Last year I studied for my MSc in marketing, and prior to completing my exams I starting applying for a number of jobs, in a hope that when the summer arrived I could start my career. However, come May I still had no offers, not even for an interview. Every job that I applied for said that I did not have enough experience and that other candidates better fitted the profile that they were looking for.
I felt that I was dealing with a double edged sword; I had no experience and nobody would offer a job in order to gain any experience. In an attempt to make my studies for the past year worthwhile, I wrote a letter and sent it to every marketing company within a 10 mile radius of my house (little over 40 companies altogether). This letter offered my services, in a voluntary capacity, as an marketing intern for the summer.
In response to the letters, I received 10 replies, and of those 10 I met with 4 to decide which company would be best for my personal development. I decided to work for the most promising opportunity for 2 days per week, and I came to an agreement to work for another company for 1 day per week at a rate of £50 per a day. I spent the other 2 days searching for jobs, and applying for approximately 30 - 40 each week.
After 5 months of volunteering I was offered an opportunity to work on a new project for Northcliffe Media, but it was as a paid intern for only 2 months and based in London (120 miles away from home), which put me in a bit of a dilemma, and gave me a huge decision to make. I decided that after 8 months of an unrequited job search, I should give it a go. I moved to London in a hope that by the time I finished my 2 month internship I would find a permenent post to start my career.
Working at Northcliffe was great, but it was only two months, and in that time I worked hard in a desperate attempt to secure a full-time position elsewhere. I even decided to look at more innovative ways to gain relevant experience and earn money. For example, I noticed a job advertisement for a marketing assistant at a sole trading beauty franchise. This got me thinking that in the current economic climate many companies cannot afford the services of advertising agencies, so I wrote to the company proposing that my university colleague and I work as freelancers and assist with his marketing as if we were an economy agent. He liked the idea and now we provide him with a fortnightly newsletter, as well as maintaining a blog and his facebook page. This has proven to be invaluable experience and could well turn into something more, as he has recommended us to business partners.
As innovative as this was, and as exciting as this may sound, it was really just a drop in the ocean, and for me, never a long term plan. I continued to hunt for my big break and then 2 opportunities came along at once. I weighed up my options and went for the position that offered me the most responsability, biggest exposure to what I wanted to do, and essentially surrounded me by, what I believe, is the best people.
What I am trying to say is, do not give up, I applied for over 1000 jobs before I got something, but at the same time, do not expect opportunities to just drop on your lap, there is a lot of competition out there and you will need to work extremely hard to get your break.
Be innovative and stay positive!
PS. If it is a job in advertising that you are after I would highly reccomend reading Ogilvy on Advertising, great book, even if it is a little outdated, but chapter 3 focuses on getting a job in advertising and the different avenues you could go down to get there. 1, Work for an advertising agency, 2, sell advertising space for a media comapny, 3, work for a manufacturer (i.e. P&G), 4, work within a marketing department of another type of business.
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