This interview will take you through the ups and downs you can expect as a marketing professional, what it takes to land the job, what you can expect to earn and more. This is a true career story as told to DiversityJobs.com.
I am a Marketing Coordinator with over four years of experience supporting a Sales & Services company. I would describe what I do as creating and executing marketing strategies to support our sales department to better engage with our business customers and create long lasting relationships. One of the most common misunderstandings about marketing is that all we do is advertising in traditional mass media. In reality, I employ direct marketing tactics to reach our target market.On a scale from 1 to 10, I would rate my job satisfaction with an 8. I love what I do, but locally, in this industry, there is not much room for growth and expansion. To unleash my full enthusiasm, I would like to take my knowledge and skills to the next level by working on a daily basis with International markets and within other industries. However, this job does move my heart because I have grown and learned many things from it. I have learned about the best way to market products and services business to business, I have met lots of wonderful people and they continuously recognize my work.
When I graduated from college with a major in Marketing Management, I’ve always dreamed of doing marketing for consumer products and I never thought I would be doing marketing for industrial products. Since I’ve always liked sciences like biology and chemistry, it was easier for me to understand what our products are all about, which makes this job perfect for me.
I got started in this line of work after being referred by a friend to this employer. However, I had to pass four interviews before being selected for this job and it took about a year before I was recruited. I know that making the best impression on each interviewer was key to being recruited after one year. I wouldn’t change anything about how I got into this line of work since it all worked so perfectly.
After participating on the first events, I learned the hard way that to be successful – I had to be knowledgeable about our entire product line, which was huge. I had to bring home literature about our products to study at nights. I wanted to be able to answer questions from customers or prospects on future events. The most important thing I learned about the working world is that the learning process never ends. To stay competitive, I need to keep learning new things every day.
After my first 18 months of work, I needed an assistant to implement the ambitious projects I set for that year. I hired an assistant that got overwhelmed with all the information and never came back from lunch break on the first day. It was the strangest thing that ever happened to me in this job. I learned to be more thorough during the screening process when hiring the next one.
The best part about my job is that I have the opportunity to use my knowledge, my talents and my creativity to elaborate and implement marketing strategies for this company. I am proud and excited about how my marketing strategies translate into sales increase.
Some of the challenges I’m facing in this job are time and money related. In today’s economy, we work with half the budget we used to have to run the same projects. We do more with less: less resources, less money, fewer personnel. In addition, although I would not consider my job stressful, we have to meet deadlines and do many things in short periods of time, like participating in multiple events during one week.
After four years, I learned to identify the high and low seasons in my job. I am able to maintain a healthy work-life balance by planning ahead to spend quality time with my loved ones. In Puerto Rico, this position pays from $25,000 to $45,000 depending on the experience and responsibilities. I feel well paid and I live happily within my means. Taking vacations twice a year helps me unwind and recharge to take on the high seasons.
To get this job I had to complete a Bachelor degree in Business Administration with a major in Marketing Management. I was required to be bilingual to communicate with our suppliers from the United States and Internationally. Being a leader and a strong decision maker was critical in this job; they needed someone to take charge, make decisions and follow through.
I would tell my friends or anyone considering my line of work to go for it. I consider it an exciting and interesting career path full of rewards for those committed to it. In the near future, I expect to become a Marketing Consultant to help other companies within other industries become as successful locally and internationally.
