5 Ways to Gain Marketing Experience: From Networking to Internships

Struggling to kick-start your marketing career? You're not alone. While it has been said in many ways, Lotte Lenya, the actress and singer's take was, “Training is useful but there is no substitute for experience.” You might be wondering how to gain that experience to help you with your marketing career. A blog on Jobillico written by Klaudia Pham, lists five key steps you can take to gain experience when you don’t have any.

Build your network

Building a network of people with similar interests pursuing the same goals is where you should start. Social media platforms like LinkedIn can help you start connecting with peers, industry professionals and organizations all of whom you can learn from. The connections you forge can also introduce you to others which will help you grow your network. According to a blog by Diyaa Mani on Airswift, there are three steps to building a professional network:

1. Identify goals: Know what you want to accomplish and connect with professionals who can help you get there.
2. Leverage connections: Take advantage of the connections you build and ask for introductions to industry leaders who can share insights and may be willing to offer mentorship opportunities.
3. Conduct Informational Interviews: As mentioned earlier, there’s no substitute for experience and what’s better than learning directly from the words of an established industry professional. Ask questions, take notes and most importantly, listen.

Keep learning

In a profession like marketing learning never stops. Staying current and updated on the latest trends, technology and strategies is crucial to remaining relevant in a profession where change is constant. The moment you stop learning or investing in your professional development you risk eventually outliving your usefulness. There are alternatives to post-secondary marketing programs for upskilling such as the Chartered Marketer program from the Canadian Marketing Association (CMA) which provides the only marketing designation in Canada. 

Internships and volunteering

Another way you can gain experience is by volunteering your time. You can ask connections, or search job boards for volunteer marketing positions and apply directly to them. Volunteering is a viable option to gain experience as charitable organizations post marketing positions for volunteers. Landing an internship is another option although you may have to work harder to get one. Reach out to former classmates, peers and industry professionals and let them know what you’re looking for. You never know who might be looking for someone with your skillset.

Job fairs and hiring events

You can meet career coaches and mentors at job fairs/hiring events which could be a gateway to professional experience. These events are great opportunities to practice your elevator pitch, speak with representatives of organizations, interact with peers and industry professionals, and see what kind of opportunities are out there. To prepare consider some tips from IQ Partners Inc. in their blog titled “Are Job Fairs Worth the Time and Effort?” Some of their tips to prepare for job fairs include:

1. Research: Do your research and learn about the companies that are going to be featured. By researching the companies in advance, you can decide which ones you want to speak to, rank them in order of preference and prepare questions to get more information.
2. Practice elevator pitch: You need to be comfortable introducing yourself and communicating what you do quickly. Delivering your elevator pitch confidently will allow you to present yourself professionally and give you the opportunity to ask the questions you want answers to.
3. Bring plenty of resumes: The last thing you want is to run out of resumes at a job fair. Be sure to bring enough for every company and a few more just in case.
4. Collect business cards: Collecting business cards and making new connections will allow you to grow your online network which can help you later.
5. Follow up: Once you make a connection, be sure to follow up with them. It could be as simple as a short message thanking your new connection for taking the time to speak with you.

Create your Resume

Don’t make the mistake of using the same resume for every role you apply to. While it will take time, tailoring each resume to the role you’re applying to will help you stand out. List all the relevant skills and related positions you’ve held in the past to be seriously considered for the role you’re after. According to Klaudia Pham’s Jobillico article mentioned above, knowing your strengths and weaknesses will make it better. Your resume should be professional and laid out in a way that accurately represents what you offer on paper. This is where you add your education, volunteer work, internship experience and any other extracurricular activities which are relevant to the role you are pursuing.

Work

Getting experience requires one thing – work. Whether that means going to job fairs and speaking to recruiters, searching job boards for volunteer positions or networking and making new connections who can help you along the way. You must put in the work to get where you want to be. If you need some inspiration to get started, Maya Angelou once said, “Nothing will work, unless you do.”.”