Senior marketing jobs
On average, most senior marketing jobs receive upwards of 100 applications, all claiming to have the requisite skills. Only a handful will make it on the shortlist and generally one or two lucky candidates will make it to final interview. What can you do to increase your chances of success?
The criteria for successful senior marketers are broadly the same as for any other high-level operational role. Key skills needed include:
- strategic and tactical experience of the relevant marketplace
- strong interpersonal and communication skills
- ability to work and influence at all levels
- thorough experience of measuring, managing and improving business performance
Strategic and tactical acumen
Senior marketers are having to be more strategic in their outlook and contribution to a company. Devising a new brand strategy, tackling a completely new market or extending the lifecycle of a mature product or service does require strong decision-making and strategy skills, allied to tactical know-how.
With the marketing function increasingly called upon to demonstrate its tangible value to the bottom line, an ability to demonstrate the commercial contribution of the marketing plans that have been developed and implemented is paramount.
Ultimately business is about profitability and sustainable growth and this is often overlooked - senior marketers should be able to relate contribution directly to the bottom line.
Business objectives and personal attributes
The best marketers can discuss what the business objectives were, the strategy, tactics and budget agreed and what difference it made to the bottom line. This is a distinction upon which many marketers fail; they often talk about what they can and did do in practical marketing terms, but fail to translate this into commercial reality.
The successful management of people, time and money is very important. Technical marketing prowess must be integrated with managing effectively both below and above your position within a company structure.
This also applies across functions - such as finance, IT, operations and HR. Personal characteristics such as self-awareness, empathy and an ability to build relationships at all levels are part of the ideal senior marketer profile.
Tailoring applications to specific marketing jobs
Keep your covering letter brief and to the point, and do not simply regurgitate what is on your CV. Ensure that all documents are checked for spelling and grammatical errors, and make sure that the person to whom your application is addressed is correctly named and titled. If in doubt, call up the organisation and verify their details.
The watchwords with your CV here are relevancy and brevity. Everything written down should be carefully crafted to the job being applied for. Indeed, this is more advisable for the more senior the role.
Consider the job and person specification carefully and think about the skills and experience that are being asked for. Go through each requirement in turn, and as much as possible, reconcile what you have achieved to what is required.
Place the greatest emphasis on your most recent role and the least on your more junior roles. Describe your current role and remit briefly, listing the key skills and significant achievements and always quantify your achievements from a commercial perspective.
And a warning, if your skills are not relevant to those sought, you should seriously question whether that role is right for you!
Get a feel for the company and industry
Finally, do your market research. It's up to you to find out as much as you can about the company before you make your approach. Analyse their corporate website and read up on their latest set of reports and accounts.
Where possible, trial the product or service and endeavour to speak to people within the organisation, category or industry to get a real feel for the challenges and opportunities faced by the company.
If you can demonstrate that you understand their market and can put forward creative and practical solutions that support their business objectives, you will really set yourself apart from other applicants.
