Some things I tell people who ask for career advice
I am always a little taken aback on those occasions where an email or LinkedIn direct message hits my inbox, asking me for some guidance or tips about getting into content roles/social/digital/freelancing.
These requests commonly come from grads looking for their first full-time marketing role, or those considering trying some part-time freelancing alongside a full-time role.
“Oh, you flatterer, you!”
Obviously I’m not a multi-millionaire, a highly-revered industry figure, or in a C-suite role… I just do what I do. Nevertheless, I’ll always try and help if I can. And often, I’ve found that I’m saying the same kinds of things about my own experiences when I am asked, so recently I thought “why not put it all in an article on here?”
Below are probably the most common questions I’ve been asked, predominantly by people looking to move from one career into content/digital/freelancing or searching for their first ever job. My answers are all based on my own personal experiences, so I don’t write the below with the intention of presenting them as ‘definitive answers’. They are just my own answers.
Q. “As an aspiring content writer, what can I do in order to seem enticing to potential employers?”
If you don't have an online portfolio of your previous content-related work, I'd think about starting to pull one together to include the pieces you’re most proud of. You should look at hosting this online so that you’re really starting to carve out a professional presence for yourself. If you don’t fancy building a fully blown website for this purpose, you could start a Medium account instead.
Depending on your work experience to date, some or all of these pieces may have been created outside of a work environment - and that’s ok. It still demonstrates a passion for content creation, and gives potential employers an idea of the style and level of quality they can expect from you.
You could also consider joining a professional association for copy/content writers. ProCopywriters is a brilliant one to check out, and on top of the membership benefits they offer, there are also a ton of resources available, including articles where you can pick up lots of insight, tips and advice.
Q. “How can I use LinkedIn to help raise my profile/make new contacts?”
Look at proactively connecting with people on LinkedIn, including individuals you already admire and any prominent figures in content/copywriting. It might seem obvious, but if you’re job-hunting, make some first approaches to industry recruiters as well. Pretty soon, at least a few of these will become connections you can send your CV/portfolio link etc to.
I made sure that I kept in touch with a few really good recruiters over the past few years, and this LinkedIn message below was actually the beginning of my journey towards clinching my current role at twogether (a digital and creative agency I’d had my eye on for a few years re: jobs!):
The trick is to invest a bit of time in building up (and maintaining!) your social presence each day. My last three jobs (as well as most of my freelance work) have come about via an initial LinkedIn conversation, so I can vouch for the fact that it’s a brilliant, powerful platform for this purpose - you just need to ‘wield’ it correctly!
To that end, it’s really important that you make sure your profile is properly optimised.
Start having more conversations with people, and use the content you discover on social to increase your general knowledge around those aspects of marketing you’re most interested in.
Join some relevant LinkedIn Groups where some of those conversations happen:
There are tons of LinkedIn Groups you can join. Oh look, that top one looks good… :-)
Being active in all these ways will stand you in good stead for future conversations with recruiters, in interviews, and even when you’re answering open-ended questions on those dreaded online job applications!
A useful exercise is to try and put yourself in the shoes of a recruiter who is conducting some candidate research - where you’re the potential candidate. How would your presence come across if they just looked at social channels like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn?
See how you can engineer your profiles and social activity in a positive way, so that it successfully demonstrates a your professional passions.
It’s no myth. Employers and recruiters do sometimes search on social for clues about their candidates, and if nothing else, just to validate some of those details you included in your application form/CV document.
Q. “Should I invest in getting certain qualifications? If so, which are viewed most favourably by employers?”
In my own experience (both as a candidate and someone who’s made hires), having a bundle of marketing qualifications or a relevant degree doesn’t always seem to make a massive difference.
When I was studying part-time for various things, I remember feeling that some of the content that my studies were based on didn’t quite seem 100% relevant to ‘right now.’
For example, in digital marketing, so many new trends and practices were emerging, yet it seemed rather ‘skimmed over’ in the courses I took!
Anyway, my own view is that employers are more impressed by people with some hands-on experience (even if it’s a modest amount, and it’s built up due to, for example, volunteer work, doing a bit of freelancing, or building a website/blog site of one’s own), some working knowledge and an obvious enthusiasm to grow and develop professionally.
You might well find these things are of more interest to some recruiters and potential employers than a piece of paper from a marketing body/institute of some kind.
I remember multiple occasions, when we’d invite an applicant in based on the qualifications and/or academic accolades listed in their CV. You’d speak to them in person, but holes would sometimes appear, because those people had actually never done any practical application of ‘the thing’ you were interviewing them for and/or the enthusiasm just wasn’t there.
Q. “How can I stand out from the rest of the crowd in my covering letter?”
Pass. I am afraid I can be pretty shocking at applications and letters (unless it’s a complaint letter - I’m told I’m pretty good at those), which is somewhat ironic because my whole career has been based on convincing and selling ideas/products/services. Thank heavens for LinkedIn and the opportunities to get hired based on a conversation, I say!
Q. “What challenges can I expect to face at the beginning of my digital marketing career?”
I’m going to guess that the field is still as competitive as it was (probably more so), but I believe that as long as you do an honest day's work, go the extra mile when it feels right to do so, and keep delivering your work to a high standard, the only challenge you may face is jealousy from other people.
In my opinion, and after 15 years of doing stuff, I know that digital isn't really something you can learn from reading lots of books or watching loads of YouTube videos. Sure, they help you do something or understand a concept, but you really have to get stuck in to really ‘get it’. That means making a real investment of your own time, effort and commitment.
It’s in this way that you help yourself move forward into new roles, and you’ll find you’ve got more control and confidence through the hands-on understanding you’ve gained through working through certain tasks and tactics (to the extent that you now know everything, inside-out!).
I guess the other challenge you might encounter could be related to the pace at which thing change and evolve in digital marketing. It can feel overwhelming, and I’m sorry to tell you, this feeling never really goes away…
It will probably vary a bit depending on the role you’re in, but generally speaking, ‘the parts are always moving’ (particularly in SEO, social and UX, I’ve noticed). It’s therefore important to be proactive about keeping yourself updated with the latest developments and practices in your field of choice.
These days, there are some really great sites to go for this kind of information, and I’m pretty sure that all of the below offer email newsletters:
Q. “What kind of role should I go for first?”
If you don’t already have a particular leaning towards a certain aspect of digital, I'd recommend you look for a generic marketing role where you can experience and learn a variety of things. So perhaps look for role titles like ‘digital marketing officer’, ‘marketing executive’, ‘digital marketing assistant’, ‘campaign executive’, and so on...
These roles are bound to encompass multiple parts of digital (SEO, social, content creation, content marketing, digital PR, PPC, etc) and possibly some offline stuff too (events, offline advertising, PR, print).
Basically, that's the route I took. I started off as a senior bookseller when I left uni and didn’t really know where I was headed, and it was only when I got a part-time marketing assistant role at a local authority that I started to get a feel for what I actually liked (and didn't).
From there, I held a few more general roles (all the while, working my way up the ranks). It was around that time that ‘digital marketing’ was really coming into its own as a formal thing. I was eventually able to leave things like offline ads, print and events behind (I hate events, sorry any event marketers reading this!), and focus on more of the stuff I actually liked doing.
It's only the last year or so that I've been able to really specialise on one thing in my full-time work - social media (and strategy).
I have also been freelancing for a long while now, and this turned out to be a brilliant way for me to really nail what it was I wanted to focus on. Now, on the freelancing side, I just concentrate on content and social. I’ve ditched everything else.
So I guess what I'm trying to say is, try not to feel like you have to put too much pressure on yourself to succeed in your first (or next) role. It's fair enough to spend some time trying things, and seeing what you might have a natural ‘flair’ for.
Q. “Who should I be following on social media?”
I think I’d struggle to provide a definitive list to cover most role types here, there are tons of great people to follow! I actually think you’re better, in the first instance, to spend time building up your own network of peers and discovering for yourself who’s worth listening to on social.
Twitter chats are great for this purpose. You can meet a hella many people in half an hour using this approach.
When you start becoming a part of a ‘community’ (or two) on social, you’ll probably soon discover lots of ad-hoc knowledge sharing going on… through pinging blog links to each other in Tweets and in comments, and through general chattering on Twitter (or in Facebook groups).
I’ve found this has worked well for me, and through the modest amount of virtual networking I’ve done (and I hate networking!) over the last few years, I know I’ve got people located all over the place who I can call on if I ever need a brain to pick about x or y…and I do the same back. That’s how it works. Give and take!
Whatever your chosen path, I wish you the best of luck.
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