The Candidate Case Study - Nicola Cunningham

We have recently placed our candidate, Nicola Cunningham, in her new Marketing Executive role. With over 5 years’ offline marketing experience and a wealth of knowledge, we asked Nicola for her advice on securing a successful career in brand marketing.

How did you manage to secure your first marketing job after graduation? What steps did you take to secure interviews and make sure that you stood out from the crowd in a highly competitive market?

After graduation, I was eager to secure my first marketing role. I applied for a few different Marketing Assistant jobs with local companies when the vacancy at Betfred came up. Following a telephone and face to face interview, I was successful and couldn’t wait to get started. To secure interviews I tried to show as much relevant knowledge from my degree as I could that related to the role. To stand out from my fellow graduates, it definitely helped me having First Class honours and still 5 years later it’s something I’m very proud of when employers mention it in interviews.  I think that it’s also important to find your own creative style to ensure that your application stands out. Usually, I use ‘buzz words’ that the employer may pick up and always made sure that I tailored my CV to all the different roles.

Now that you have experience within Marketing, would you do anything differently when you were originally searching?

Probably not, I have gained some great and varied experience in the marketing positions I have filled so far. I was extremely lucky to start off as a Marketing Assistant in a big team as there were lots of people to learn from which has guided me for future roles.

What would your top tips be for Marketing graduates looking to secure their first role in the industry?
There are lots of tips I could give but I think the main ones would be -

Is there anything you wish you had known before starting your first role in Marketing?

This might be obvious but in marketing, you always need to keep learning. It’s not like other disciplines where things don’t change as much. There’s always a new way of marketing products and services. We live in a fast-paced, digital age and it’s important to do regular research away from your job to keep up with the latest trends - no two days are ever the same in this industry!

Do you also want to start a marketing career? Get in touch with our recruitment consultants on 0161 833 1044 or send your CV to [email protected].

Check out our latest marketing jobs here.

Read our other blogs here.