Question
Could you provide any guidance to mid-career people like me trying to break into the field of Marketing who have good skills but not a Marketing Degree? Is Graduate school a necessity for us?
Answer
This is a common question that I have received in several different forms, such as, “I have an MBA, a degree in Finance, and 10 years experience performing audits and financial analysis in the oil and gas industry,” or “I have been in the insurance industry for the last 3 years and, although I have prior experience, I’m having a hard time landing a marketing job.” Anyone who is trying to make the transition into a new field is going to face challenges, especially if your current position is fairly far removed from your target position. Going from financial analysis to brand management, for example, is going to be a hard sell to any hiring manager. The key is working to make the transition as gradual as possible. Industry expertise, for example, will always be an asset when marketing in that industry. Accordingly, if you have an insider’s knowledge of the insurance industry, look for a marketing role in insurance. On the flip side, if you have a particular organizational aptitude, such as finance, look for a role in marketing, such as marketing management or even marketing analytics, that requires those skills. When you are asking someone to hire you, you are asking them to take a chance. You increase your odds of landing a job if you can make that chance feel more like a calculated risk than a leap of faith.
Steve Dempsey, Vice President Recruiting at Aquent