Exercise your skills.

Even before you work for a different brand, try to develop your own. May it be a Twitter or Instagram account, a podcast or YouTube channel, or a blog, you can find a platform you’re comfortable with. While scouting for details or sending out applications, spend your time as if you are already working on a marketing position. Create high-value content and learn from the different platforms at your disposal. Not only will you enhance your abilities but you might also end up creating a lucrative passion project.

Another opportunity to improve your skills is through freelancing. Take part-time, entry-level projects on social media marketing or copywriting. You can find freelance work through your own network: think small business owners, your mentor or professor. Check on your contacts and reach out. There are also plenty of online platforms for freelance work like Upwork or Guru.

If you don’t feel confident enough with your skills, worry not. You don’t have to launch yourself right away. Start off by taking online marketing courses and dedicate your time to finishing them. You can brag about these courses in your interviews as they show both proactiveness and dedication.

Fine-tune your resume and cover letter.

You don’t need to have actual marketing experience or a degree in marketing to actually have marketing skills. These skills can be gained from freelance projects, independent work, internships or schoolwork, volunteering and other positions. For example, your edge as a writer can be useful for certain types of marketing. So do leadership and organization skills. If you have experience in sales and customer relations, there are some skills there that you can relate to marketing too.

There is also the idea of transferable skills, meaning the ones you can take with you on any job. Some traits include:

• Adaptability
• Collaboration
• Communication
• Conflict management
• Creativity
• Decisiveness
• Emotional intelligence
• Influencing
• Integrity
• Negotiation
• Problem-solving
• Project management
• Risk-taking
• Teamwork
• Time management, etc.

Be sure to look at the skills that you possess and match them with what’s mentioned in the job description. You can then emphasize them on your resume and cover letter. Make sure to bring them up and be ready to give examples during the interview.

Be your best self.

By being your most witty, charming and honest self, you are more likely to get a job in marketing. Confidence is important but even more so is your genuineness. Show your earnestness more than your expertise. After all, employers are looking for people who are willing to learn their ways. Be sure to tell them of the skills you believe you can develop in their company.

The culture of the company you are applying for should also be aligned to your own values. As career consultant and LinkedIn expert Kirsty Bonner likes to say: “The company is as much of a candidate to you, as you are to them!”

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Another article you may also like

Need more similar advice? Check out the first part of our tips for job seekers in the marketing sector here.

You may also find this interview interesting

Take a leaf out of Anna von Boetticher’s book as she tells you what true passion and curiosity and can do. Listen to her interview for great tips on how to solve problems and remain calm under pressure. Access the Innovator Diaries podcast episode here.

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