company, with a shorter commute and more money, it will still be about the job being what you want (or not).

    What that means is you better figure out what you really want BEFORE you jump into the deep end. And if what you want requires an MBA, you better get it now, before you have one more off-strategy detour on your resume.

    And if what you want isn't available in New Jersey, stop looking in New Jersey. You need to decide what the goal is. As Yogi Berra said, "If you don't know where you're going, you'll wind up someplace else." Get the strategy right BEFORE you do anything else.

    P.S. You can get The Potato Chip Difference online at Amazon.com or bn.com, through most bookstores in the United States, or at www.potatochipdifference.com . You can also read the introduction and chapter 1 online at the website.
  • Posted by Mushfique Manzoor on 5/10/2005 at 4:57 AM Accepted
    hi infamousmarketer

    look at me, i am advising you from one of the worlds poorest countries, this is preposterous !!!

    i agree with many of the suggestions spelled above. i would not say anything about moving out of NJ to west coast or going for MBA now or not. though i like Jill's advice on study.

    first of all i would suggest you like Jill/marcus that first decide what part you enjoy in marketing. decide on what you really want to be. u mentioned ur desire to become a Brand Manager. why is that, pay??, status??, perks?? you can drive agency ppl to do things for you while sitting back??

    whatever it is i would strongly suggest you to think clearly why u want to be in a cetain position or career. are yu aware of the various responsibilities of a BM? do you enjoy understanding consumer psyche and their behaviour. do have interest in finding out why a certain ad is working for a certain product/brand and why another is not. i would ask you to critically think in line of these factors

    Now on where to make your next move to be a Brand Manager, i dont know whether this works in the US or not but you can try for an entry into Account Service of advertising agencies. get into the entry level position and try to do good in the account/brand you will get. Account Executives are called the Shadow Brand Managers. so you will get a feel of what the brand managers do and how it is to do that. after certain time you can either switch to real Brand Manager job or stick to Ad agency job.

    alternatively rather than sales i would ask u to look for openings in Trade Marketing and Distribution Management. companies like Frito Lays, Pepsi, Brown & Williamson, P&G have this department, and this is different from Sales. this is not commission based and you have a sales team to look after. you will basically execute national marketing and promotional strategy in terms of sales, distribution, merchandising and promotional planning and execution in your respective territory/area. this will give a micro-exposure to brand/product management. based on this you can later switch to Brand Management.

    hope this gives you some food for thought. BUT first decide first WHAT you want to be and WHY?? and whatever you decide, decide on things which you ENJOY.

    keep us posted.

    cheers!!
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