Job searching can be daunting at the best of times, but for marketers moving to another country, the process can be even more overwhelming! In order to help marketers who are new to the UK (or new to anywhere for that matter!), one of our candidates, Joseph Liu, Senior Brand Manager at Gü Chocolate Puds, has written this excellent guide for job seekers who are looking for a job in a new country.
Enjoy!
Stopgap recently asked me to share some job hunting tips on how to find a marketing job in the UK. As background, after working in brand management for a large FMCG company in California, I moved from the US to the UK with the intent of finding a marketing role in central London.
I began my job search in June 2010 and was fortunate enough to secure my target brand management role in mid-August after several weeks of aggressive job hunting. Below are some tips based on my own experiences which I hope can help you efficiently and effectively conduct your UK marketing job search. My suggestions will be most relevant to candidates who recently immigrated to the UK.
1. Secure your own work visa. One of the first questions you’ll get asked by recruiters and employers is whether you have a UK work visa. Make sure you have one. It eliminates one reason why a potential employer or recruiter may lean away from considering you.
(N.B. As of April 6th 2011, the UK has introduced an annual limit for non-EU workers: 20,700. An extra 1,000 exceptional talent visas will be given to those who experts believe will make the biggest contribution to science and the arts in the UK - for more information, see here.)
2. Be focused. Having a clear sense of what you want is even more important when you’ve recently immigrated to the UK, not only to ensure a targeted search, but also to maintain a strict internal filter to determine which roles are acceptable to you, i.e., “If you don't stand for something, you’ll fall for anything.” You want recruiters, contacts and potential employers to immediately think of you when opportunities arise that align with your specific interests. This works best if you’ve clearly communicated your desired industry, role, geography, and company profile consistently and clearly, so develop a positioning statement for yourself that clearly captures these components of what you’re after.
3. Treat the job search like a full-time job. Job hunting needs to be your number 1 priority so you can not only give it the attention it deserves, but also come across as a serious candidate when you meet with recruiters or employers. Connoting this is especially true if you’re a recent transplant to the UK. Employers want to know you’re not just country hopping to get a bit of international experience. If you treat the job hunt seriously, you’ll naturally come across as a credible, well-prepared candidate who’s committed to being in the UK for the long haul.
4. Have a multi-pronged approach. As is the case with effective marketing initiatives, a strong marketing “mix” is important when marketing yourself. If you’ve only been sending speculative cover letters, start networking. If you’ve been only networking, consider working with recruiters. If you’ve only been working with recruiters, consider sifting through job boards yourself. Also, have a mix of both dream jobs and more practical, fall back options.
5. Aim for the stars, at least initially! After I arrived in the UK, I had a specific set of criteria for my desired next role: mid-level marketing position, small company, central London, food industry, and entrepreneurial environment. Multiple recruiters in London told me I should immediately broaden my search or initially settle for another job here just to get a UK job on my CV. However, assuming you follow tip #4, I strongly believe you should aim specifically for what you want, especially at the start of a job hunt when you have the most energy and enthusiasm. Hone in on opportunities that excite you.
6. Strike while the iron’s hot. Hit the job hunt hard and fast when you begin. You can only play the “I just arrived here in the UK,” card for so long. A finite window of time exists when you can credibly position yourself as a highly employable candidate to employers. Claiming this becomes much harder several months into the hunt. After all, a potential employer may question just how attractive of a candidate you are if you still haven’t successfully landed a job after several months. On top of that, job hunts tend to become more draining as time goes on, especially when dealing with the psychological disappointment that inevitably results from rejections or unresponsive target employers.
7. Invest your time where it counts. With a finite number of hours each day, most your time should be spent on the tactics with the highest likelihood of conversion. After you determine which approaches (networking, cover letters, job boards, or recruiters, etc) will be most effective for you based on your interests, allocate your time accordingly. For example, because networking seems quite effective to me, I decided to spend approximately 50% of my time networking, 25% with recruiters, 10% on cover letters, 10% applying directly to job postings, and 5% posting CVs on job boards.
8. Network a lot, and start early. Networking takes lots of energy, patience, and humility, but I always find it to be the most effective job hunting tool, especially in a new country where you need advocates. You need to be doing everything you possibly can to generate leads, especially since you’ll be building up your network from scratch if you’re new to the UK. Reach out to friends, alumni, colleagues, and anyone remotely connected to your industry, and try to force yourself to meet with at least one new person 1-on-1 every week. Start this as early as possible when you’re most energized and—I hate to say it—less desperate. I’ve found people prefer helping those who are confident, energetic, and positive, which tends to be the case when your motivational tank is full.
9. Go shopping! Spend a lot of time in grocery stores. Look at how things are shelved, priced and promoted. Have a point of view on how the retail environment here is different vs. your home country. Your understanding of the UK marketplace will be critical, not only during the interview processes but also in your job. Marketing in particular tends to require a certain amount of cultural knowledge, and spending time in retail stores will help you develop your intuition of UK consumers’ behaviour.
10. Establish relationships with recruiters. Many companies with marketing roles in the UK tend to use recruitment firms. To determine which firms to target as a candidate, check out job boards like Marketing Week and Brand Republic online. You’ll see certain specialist marketing recruitment firms appear repeatedly in those listings. Target those firms. Meet with them in person so they can credibly vouch for your candidacy when contacting their clients. Treat these meetings like interviews because they’ll be sizing you up to see if you’re someone they ultimately want to present to clients. As with any interview throughout this process, you’ll need to be even more prepared than usual to stand out from the local candidate crowd. Focus on staying in regular contact with 3-4 recruiters to maintain your top-of-mind awareness as they obtain new job leads.
I hope you find these tips to be useful and practical. Feel free to let me know if you have any follow-up questions. I’d also welcome your feedback on my recommended principles.
Individual views expressed in this article do not necessarily represent those held by Joseph’s employer Gü Puds, Noble Desserts Holdings Ltd, or other affiliate companies.
Enjoy!
Practical tips on how to find a UK marketing job
Stopgap recently asked me to share some job hunting tips on how to find a marketing job in the UK. As background, after working in brand management for a large FMCG company in California, I moved from the US to the UK with the intent of finding a marketing role in central London.
I began my job search in June 2010 and was fortunate enough to secure my target brand management role in mid-August after several weeks of aggressive job hunting. Below are some tips based on my own experiences which I hope can help you efficiently and effectively conduct your UK marketing job search. My suggestions will be most relevant to candidates who recently immigrated to the UK.
1. Secure your own work visa. One of the first questions you’ll get asked by recruiters and employers is whether you have a UK work visa. Make sure you have one. It eliminates one reason why a potential employer or recruiter may lean away from considering you.
(N.B. As of April 6th 2011, the UK has introduced an annual limit for non-EU workers: 20,700. An extra 1,000 exceptional talent visas will be given to those who experts believe will make the biggest contribution to science and the arts in the UK - for more information, see here.)
2. Be focused. Having a clear sense of what you want is even more important when you’ve recently immigrated to the UK, not only to ensure a targeted search, but also to maintain a strict internal filter to determine which roles are acceptable to you, i.e., “If you don't stand for something, you’ll fall for anything.” You want recruiters, contacts and potential employers to immediately think of you when opportunities arise that align with your specific interests. This works best if you’ve clearly communicated your desired industry, role, geography, and company profile consistently and clearly, so develop a positioning statement for yourself that clearly captures these components of what you’re after.
3. Treat the job search like a full-time job. Job hunting needs to be your number 1 priority so you can not only give it the attention it deserves, but also come across as a serious candidate when you meet with recruiters or employers. Connoting this is especially true if you’re a recent transplant to the UK. Employers want to know you’re not just country hopping to get a bit of international experience. If you treat the job hunt seriously, you’ll naturally come across as a credible, well-prepared candidate who’s committed to being in the UK for the long haul.
4. Have a multi-pronged approach. As is the case with effective marketing initiatives, a strong marketing “mix” is important when marketing yourself. If you’ve only been sending speculative cover letters, start networking. If you’ve been only networking, consider working with recruiters. If you’ve only been working with recruiters, consider sifting through job boards yourself. Also, have a mix of both dream jobs and more practical, fall back options.
5. Aim for the stars, at least initially! After I arrived in the UK, I had a specific set of criteria for my desired next role: mid-level marketing position, small company, central London, food industry, and entrepreneurial environment. Multiple recruiters in London told me I should immediately broaden my search or initially settle for another job here just to get a UK job on my CV. However, assuming you follow tip #4, I strongly believe you should aim specifically for what you want, especially at the start of a job hunt when you have the most energy and enthusiasm. Hone in on opportunities that excite you.
6. Strike while the iron’s hot. Hit the job hunt hard and fast when you begin. You can only play the “I just arrived here in the UK,” card for so long. A finite window of time exists when you can credibly position yourself as a highly employable candidate to employers. Claiming this becomes much harder several months into the hunt. After all, a potential employer may question just how attractive of a candidate you are if you still haven’t successfully landed a job after several months. On top of that, job hunts tend to become more draining as time goes on, especially when dealing with the psychological disappointment that inevitably results from rejections or unresponsive target employers.
7. Invest your time where it counts. With a finite number of hours each day, most your time should be spent on the tactics with the highest likelihood of conversion. After you determine which approaches (networking, cover letters, job boards, or recruiters, etc) will be most effective for you based on your interests, allocate your time accordingly. For example, because networking seems quite effective to me, I decided to spend approximately 50% of my time networking, 25% with recruiters, 10% on cover letters, 10% applying directly to job postings, and 5% posting CVs on job boards.
8. Network a lot, and start early. Networking takes lots of energy, patience, and humility, but I always find it to be the most effective job hunting tool, especially in a new country where you need advocates. You need to be doing everything you possibly can to generate leads, especially since you’ll be building up your network from scratch if you’re new to the UK. Reach out to friends, alumni, colleagues, and anyone remotely connected to your industry, and try to force yourself to meet with at least one new person 1-on-1 every week. Start this as early as possible when you’re most energized and—I hate to say it—less desperate. I’ve found people prefer helping those who are confident, energetic, and positive, which tends to be the case when your motivational tank is full.
9. Go shopping! Spend a lot of time in grocery stores. Look at how things are shelved, priced and promoted. Have a point of view on how the retail environment here is different vs. your home country. Your understanding of the UK marketplace will be critical, not only during the interview processes but also in your job. Marketing in particular tends to require a certain amount of cultural knowledge, and spending time in retail stores will help you develop your intuition of UK consumers’ behaviour.
10. Establish relationships with recruiters. Many companies with marketing roles in the UK tend to use recruitment firms. To determine which firms to target as a candidate, check out job boards like Marketing Week and Brand Republic online. You’ll see certain specialist marketing recruitment firms appear repeatedly in those listings. Target those firms. Meet with them in person so they can credibly vouch for your candidacy when contacting their clients. Treat these meetings like interviews because they’ll be sizing you up to see if you’re someone they ultimately want to present to clients. As with any interview throughout this process, you’ll need to be even more prepared than usual to stand out from the local candidate crowd. Focus on staying in regular contact with 3-4 recruiters to maintain your top-of-mind awareness as they obtain new job leads.
I hope you find these tips to be useful and practical. Feel free to let me know if you have any follow-up questions. I’d also welcome your feedback on my recommended principles.
Individual views expressed in this article do not necessarily represent those held by Joseph’s employer Gü Puds, Noble Desserts Holdings Ltd, or other affiliate companies.
