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How do I break into marketing with a non-traditional resume? |
I am a very creative person who loves science but has grown tired of typical bench work. I will be completing my PhD this spring and I'd like to break into marketing and/or advertising, with a long-term goal of working for a pharmaceutical company in their marketing department. I have an excellent science background. I have some hand-on experience in marketing, advertising, and PR for groups I volunteer with (college alumni group and sorority), but I have no formal training in marketing and my experience is rather spread out over the years. Any advice on how to break into a marketing/advertising job? I know I'll have to start at the ground and work my way up and I'm very willing to do it--how do I convince potential employers to take a chance? Thank you for all answers! Your profile is interesting. Even if you don't have experience, you can convince the inteviewer, and make him listen to what he's looking for. I have got more than 10 face to face interview for marketing positions, in FMCG, IT and also pharmaceutical. Below are some advices : - Show them that you are interested in the position cause you want to build a long term career with them. Do not say that you want to join the company caus it's really very important with high turnover. - Try to find all arguments to show your interest for pharmaceutical companies : You want to help poeple, I that's your way doing that, working for a pharmaceutical company that makes poeple feel better. - Employers wants someone who is pragmatic, result oriented, creative, and also have to find solutions for difficult situation. Try something like " I am not the kind of person that try to say anything to answer a question, if I don't have the answer I will say I don't know now, But make sure that I'll get it" In term of marketing, make Focus on the 6P's, try to speak about them and apply them to a pharmaceutical product - Proposition : what is the promise of the product - Place : is it distributed in the right place, is there any channel else where we can distribute it. - Price: is it positioned at the same price - Packaging : do you have an attractive packaging, how is it perceived by the consumers versus competition - Promotion : Do we need promotion, when? where.? What can we offer (for the trade or consumers) - Product : do we have the right product attributes (physical and chemical composition), is the form of the product appreciated by consumers (pills ot anything else) Try also to show that you have to analyse the situation of the product, that you have to identify the gaps versus objectives, and set up plans to get to these objectives (Marketing plans : Above the line, Below the line, promotion, activation, ...) Hope that will help. Try to read some basic knowledge about marketing. looks like that PhD is really going to come in handy. i don't know if this can help any, but i am a graphic artist - self starter - who is not doing so bad now with my own from home business as well as working at a newspaper - my advice is to get yourself a couple of maybe smaller accounts in your field to design ads for from home and use them or those ideas to build a portfolio. i find that's one of the most important things to do, you can't be out to make money on that, but the exposure is worth more in the end - and who knows... if you are really good - you might not ever need an employer!!! :) i was pushed in the 'cold water' myself and was very, very surprised how 'easy' it is to make money with advertising from home... i used to work from home 'part time' making a full time income - then i got pregnant and had no time for advertising myself so i ended up working full time for the paper, i had to go on part time because i had too many customers coming back and it works great now. anyhow, good luck - if you need some graphics help please contact me at merlin@merlinsart.com I don't think it's going to be as difficult as you may think. In my experience I tend to think that advertising/PR people are more "Outside the Box" thinkers than other endeavors. I mean, you aren't approaching one of the big six accounting firms here. After college I worked for an advertising agency in their research department before I decided to get into sales. As I think about, I may have been in the minority with an actual degree in marketing. I'm trying to come up with a succinct way of conveying my point here, and finding myself largely unsuccessful. When you speak to an employer, they all want to know what you can bring to that particular organization. However, if it's a scientific endeavor or say, a law firm, naturally it's your knowledge or mastery of that particular field of endeavor they are interested in. Marketing, sales, or public relations is different. It's not technical, but rather, It's an endeavor of ideas, if you will. And with people of different backgrounds, you will have different approaches, and different ways of looking at things, and this is what they want. My question, though, Marketing, as it were, is such a broad field, as is advertising, do you know what you want to get into? You have a couple of avenues here. Is it possible to start with a pharmaceutical company, perhaps in their research department, then eventually move into their marketing department? I ask that because to me that would seem a more direct route than to start out at a PR firm or ad agency, then try to move to a pharmaceutical company. That would seem to me to be more of a hit or miss approach. With respect to your "how do I convince" question, I think you can have a lot of fun with it! Lay off the hand wringing for a moment and think about this logically. Or as I say, "Think about the guy on the other side of the desk!" How many times do you think this person has someone with a PhD in Applied Sciences (or whatever your PhD will be in) come in and apply for a position with thier ad agency? I think the situations I can conjure up could be hilarious! Do you really think you will have any problem convincing anyone that you really want to do this? Personally, I don't think you will have any problems at all! The American Advertising Federation has local chapters all across the United States, and student chapters at many universities. Contact the advertising/marketing department at your school to see if they have a chapter, and join it. Look in the phone book under "Advertising Agencies and Counselers" and make some phone calls to find out some members of the local AAF chapter in your area. Show up at some of their meetings or mixers and make as many contacts as you can. Pass out a well-designed business card (you can even print it on perforated stock from Staples ... they won't care) that says "PhD for hire ... cheap!" then hand it out and use it as an ice breaker. Your education and enthusiasm will make you an attractive candidate. |
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