Question

Topic: Career/Training

Breaking Into E-commerce Marketing

Posted by Anonymous on 4/9/2008 at 2:38 PM ET 500 Points
Over the last couple of years I have taken it upon myself to learn as much as I possibly can regarding e-commerce marketing, (i.e. search, email, site optimization). This has been through books, online courses, and lots and lots of web sites. I also received Google and Yahoo certifications.

Because my company doesn't do any online marketing (a government agency), there are no opportunities to use my new skills. So I have been doing freelance work for small companies for the practice.

As of last week my full time position has been eliminated and I'm on the job hunt. Because the competition is fierce I'm glad that I enhanced my 18 years of traditional marketing experience with e-commerce.

Because all of this is included in my online resumes, I've recently been contacted by corporate recruiters and have had a couple of interviews. But at each I have been told by the hiring manager that I do not have enough practical online experience or have not managed large enough search budgets for them to be interested in me.

Since I now really have to step up my job hunting, I want to create a version of my resume that calls out my experience with traditional marketing but with a heavy focus on what I know about e-commerce. But how do I word it so that it's clearly understood at what level I'm at with each? I don't want to give the impression that I am an expert in e-commerce but I still want it to show that I do understand it to a very good degree. Also I want it to be evident that I am an experienced multi-channel marketer.

Any resume advice would be very much appreciated, along with any insight how I can compete for jobs that want more e-commerce experience than I currently have.

Thanks!

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RESPONSES

  • Posted by joshuacrumbaugh on 4/9/2008 at 3:05 PM Accepted
    It seems that if you're getting the interviews the resume may not be the problem. You have to treat an interview as if it is the biggest sale you're going to close for the next x number of years. I'm only 26 years old and have acheived great success already. I've held a high level marketing position in the VSIP division of Microsoft and now run the marketing department for one of the fastest growing lenders in the country. I'm not bragging, but simply building my case. See, every time I go into a company I do my homework prior to the interview and always come in with marketing proposals in-hand. If you want these companies to see what you have to offer you may need to show them in black and white what sections of thier e-marketing they can improve on, but be careful not to put too much emphasis on any one part of their marketing unless your interviewing to manage only that segment of their marketing.

    Good luck with your job search!
  • Posted by Levon on 4/9/2008 at 7:15 PM Accepted
    Marketing is still Marketing no matter what medium you use the basics still stay the same. Good Internet Marketers can transfer skills across any medium (i.e. Direct Mail to Email). PPC, SEO, Affiliate Marketing, link building, Producing Video Content, Blogging - you mentioned you have experience in all of this stuff right? Then what's the problem?

    Whether you are paying 5 cents a click or $5 a click the premise still stays the same. I would reverse interview some of these Hiring Managers and put the question to them --- do they want a real marketer running their online strategy?
  • Posted by Susan Oakes on 4/9/2008 at 7:15 PM Accepted
    It might be that you are going for the wrong level of jobs from an online experience. The analogy would be a marketer with only a couple of years experience going for the same job as you with 18 years. Perhaps you could consider a role that matches your experience but has opportunities to progress quickly.

    The way to word your resume and you may already have done this is to focus on the results achieved in each of your roles including the work with the small companies. In interviews think of the key issues, what you actually did and the results. Your pro activeness in doing work for the small companies is a plus.

    Also you probably need to find a recruiter who can assist you as well as their client. I was a recruiter for a couple of years, so if you want me to have a look at your resume I would be happy to. You can contact me either via my website or via the member directory.

    Susan
    M4B
  • Posted by saul.dobney on 4/10/2008 at 4:35 AM Accepted
    See if you can find work as a temporary freelance to an agency or interim manager for 3 months - it should round your experience off, and you may be able to network into full time positions. Alternatively try and sell your services directly to smaller businesses, there's a lot of people looking for online marketing help.
  • Posted on 4/10/2008 at 11:13 AM Accepted
    I would suggest enhance your resume with a skills section that allows your knowledge of internet marketing. Using the industry buzzwords might acknowledge you as someone with that expertise and they may be willing to hire you on a per diem or full-time basis
  • Posted by Neil on 4/11/2008 at 3:06 PM Member
    Can you give some examples of specific results you have achieved in e-commerce? I am sure if you sat down and thought and made a list you could come up with something concrete.

    I suspect that you are being very vague in your resume. Am I right?
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