~ How hard is it to get a Digital Marketing Job?
It is as difficult as to get any other significant job in the market.
Every job you apply demands skills related to that job, your intent to solve the problems and some relatable experience. Digital Marketing is not a different example from this.
Digital Marketing is about marketing/sales/awareness. Hence whether you are getting into a product company or a service company, you end up doing marketing. If it is an agency then you work on clients’ accounts and solve clients’ problems.
But as digital marketing is a Modern Day Marketing, Digital Marketing Jobs involves a lot of technology and creativity into it. Hence, having hands-on experience stands significant.
Being a digital marketing and data analytics professional, I deal with the most technical side of things as well as the creative side of things into both. I won’t hesitate to tell you that if you are not a tech-savvy or a computer-friendly guy, you won’t feel satisfied working as a digital marketer.
To deliver a crisp answer to the question, I have created a road map that would help the freshers out there. If you follow this, you would be able to end up with your first digital marketing job.
Steps to getting a great Digital Marketing Job
~ How hard is it to get a Digital Marketing Job?
Step 1
Practical realization is important that it is not hard to get a digital marketing job.
Marketing and sales are fundamental domains in any company, any industry. Baring aside a few non-internet driven or non-tech driven companies, every company needs a digital marketing professional today. They are often call it Growth Marketing professionals. Though there is a slight difference, to become a growth marketer also needs to have experience with digital marketing.
If you just look around, digital marketing jobs are available at your dream companies. Such as FAANG Companies and WITCH Companies, and also the top-notch marketing and ad agencies.
WITCH Companies (Wipro, Infosys, TCS, Cognizant, HCL) and Accenture.
FAANG Companies (Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, Google)
Agencies such as – Dentsu, WebFX, Omnicom, Publicis etc.
Even the big four i.e. Deloitte, PWC, KPMG, and EnY are also having digital marketing jobs and data analytics jobs.
Well, you need to understand that to get into such companies, you would need a good amount of experience in the tech side of digital marketing as well as the creative side and not to forget the web and app data analytics tools.
I have not mentioned startups, as most of the seed-funded startups are hiring for digital marketing jobs. If we talk about the unicorns or centralized startups like Cred, Meesho, Zerodha, Zomato, Swiggy, InMobi, OYO Rooms etc. they are as well having openings for digital marketing jobs.
This clarifies that has set a practical approach to learning and expert digital marketing is not hard as getting a job.
Step 2
Learning and mastering the skills of digital marketing.
To get a digital marketing job you have to earn the credentials.
There are many academies/institutions offering digital marketing courses. There are courses which are instructor-led, self-paced and hybrid. You may prefer to select your way of learning it and start.
Instructor-Led Courses – Offers a dedicated industry expert trainer, dedicated time slot of the class, dedicated course module, start date and end date, live classrooms, lively peers coming from different walks of life, proper QnA structure, better bonding with trainer and peers and you may get to connect with the trainer personally as well, facility of certificates and certifications as well, assignments are given. Many local institutions are available.
Self Paced Courses – Udemy is a great example of this. Courses are pre-recorded, you get a complete playlist of the module, learn at your own pace by playing videos, courses recorded by industry experts, no start date no end date, QnA may happen through chat rooms, you are at your own, assignments are available.
Hybrid Model Courses – A lot of materials are provided pre-course, in-between course, and post-course study, you get live industry expert trainer, you have to do a lot of homework and be present in sessions, QnA are available, maybe a personal connection with a trainer is also available, assignments are given. Simplilearn and Upgrad and Intellipaat can be good examples of this.
FYI, Hybrid courses are the most expensive. They do have great affiliations with top-notch universities in many cases, they collaborate. But the engagement is best as well.
Instructor-led courses are costly as well. INR standard across India would be approx. 830,000/- to 50,000/- for a good quality ILC.
Self-paced courses are cheap, as cheap as 400/- to 800/- INR.
Well, if you ask me, I would say go for a Simplilearn, Upgrad or Intellipaat stuff. *Integrated links are not affiliate/also it may not work if the owner has transferred to a different URL.
I am not an affiliate of any though, but getting high-quality stuff is always appreciable.
I would also entertain the ILS courses. There are many local academies that offer such courses at affordable prices. They do have good collaboration with high-end universities and bring amazing trainers. You can check that as well. A simple google search “Digital Marketing Courses” would display your Google Ads of it.
Self-Paced courses are great as well, cheap also but the engagement may be less. , if you are not a self-motivated person, then you may delay completing self-paced courses. Also, the above 2 options will help you with placements, self paced courses don’t offer that.
Here is a good quality Advanced Self Paced Digital Marketing Course.
*3rd course is from Google and it’s completely free. 4th course is also from Google but it’s on Coursera
Also, I have written a dedicated blog about FREE ONLINE COURSES WITH CERTIFICATIONS. Check that out.
~ How hard is it to get a Digital Marketing Job?
Step 3
Once you have completed the course, you have to build your digital marketing enthusiast / digital marketing professional profile. You have to build your profiles on the right platforms. Here are some platforms I would recommend you to be in and also how can you create a better profile.
Platforms to Find Digital Marketing Job | Platform to Build Your Digital Marketing Enthusiast Profile
The above ones are priority platforms. These are as well evergreen. I would personally recommend the above 3 platforms to be available and apply for the jobs there.
The above platforms are also widely used. Among the above ones, I have only tried TJ and GD. TJ seems to be quite not so active these days though. Facebook is there because a lot of people who create a great professional profile on FB and build a professional network there with Groups, Pages etc. get good opportunities.
Google Jobs is about the query you write in the search box. You will find out job listing appearing and you can apply through that thread. Here is a screenshot of the same.
I have heard all the above platforms are good to be in. So you can try it out.
Newly emerged platforms for digital marketing jobs and other jobs.
Well, these are newly emerged platforms in the market. Hirect and Fishbowl is a mobile app. The approach they have to land you a digital marketing job or any job is different.
Hirect let you directly connect with HR Managers and Team Leads to land a job.
Fishbowl is also not a direct job searching app. In Fishbowl, you make conversations about work, company culture, skills, packages, facilities and whatnot. You can build connections on Fishbowl that would help you further.
Talking about Relevel, this is one idea I liked recently. It has got two junctures. One is to help everyone for free. Next is to help the company.
In Relevel you can take tests on your specific skills. It has got multiple dedicated tests. And as per your score, you are given opportunities. Relevel claims that they have even placed 40 LPA plus packages. In Digital Marketing Jobs I saw they had up to 12 LPA. FYI, I or Relevel doesn’t mean that in DM you can land max with that much of a package. It is just that Relevel had it as the highest offer at that point. I have seen more than 35 LPA in packages in digital marketing jobs. In Relevel you can also go for courses by Unacademy, Relevel is a platform by Unacademy.
Tips to Create a Good Job Profile
~ How hard is it to get a Digital Marketing Job?
- Understand media profile optimization.
- Optimize the tags, titles, keywords, skills, certifications etc. on the platforms like LinkedIn, Naukri, Indeed, Facebook etc.
- Make sure to add the keywords of digital marketing and digital marketing skills.
- Make sure to add your credentials like certifications, certificates, job ex. (if you have), internships, freelance projects etc. you have done.
- Give descriptions on the platforms about your projects, certifications, internships etc.
- Make your profile look powerful. You may follow certain profiles and get inspired by them but don’t copy.
- Add the tools you have a hands-on experience with.
- Add your educational experience. Having a postgraduate like MBA/PGDM is a pro in digital marketing jobs in the long run.
- Having a marketing degree/education is better as it’s a marketing job. If you don’t have it, don’t break your head much, you can still get in.
- Make sure to complete 100% of your profile.
Be Resume Ready
~ How hard is it to get a Digital Marketing Job?
You have to have your resume in place if you want to apply for jobs.
This resume will be uploaded to Naukri, LinkedIn and Indeed profiles.
Here are a few tips on resume making for digital marketing jobs.
- Be strategic. Remember, a resume is role-specific and your resume isn’t a list of everything you’ve ever done. You have to make it JD (Job Description). Read the JD properly, understand what the recruiter is looking for and feed your resume accordingly. FYI – don’t bluff, don’t fake, and be confident during the role.
- Keep it consistent. No matter what formatting choice you make, maintain editorial consistency by using that format throughout the document. It should look firm, neat and clean and crisp. Make sure you are not using more than 2 to 3 colours. The best colour options are – grey, black, blue, orange etc.
- Think like an employer.
- If you are a fresher then make sure you include sample projects, portfolio links, and credentials in the resume.
- As a fresher, you better don’t have more than one page of the resume. If you have experience then it’s alright to have two pages.
- No need to add some personal information like blood group, parent’s name, and picture.
- Mention your soft skills. The image shows some of the examples of softs-kills.
- Add your technical digital marketing experiences and tools you have expertise in.
- If you have a previous job ex. and it belongs to marketing, sales, or business development feel free to add. If it’s not relevant to marketing or technology then you better don’t. In case you can establish a relation between the JD and previous job experience then feel free to add it.
- Make it ATS Friendly. ATS is the applicant tracking system. Making your resume ATS friendly helps you to optimize your resume and get shortlisted for the job.
- Make it a PDF format while you submit or upload to any platform. And name it the right way ex. Resume_Soumendra S._Digital Marketing Manager.
To read more about making a great resume you can take out some time and read it here. Click on the image.
Adding on Step 3
Digital Marketing is an ocean. There are different areas to specialize or you can become a full-stack. I am a full-stack digital marketer. There are a lot of digital marketing professionals who are working as Google Ads Specialists, Facebook Ads Specialists, SEO Specialists etc.
You may wish to select from a plethora of skill sets in digital marketing.
If you want to specialize in one specific skill, then you have to apply for digital marketing jobs that are related to that specific skill. To know more about this, you may read this blog below.
~ How hard is it to get a Digital Marketing Job?
Step 4
Get an internship.
Internships are a great green pass to get into a job faster.
There are multiple digital marketing internships available in DM. Here are some popular platforms for internships.
Make sure the internship you are taking is worth spending time on. There are internships for 6 months, 3 months, 2 months, and 1 month. One month internship doesn’t make any sense. Hence the no-good company will agree to offer a one-month internship. I had the best offers from OYO and Britannia during my Post Grad. days. None of them agreed with three or two months, but 4 to 6 months minimum.
If your employer is super happy with your performance during the internship period, you are offered a permanent job offer, in colleges, it’s called PPO (Pre Placement Offer).
Step 5
Prepare for Technical Tests, Interviews and apply for jobs, aggressively.
Technical Tests are about the tools you have hands-on.
Prep for Verbal Interviews. Work on your personality, communication, and positive attitude.
Apply in the suitable JD / Companies with good JD in the platforms we discussed. Apply to multiple job openings. As a fresher, check out 0-1 yr exp. openings, 6 months – 2 yrs exp. openings, 1 – 2 yrs exp. openings.
Attend the interviews that you have been approached to. Don’t deny, it unless it’s bad.
What not to do while looking for your first digital marketing job?
~ How hard is it to get a Digital Marketing Job?
- Don’t be so stubborn to only WFH options.
- Don’t be so stubborn as to pick your choice of salary at the start.
- Be happy with an average package or below average when you start.
- Scan the JD properly, and make sure you are doing something that is valuable in your career further.
- Be free to join a startup initially to get a launch pad in your DM career.
- Be aware of the paper works of the company while you join. Examples below.
- Offer Letter, Joining Letter, Notice Period, Package, In hand salary, PF & Gratuity if available, Salary Slips, Releasing Letter while leaving, Experience Letter while leaving to show it to the next organization you are joining.
It’s not difficult to get a digital marketing job and build a great career in DM. Make yourself eligible.
All the best.
Thanks for reading my blog.
I am Soumendra, an Online Marketing professional and Content Pro, helping businesses to grow online with digital marketing.
To let you know, I train people in Online Marketing, Digital Advertising, Content Creation, Digital Marketing Analytics courses, SEO and the entire arena of Digital Marketing.
You can connect with me in need.
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