Guest Post - Alice Davies Experiences Trying to Break into Digital Marketing!

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This week, Alice Davies' fabulous guest post telling us of her efforts to break into digital marketing in spite of holding a creative degree. After you have read this post be sure to check out Alice's blog.

Hi There!

So, just as I was about to settle down and write this guest blog post, an intriguing email popped up on my screen. It was certainly a not-so-familiar sight to me as I had become increasingly used to the huge amount of NOTHING that seemed to NOT filter into my inbox every day despite the hordes of cover letters, CV attachments and online assessments that I had filled out in order to gain the slightest bit of experience within the marketing world. I almost jumped at my computer screen trying to open the file, as this was no ordinary email... it was an “R:E” email, it was regarding something, something that I had applied to!

The email was regarding an assistant marketing position with SEO responsibilities that I had applied to a couple of days beforehand. You should probably know that this is my absolute dream position, and an aspiration that I will not let my creative degree get in the way of. The application had escaped my memory for a while amongst the hundreds of other emails that I had sent to many a marketing agency (I feel like I may be exaggerating). Once I had opened it, I felt the usual pang of disappointment as I saw the words “Regrettably” and “High Volume of Applicants” amongst the other pitying terminology used in the corporate world designed, I assume, to make you feel better.

To all businesses, just for the record, it doesn’t.


On the rare occasion that I receive this type of email, I will usually delete it before I can wallow in self-doubt and plot a personal vendetta against the admin assistant who sent it to me (damn you Tom!). But this time, for the purposes of “research” and to maybe find out what I was doing wrong, I kept reading. Suddenly, I came across the sentence:

“…we believe that other applicants are a closer fit for what we are looking for...”

Now, you should know a little bit about me in order to grasp some context as to why these few words angered me. I am a design student, I have a design degree and if it were just for that, I would walk away happily knowing that the employer had made the right decision. But during my placement year, I was hired as an office junior working on the design and conception of promotional website material, copywriting and there was a strong emphasis on SEO marketing techniques. This is where I first felt at home and started to really discover what I could enjoy as a career. All of this, I feel, had prepared me to become the perfect candidate for any marketing internship, somewhat naively it seems.

I could forgive Tom, and I will, as I’m not one to hold a grudge. But I feel this has highlighted the fact that companies often don’t have the time to tell you WHY you’re supposedly not suitable, what you could do to improve and if it is your completely unrelated degree which is holding you back.

Being at the start of my graduate journey, I have not yet discovered the answers to these questions.  But I am determined to learn more, improve my skills and hopefully find employment with someone who can see my potential. Hopefully, one day, I can email Tom back telling him he missed an opportunity to give a creative, determined and bright young graduate the chance to shine.

If you would like to read more about my graduate journey, hop on over to my blog http://alishinwonder.blogspot.co.uk/ which will be updated regularly with personal experiences and reviews of the routes into graduate employment.
Alice
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