Marketing Graduate 2009 - advice?

amybabes

Hello all! Presumably if you are posting/reading threads in this forum then you are somehow associated with marketing!

Looking for some advice..........
I am almost a graduate (2 more final exams to go) of U.L BBS, major in marketing, minor in HR.
Have exhausted nearly all of my options.....applied for at least 100 jobs, even ones i wasn't interested in. Have had plenty of rejection, no reply, replies that all recruitment has stopped etc. Got to the final round stage of interviews with a fairly prestigious company with an unbelievable graduate programme, but didnt get it. At the moment, I am waiting to hear if I have got a place on the IBEC EOP programme, and I also have been called for an interview for the Aldi Area Manager Grad Prog (but am still on the fence about that one reading some of the posts on it in other forums!)
So, its a bit frustrating that I am getting so far and getting no further....it would nearly be less painful if i wasn't getting any interest. I have had my c.v and cover letters checked, and have honed up my interview skills. After the last rejection, I found it very hard to pick myself back up after getting through 4 rounds of interviews for my dream job (Diageo)

Ideally, I would love to make my career in either advertising or brand management as these areas are where my strengths lie....although I have no formal graphic design qualifications, I would consider myself to be quite strong creatively - visual and linguistic. I have 8 months experience of my co-op,which I did in a hotel group (but got great branding and advertising experience there) and also some sales experience and consultancy experience.
Does anyone have any advice on how to break into these areas? I'm not expecting to walk into a job at the moment, never mind one in marketing, or in something I'd really like to do! I'm prepared to do unpaid interships or the likes to get more experience or to get my foot in the door as they say.
Overall, I am focused, motivated, ambitious and hard working and I cannot sit back and leave things to chance....I realise that I need to be taking continuous action at the job seeking to make things happen for myself and nothing is going to be handed to me.

Does anyone know of any vacancies at the moment? I am quite flexible and would move anywhere to pursue a job. Ive contacted 5 different recruitment agencies in the last fortnight, only one reply - to tell me that they dont take on graduates on their books.
Any advice is welcomed....and any job vacancies or contacts would be very much appreciated!

mistermarketing

Go alone in setting up your own business......the only way of sure employment in a recession.

Thats what i'm doing right now....still in college in marketing,,,,i know there won't be anything out there for me when i come out , so i reckeon the sooner u start ur own business the better:cool:

amybabes

dont have enough experience!!! need to master the trade first i think, before i put myself out there on my own!! defo would think about consultancy in the long term, for small businesses etc. coz im doin a bit of it on the side at the mo, small budgets/favours more so than a serious business......things not good at tho moment for that though, first budget cut is usually marketing!

amybabes

amybabes wrote: »

dont have enough experience!!! need to master the trade first i think, before i put myself out there on my own!! defo would think about consultancy in the long term, for small businesses etc. coz im doin a bit of it on the side at the mo, small budgets/favours more so than a serious business......things not good at tho moment for that though, first budget cut is usually marketing!

Find yourself a person you want to work for and impress them enough for them to offer you a job. Keep at it again and again and again until you get it. (Watch the first half of Wall Street). A CEO or company owner would be impressed by enthusiasm and passion, if you can match it with some good ideas for his/her company that might be the way in for you.
Right now companies are going to be very afraid of hiring people without much experience straight out of college, because employing someone is very expensive and when money is tight they need to be sure the person isnt going to be making rookie mistakes and having to have to much attention paid to them.
Thats my advice as an employer anyway! Its a route I took once and it paid off

helpwanted1

Mistermarketing your post has intrigued me. How can you possibly be prepared to open up a company in the marketing field with no prior experience. I am not being critical or judging, just interested. Curious more than anything???

(I am presuming of course you have no prior experience as you are still in college and I am presuming you are not a mature student with a previous career in marketing)

Moderators: I believe I am still within the related thread requirements as many marketing graduates may want information on setting up a company and the thread IS titled Marketing Graduate-2009.

patftrears

Deleted User wrote: »

Find yourself a person you want to work for and impress them enough for them to offer you a job. Keep at it again and again and again until you get it. (Watch the first half of Wall Street). A CEO or company owner would be impressed by enthusiasm and passion, if you can match it with some good ideas for his/her company that might be the way in for you.

You work in marketing so market yourself to your target market ie employers

Pick a company you want to work for,
find the person in the company to contact
analyise what they sell/do
do a competitor analysis
come up with a marketing plan for their product service
Put it together if a proposal and send it into the person
If your good you'll get the job

It's a no brainer, even if you don't get the job you'll defo be remembered and you will be using your skills while applying for jobs.

MGilly84

Would you consider relocating abroad? Unfortunatly for you Marketing isnt exactly at the top of alot of Business Managers priority list. You said yourself its the first function to get the chop during a recession. (although would ask shouldn't it be heavily invested in?) I lived in Dubai for a bit and couldn't get over how big the PR and Advertising industry is over there. Big contracts, Big clients Big bucks. Nice life too.... and if you are outgoing, young, goodlookin (hate sayin that) you could also consider real estate out there. Theres always an internship with an American company Marketing is a concept invented by them after all. Where better to practice it. U.L if thats where you went may have links with companies over there.

Overall though the prospects of finding gainful employment after college here in Ireland are becoming more and more unlikely. How many graduates are churned out every year?? At the rate our Employers are shutting shop and leaving wheres everyone going to go? Hate being negative but hate being unrealistic as well. Then you could get lucky I started in a Job on the 5th of January this year I couldnt believe my luck. Hope you have some good luck too.

Sineadymini

Hi...

So did anyone who accepted this EOP hear back from IBEC yet?? I accepted my place on the shortlist but have not heard anything yet!!

Can someone fill me in on anything they know??

Cheers

Sineadymini

Hello there,

I got accepted also but have heard nothing since... should we contact them?? I mean I sent my acceptance via e-mail that time but nothing back since!!!

Rowley Birkin QC

My girlfriend got the EOP, first interview is today actually, but she got Diageo too for the next 6 months anyway so probably won't be taking up the EOP.

I know a buddy of mine took three attempts to get into the EOP but he said you should have heard by now. Why not look at a masters? I got a 1st in my undergrad but cannot get a job atm, so I'm going to go back for a year and diversify.

Sineadymini

Hey,
I am finished my masters.... ugh depressing so people have had interviews already yeah???

Rowley Birkin QC

Well she is having her first one today, chatting to my mate thats on the EOP at the moment and he said different types of candidates get called for different positions so all's not lost yet. Best of luck.

She was delighted to get back into Diageo (Storehouse), did 6 months there during college and is back for another 6 in Marketing. The EOP seems to be a good programme but the money is dire.

Sineadymini

Congrats to your gf! It is actually great to hear people do well for a change!!

Okay I guess I will sit tight and wait and see! I am not gona worry about the money for the moment a job or leg in the door would be super at this stage!!

Best of luck with your masters!!

glanman

amybabes wrote: »

Hello all! Presumably if you are posting/reading threads in this forum then you are somehow associated with marketing!

Looking for some advice..........
I am almost a graduate (2 more final exams to go) of U.L BBS, major in marketing, minor in HR.
Have exhausted nearly all of my options.....applied for at least 100 jobs, even ones i wasn't interested in. Have had plenty of rejection, no reply, replies that all recruitment has stopped etc. Got to the final round stage of interviews with a fairly prestigious company with an unbelievable graduate programme, but didnt get it. At the moment, I am waiting to hear if I have got a place on the IBEC EOP programme, and I also have been called for an interview for the Aldi Area Manager Grad Prog (but am still on the fence about that one reading some of the posts on it in other forums!)
So, its a bit frustrating that I am getting so far and getting no further....it would nearly be less painful if i wasn't getting any interest. I have had my c.v and cover letters checked, and have honed up my interview skills. After the last rejection, I found it very hard to pick myself back up after getting through 4 rounds of interviews for my dream job (Diageo)

Ideally, I would love to make my career in either advertising or brand management as these areas are where my strengths lie....although I have no formal graphic design qualifications, I would consider myself to be quite strong creatively - visual and linguistic. I have 8 months experience of my co-op,which I did in a hotel group (but got great branding and advertising experience there) and also some sales experience and consultancy experience.
Does anyone have any advice on how to break into these areas? I'm not expecting to walk into a job at the moment, never mind one in marketing, or in something I'd really like to do! I'm prepared to do unpaid interships or the likes to get more experience or to get my foot in the door as they say.
Overall, I am focused, motivated, ambitious and hard working and I cannot sit back and leave things to chance....I realise that I need to be taking continuous action at the job seeking to make things happen for myself and nothing is going to be handed to me.

Does anyone know of any vacancies at the moment? I am quite flexible and would move anywhere to pursue a job. Ive contacted 5 different recruitment agencies in the last fortnight, only one reply - to tell me that they dont take on graduates on their books.
Any advice is welcomed....and any job vacancies or contacts would be very much appreciated!

I only saw your post now so hope your still reading!

I got to the final round of Diageo too and thought I did really well. (I was on the Thursday, think I might have actually met you, cant have been too many UL girls in last 20) Anyway, I got told that I reached the benchmark afterwards but they were only giving three places and I wasn't in the top three. This was really hard to take as they had said they would take on everyone who met the benchmark. I finished college in December and was waiting to see how that went before looking for anything else.


I was lucky that just after doing the final round and before I got rejected I got a short term 3 week project with a company working in renewable energy. 4 months on I'm still here and just got a three month contract. This can't be any longer as we are only really starting up but I think the company is really well positioned to grow very rapidly once we launch! So my advice to you is get in contact with your careers office (they called me with the short term project) and tell them you are willing to do short term jobs. Also your lecturers and lecturers from other faculties in areas that you interested in are worth contacting. Ireland is very small and people talk and ask their friends/well respected collegues advice for hiring people so its worth getting your name out. Three week contracts (or other short term jobs less that 3 months) wont go through agencies so its worth getting your name out. Renewable is growing really fast. I had no particular interest in it before I got this job but you learn fast!!

BigKev49, you say your girlfriend got 6 months of Diageo, is that all they are offering in the grad program or is that something else? A friend of mine got a place in the London one and 2 months later got it postponed until 2010 with a small fee paid to him to for the innconvenience. He has gone to NY to look for work as not many people can afford to wait a year and a half for a job.

Companies are screwing up peoples lives by saying they are doing great in recesion and they wont be cutting back but then you find out they are cutting and the carrot you have been chasing disappearing and you are left up sh!t creek! Accenture and Kerry were the same to name but a few.

Accountants seem to be the only ones not cutting back

Rowley Birkin QC

Cheers, best of luck in the hunt!

Rowley Birkin QC

glanman wrote: »

BigKev49, you say your girlfriend got 6 months of Diageo, is that all they are offering in the grad program or is that something else? A friend of mine got a place in the London one and 2 months later got it postponed until 2010 with a small fee paid to him to for the innconvenience. He has gone to NY to look for work as not many people can afford to wait a year and a half for a job.

She was in the Marketing Dept. in Diageo for her work placement in 3rd year, had previously worked the Ryder Cup and a few other big events. She got on very well as they offered her a permanent position at that stage but she wanted to finish her degree. She kept in touch with her boss and colleagues and they offered her 6 months the day she finished college, so there was no programme/interview as such.

Works out pretty sweet for me too, free gym and plenty free pints of the black to make sure I have to use the gym. Paddy's day there was unbelievable. I also have a mate thats a brand manager/ambassador/something or other, I don't really get all this "morketing" jargon, for Jameson. Living it up on free booze and PR events while jobseeking is no bad thing!

Sineadymini

Ah bummer... no I didn't get called to the Diageo one!! I am so confused.. how many people do they even accept for EOP anyways??

Sineadymini

I am sooooo confused....

glanman

Sineadymini wrote: »

I am sooooo confused....

How do you mean Sineadmini? I was talking to Amybabes in my message, in case you think I was talking to you!

glanman

bigkev49 wrote: »

She was in the Marketing Dept. in Diageo for her work placement in 3rd year, had previously worked the Ryder Cup and a few other big events. She got on very well as they offered her a permanent position at that stage but she wanted to finish her degree. She kept in touch with her boss and colleagues and they offered her 6 months the day she finished college, so there was no programme/interview as such.

Works out pretty sweet for me too, free gym and plenty free pints of the black to make sure I have to use the gym. Paddy's day there was unbelievable. I also have a mate thats a brand manager/ambassador/something or other, I don't really get all this "morketing" jargon, for Jameson. Living it up on free booze and PR events while jobseeking is no bad thing!

Ah she had her head screwed on so Kev, great way to get in. Will she be affecting by the cuts today, hope not for her sake as I really wanted that job when going through the process as it sounds amazing both from a work point and career point. Pretty much everybody in the whos who of Irish marketing has worked for Diageo in some past life!

I have two friends starting Jameson programme one going to NY other to helsinki, sounds like great crack but is it a good job? Are you pretty much just a rep for a year??

vtps001

Good Marketing Advice for the business persons who are entering into the small business strategy.... Thank you for the useful advice...

http://www.gentlerainmarketing.com

nuttlys

just finished a marketing masters myself and I have to say that I understand were the frustration is coming from. I was lucky in that I've recently been offered a decent marketing position and start in 2 months, but up until then all the marketing jobs I could see on offer were companies trying to sell sales as marketing, or customer care as marketing.

My advice is just hold out and look for the job you want. Some good comments earlier about chasing up management of companies you want to work for. Get the Marketing Manager or Managing Directors number, send them an on spec letter and give them a call a few days later.

Also if you are having trouble finding a job you want, go back to your marketing lecturers and find information regarding alumni from your course. You'd be surprised what an introduction from a lecturer can do.

ed6hellsfresh

I suggest you take a look at talenttank.ie and look into offering your services for free for a while.

Certainly a way to get a foot in the door, I got offered a paid job off it, within a day! Give it a look.

Also - there is no hurry, take some time off, travel, read some marketing books, come back and show off how much you know!

Ed

gerrybaah

I left college with a B Comm and MBS during the boom times and wasted 12 months looking for the "perfect" job...which doesn't exist when you have no experience. Reality bites after a while when you realise that you will be 5 to 10 years working in business before you find what your REALLY happy at. My advice....take a job even it seems beneath you for now. All employers want is inititive and energy...you'll prob end up using only 10% of what you learned in college anyway!!!

hsi349

Hello, Im new to this Boards thing, please bare with me. I'm sitting 3 marketing exams (services marketing management, logistics management and marketing planning and management) next week and I'm looking for help. If any of you marketing people are looking for some extra cash a.s.a.p please contact me. The more help I can get the more cash I will pay;). My email is hsi349@gmail.com

finisklin

Amybabes,

any joy on the job front? Things are really slow out there at the moment.....a good few of my mates are heading to the UK. Try www.brandrepublic.co.uk regarding marketing job opportunities. Many of them are in different sectors and it is geared towards agencies......something might suit!

Bon chance :pac:

amybabes

hello all, i actually hadn't looked at this thread in ages so apologies for my late replies!!
Thanks to all who gave advice, and chin up to those who are in the same boat!

Update - 3 months on and I am in Sydney! Working in a job for a big company that operate in 3 different sectors in a position that is about 75% sales and 25% marketing....and its short term as my visa restricts me to 6 months with the 1 company. I certainly don't love it and its not my dream job but I'm working and gaining confidence in my sales ability! Believe me it's tough being Irish trying to sell to the Aussies - there's almost a suspicion of all foreigners! Today is my graduation day in U.L and i'm obviously not there....but i felt i had to take the plunge and leave ireland asap after my finals because i knew hundreds if not thousands of graduates in ireland were emigrating looking for work. In other words, i feel my degree is doing me no good right now (although i know it puts me in a better than those looking for work that don't have a degree.) In my department, I''ve had to train in a doctor from Brazil to basically do cold calling, so reality bites!! If anyone is thinking of Oz, contact me - we hire regularly.

Gladman - yes i did meet u! Great to hear that you got a job, pity we both didn't get Diageo...but when i saw the job cuts a few months after the interview i thought maybe it was better off as it would have been much crueler to have gotten the job and been let go a couple of months later! I was also so disappointed as it was my dream job but hope to get there some day!

So in my job in Sydney, after tax i take home about the equivalent of E450 (i get taxed quite alot but you can claim most of it back) and i live REALLLLLY comfortably on this. Dollars go alot further than euros let me tell u. So i live in a top class apartment, eat out twice a week, go out twice a week, am able to buy clothes and get my hair and nails done and i'm still able to put away every week. Plus sydney is 24 degrees today (still winter here) so defo something to think about. It's the best thing i've done and while a little sad i'm not putting on my hat and gown with my friends in u.L, i don't have any regrets either.

Best of Luck everyone - keep in touch with how you are all doing! Amy x

A Doozer

Ok I must apologize for not reading every thread. Am a marketing graduate as well as a computer (diploma) graduate. The job I have at the moment has absolutely nothing to do with either. I picked up a trade part time while I was still in college and managing a store of a well known Irish brand. My job is based on my part time trade. My pay and interview were based on my management experience.

Marketing is always a tough one. Try and remember what ure best subject was and develop on that. Alternatively pick up a part tell trade and after a year or two and a load of dosh and experience use your marketing skills to sell yourself.

Also recommending travel. Work abroad as well. It only needs to be for a short time. I was given out to by a recruitment agency recently for being in my current job for too long!!!! Gone are the days of working for the same company for 30+ years.

And. Was one week from retirement too....

A Doozer

ps after a few so apologies for the spelling/wrong words above. Ducking iPhone!

finisklin

Amybabes,

sounds like you have it sorted.....Sydney sounds picture perfect! Enjoy.....:pac:

mhogan101

Hi Amy

Sorry to hear that things aren't going too well for you, I was in the same position last yr and decided to take things into my own hand and start up a business.

I started up a website, which is going quite well. As it's relatively new, I'm not generating much profit, but if you wanted to get some work experience with me, I would be delighted to have you on board.

Let me know what you think!