Career Research Report Report Sample

INTRODUCTION

Marketing is one of the most competitive professions globally with its main role entailing the art of convincing people to buy products and services. It is a key cornerstone in various businesses that are keen on broadening and retaining their clientele base. Marketing as a profession requires a strong foundation in communication and analytical skills (Goodman & Vault (Firm), 2006, p. 102). It is through communication that any market professional can convey regarding his or her product or brand to the clientele base or customers with the intent of making sales or promotion of the said product or brand.
The interpersonal qualities that are associated with the profession foster rapport between firms or producers with the end-consumer (Blythe, 2006, p. 152). It is the feedback in such discourses that informs the future market trends and even production designs. On the analytical skills dimension, marketing enables a business to identify its target customers and even niche in the market. The analysis coupled with comprehension of consumer behavior, marketing offers critical information regarding a products or service’s reception in a consumer-base (Steinberg, 2006, p. 73). As a graduate in the marketing field, I feel have these skills required in the marketing profession. Am a sociable character that has a keen eye for detail. With the said attributes, I believe that I can easily engage with clients fostering long-lasting and proactive relationships that may translate positively into any business. I would particularly like to work in the advertising sector within the marketing field as a marketing assistant. This is because the advertisement is both dynamic and highly innovative.

RESEARCH

Marketing Trends
The market profession is very dynamic as evidenced in the emerging trends that have ultimately changed its face. Marketing has deviated from the traditional marketing methods such as direct marketing and multilevel marketing. The digital platform has become the primary marketing tool for many marketers taking their campaigns to social media. Facebook, for instance, has become a key marketing force. Studies indicate that over 39.5% of global businesses have active Facebook pages groups that help them interact with their customers (Zarrella & Zarrella, 2011, p.178).
The Facebook platform also enables the businesses to debut their new products to their customers. This is because has been determined by a number of studies to be one of the most responsive interactive platforms that marketers can use in their product and service promotion endeavors. Ray (2013, p. 266) notes that these factors are plausible as the current number of active monthly Facebook users has risen to 1.39Billion representing a 23% from the previous year with an approximate of 565 million users accessing the site on a daily basis. Twitter as the second online marketing platform has also seen many corporates use it to advertise their products using short texts and picture postings. The art of using hash tags and twitter trends has greatly revolutionized digital marketing. Twitter currently has 6.45 billion handles or accounts registered and over 200 million regular users. This makes it a viable marketing platform for businesses and marketers (Ray, 2013, p.274).

Opportunities for Graduates

There are many opportunities emerging in the marketing field. Many companies realize the need for marketing and thus have created various job positions to diversify their marketing portfolios (Steinberg, 2006, p. 73). Consumer products companies are the main employers of marketing assistants globally as per studies. Due to the limited experience graduates have much of these roles are tailor-made to be subordinate to other senior officers in the same job portfolios. The marketing assistant job, for instance, acts as a complementary role to a senior marketer. The graduate jobs also have a broad job description to ensure an individual taps into the various proficiencies necessary for an –all round marketer. Many of the graduate jobs require computer literacy, adept communication skills, basic financial acumen, and general math. All these elements are integral in preparing a fresh entrant into the job market to consolidate key knowledge in the marketing which ultimately acts as a stepping stone to future specialized marketing career prospects. These are advertised in both the mainstream and alternative media. I the mainstream media, the job advertisements are made in the newspapers, magazines et cetera while in the alternative media they are made on company websites and company social media pages and handles.

Skills and Knowledge

The major skills required in the marketing assistant job are mainly categorized into analytical, communication and organizational skills. The analytical skills cover other elements such s statistical analysis, data entry, financial and general math skills. The communication category of skills entails reporting, interpersonal and written communication. The organization skills on the other hand focus on time management and self-development (Ryan, 2014, p. 28). In many companies the experience from a minimum of two years to zero experience. Many companies posit that this being mostly a graduate trainee oriented job, many candidates may not have sufficient number of years’ experience that is synonymous with many mainstream jobs. This explains the leniency when it comes to experience for Marketing Assistants. According to studies many marketing assistants due to the complementary nature of their roles and responsibilities operate under close supervision of senior marketing employees that are assigned to them.

Selection and Recruitment Processes

Every professional keen on getting employed must undergo various recruitment and selection processes. Dessler (2000, p. 56) notes that selection process ideally enables a firm or company from a pool of potential of employees the right individuals with the required skills. The selection process focuses on the vacant or newly created positions and what they entail in the pursuit of new employees. The selection and recruitment procedures further provide companies with opportunities for departments to align personnel skills with the objectives and initiatives of the employer. Human resource management studies indicate that many businesses employ a similar selection and recruitment process. The common processes entail preliminary interview, tests, the shortlisting interview, background and reference analysis, physical examination job offer and contract of employment (Barrick, Gatewood, & Feild, 2011, p. 87).
The preliminary interview allows the employing firm to select a sample size of potential employees who have credentials that fit the marketing job description. This is followed by tests that range from psychometric to psychological to ascertain the IQ levels and mental well-being of the potential personnel. Pundits vouch for tests as they are less costly and effective in arriving at the best character for various employment opportunities. The tests also critically expose hidden talents that even the interviewee may not be well aware of. Ultimately the tests provide for the assessment of the right candidate, identification of the personality of a candidate and effective selection of an individual. The employment interview is then made to the shortlisted candidates in order to arrive at the right individuals for the vacant positions. The salaries and other working conditions are discussed at this stage. This is followed by a job offer that furnishes the new employee with the information regarding the job. In this context, the new marketing assistant is briefed on his duties and responsibilities. This is followed by an employment contract that is duly signed by the new marketing assistant and the new Human Resource manager of the employing firm.

Vacancy Advertised

The Marketing Assistant vacancy advertised by Maximus Marketing is my ideal job. The job entails marketing, promotion and public relations for the company using cost-effective means. The job offers opportunities to interact with global retailers as well. The vacancy is an entry level marketing assistant position which means that no experience is required. The job incorporates training which also provides an overview of basic marketing tenets such as visual merchandising, promotional techniques, social media marketing and consumer market research. The position also has room for an appraisal with an exemplary performance leading to one being selected as a team leader of other entry-level marketing assistants. The roles and responsibilities also go hand in hand with my skills as an individual keen on occupying the position.

CONCLUSION

Marketing as fields is very dynamic and has plenty of opportunities for developing careers as well as creating job opportunities. As aforementioned, marketing entails the art of selling of products and services using convincing, persuasion and incentives. It fundamentally requires proficiencies in the areas of self-organization, communication, and analysis. As aforementioned, the organization skills are key in time management, personal grooming, and mannerisms. The communication proficiency center on one’s interpersonal skills, eloquence, reporting and writing skills. The analytical aspect dwells on basic financial and general math knowledge, statistical analysis, and consumer behavior assessment. The marketing assistant job entails all these attributes. It is also relevant given the trends in the marketing world particularly the advertisement sphere. Digital marketing has emerged as a popular platform for many marketers. Additionally, as aforementioned the job requires a minimum experience making it ideal for any graduate. The candidates for this job despite lacking in experience undergo similar recruitment and selection processes as others in other professions. The common processes entail preliminary interview, tests, the shortlisting interview, background and reference analysis, physical examination job offer and contract of employment.

Reference List

Barrick, M. R., Gatewood, R. D., & Feild, H. S. 2011. Selection in human resource management. Australia: South-Western Cengage Learning.
Blythe, J. 2006. Marketing. London: SAGE Publications.
Dessler, G. 2000. Human resource management. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Goodman, J., & Vault (Firm). 2006. Vault career guide to marketing & brand management. New York, NY: Vault, Inc.
Ray, R. 2013. The Facebook guide to small business marketing. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Ryan, D. 2014. Understanding digital marketing: Marketing strategies for engaging the digital generation.
Steinberg, M. S. 2006. Opportunities in marketing careers. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Zarrella, D., & Zarrella, A. (2011). The Facebook marketing book. Beijing: O'Reilly.