A non-marketing with no experience international student successfully became a professional Content Creator
Can you find a job without experience? As you search on job-seeking websites, you probably find plenty of opening positions (which require little or no experience) for you to apply. For example, Delivery Boy/Girl, Christmas Casual Sales Assistant, Data Entry Operator, Supermarket Assistant, etc.
As a university graduate, do these jobs help you pursue your marketing career in Australia? Unlikely. You need to get an entry-level job to acquire and accumulate marketing hard skills and eventually achieve a higher position. But when most entry-level jobs (even internships) require a minimum of two years of experience, landing a full-time job can sometimes be even more challenging than reaching the sky.
In this article, let us, MARKCubator, lead you to explore the logic behind the experience, and how you can compensate for a lack of experience. We will also show you a proven case of how an inexperienced non-marketing international student who has successfully landed her first full-time marketing job in Australia.
A Successful Story
During MARKCubator’s October Meetup, we invited MARKCubator’s former team member, Yin Mei Teo, to share her past career journey with other international students.
As a non-marketing international student, YinMei decided to pursue her marketing career in Australia after graduation. Although she volunteered for many university activities and attended marketing internships, she repeatedly hit a wall when she was applying for marketing jobs. YinMei realised that the marketing experience she had accumulated before was only some scratches. She neither had an in-depth understanding of how marketing works from planning to execution nor the hottest marketing skills (like digital marketing, event management, email marketing, content creation, SEO, website management, etc.).
“Initially, I thought that the experience I had was enough to help me land a job. But after several failed interviews, I quickly found out that I did not have the depth of experience most employers were looking for.”
Even worse, YinMei graduated when Covid first hit Australia. Numerous people (including experienced marketing professionals) were unemployed and looking for limited job openings. Competing with those people in the job market seems like a mission impossible. Time was ticking, with only 2 years of working right, YinMei lost her career direction until she found Dr Theresa Teo and MARKCubator on LinkedIn. Within 1 year, YinMei successfully built up 3 skill sets and landed a full-time marketing job!
Skill set 1: Have an overall understanding of how marketing works from planning to execution
YinMei joined Beyond Horizon Project (one of the MARKCubator Apprenticeship Programs) and executed a marketing campaign for Dr Theresa’s client, Rebels n Misfits. This ranges from market research, ideation, proposal planning and pitching to the client, and execution. Her main responsibilities were designing social media posts on Canva and copywriting for social media and EDM as well as liaising with the client and taking meeting minutes. With this 4-month intensive project led by Dr Theresa, YinMei got a chance to understand how marketing works in real life from planning to execution.
“In the Beyond Horizon Project, I had the opportunity to plan and execute a marketing campaign for a client and got involved from everything in planning to execution.”
Skill set 2: Further develop marketing hard skills
“Working in MARKCubator gave me the skills and exposure I needed to step more confidently into my first full-time job.”
As YinMei kept working with Dr Theresa in MARKCubator, she got further exposure to the marketing world. She was involved in:
Digital marketing: propose overarching strategic marketing ideas, and map out marketing calendars and plans
Social media marketing: graphic designs through Canva, content writing for all MARKCubator’s social media platforms, and use a scheduling tool to arrange the social media contents
Event management: plan and organise events
Website management: manage and generate content for the MARKCubator website through Wix
Product innovation: search on Australian marketing trends to create MARKCubator Practical Marketing training courses in fulfilling customers’ needs
Direct marketing: conduct calls for sales and leads and lead job preparation consultation sessions
（A Newsletter designed by Yin Mei)
Practice makes perfect. Participating in the Beyond Horizon Project allowed YinMei to put one foot into the marketing world which gave her a fundamental understanding of marketing. Working in MARKCubator afterwards provided her with an integrated marketing hard skill set and allowed her to officially kickstart a marketing career.
Skill set 3: Refine your soft skills
The Marketing industry is dynamic. Sometimes it can be overwhelming and stressful for a marketer to catch up with the latest industry trend. As a non-marketing international student, YinMei hoped to enter the local marketing industry as quickly as she could. But with little or no understanding of marketing theory and the dynamic changes in the marketing industry, she felt challenged and stressed.
Despite the stress, Dr Theresa created a nurturing learning environment for her throughout the project period. She comforted YinMei during difficult times, staying up late at night to guide her step by step. Additionally, she encouraged YinMei to speak her mind and pushed her to be a better designer, writer and marketer by providing clear feedback. Moreover, Dr Theresa also gave YinMei opportunities to work with her clients.
Working with Dr Theresa not only gave YinMei the platform to improve her hard skills significantly but also to improve her soft skills like stress management and adaptivity which benefited her in her future jobs.
“I can honestly say that while stress management is still not my top strength, I have improved significantly and was able to apply my learnings in my full-time job.”
“To me, Dr Theresa is not only a great professional mentor but also a great personal mentor who is open to share her experiences as an individual and marketer to help you advance in your marketing career.”
Experience is just a number
The Industry demands fresh graduates to have 2-3 years of working experience. With the relevant skills, despite only 1 year of work experience, YinMei successfully landed her new full-time marketing job as a Marketing Coordinator at BOM (part of RagingMonk Group), and became a freelance content writer later on. After reading Yin Mei’s successful story, which do you think is more important, gaining experience or skill sets?
More years of experience do not necessarily lead to capabilities and skills. What you need is to have the right and practical skill set to showcase your work ability to overcome the no-experience job barrier. MARKCubator can help you get the first digital marketing job in Australia by providing a Practical Digital Marketing Training program through personalised coaching.
The past reminds us. It does not define us. Don’t be overly concerned about the relevant experience and skills that you didn’t have in the past. Take action and control your future. Join MARKCubator’s Monthly Meetup and Industry Networking event to practise your soft skills (communication and presentation skills) and get a better understanding of the local marketing industry. Also, learn more about our Practical Marketing Training courses which allow you to enhance your hard skills. Your future begins now!
If you need support in career guidance, you are welcome to book a free 30-minute consultation with Dr Theresa.
MARKCubator, Your Aussie Partner.
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