One of the biggest mistakes people make when looking for an executive level position is not dressing the part. If you are interested in becoming an executive, you have to look like an executive even when you are working in the marketing department with everyone else. There is a scene in a movie about the advertising industry in which a boss gives similar advice to one of the people holding assistant marketing jobs who wants to move up the ladder. ''Dress for the job you want not the job you have,'' he told her. And that's something important to keep in mind even as you start your career.
Remember that first impressions matter. If higher ups meet you and perceive you as executive material, they are going to work hard to make reality match their perception. And that could be excellent for your future.
Know Your Strengths
Most of us are not good at everything equally. Some of us can play tennis like a professional while others can barely connect the racket with the ball. Some of us can cook like a chef even without a cookbook while others cannot boil water. There is nothing wrong with being weak in some areas. There is wrong with not understanding that those weaknesses exist.
When you try to pretend to be good at everything in marketing, you end up not only risking showing off your weaknesses but also in failing to maximize your strengths. For example, if you know how to handle direct marketing campaigns like no one else in your firm then shoot for direct marketing jobs.
Show Don't Tell
Whether you are going for a promotion in your current company or you are branching out to positions in new firms, you are going to have to win over the team making the decision. One way you will fail is by relying too much on an oral history of your work experience and not doing enough to illustrate your strengths.
In marketing, you have an advantage because you work on campaigns. That means there is evidence of what you have accomplished in the industry and it is usually not too difficult to track down. Also, most marketing campaigns are tracked for their performance. Again, you will have some concrete data you can use to demonstrate your abilities. Not all professions are quite this lucky and have to deal with more abstract measurements and examples.
Do not go into any interview for any executive marketing jobs without having something to show the interviewer about your past success on multiple marketing campaigns. Choose the ones that were the most high profile but also look for ones in which you received great praise from the clients or the ones in which you took a chance that paid off. Pick the campaigns you are most proud of.
Then think of the interview like a presentation. You have to sell yourself just as if you would sell a new idea to a potential client. By doing this, you will give yourself a tremendous advantage over the competition. If nothing else, you will be remembered and that is a good thing in the hiring process.
Finding Available Jobs
With the economy in turmoil, finding executive marketing jobs might be a bigger challenge than you would have imagined. However, there are still a number of great ways to be noticed and to move up the corporate ladder.
First, you could stay with the company employing you now. If you have done a lot to stand out from the competition, there is a good chance you may be able to advance slowly up the ladder. There are no guarantees, of course.
Second and probably the wisest choice is to start searching for new positions now. Once you have reached a certain level in your current job you should start looking for higher positions at other firms. You might even look for the same position at a larger firm. By making these moves, you will be spreading your reputation throughout the industry and managing to climb more quickly towards the position you want.
If you are interested in the latter formula for success, you will want to use the Internet to track down these available positions. Go to a marketing-specific job search web site and enter your search criteria for a position. Even if nothing matches right now, you can usually set up notifications when jobs you might want are added to the site. That means you can always be playing the field and preparing to try for a new position.
And, of course, don't forget that new job offers don't always have to be taken. You can always use them for leverage at your current firm. The key is just to have access to the jobs and to know how to get the offers.
