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Hi guys, I'm Alice, the Communications Director and one of the Co-Founders here at Mint. We're in a very fortunate position of recruiting in 2020. We're recruiting four people this month. Being flat-out busy with work is a great problem to have during Covid-19 but it's a problem nonetheless. I do the hiring at Mint, and recruitment is a lot of work but we choose to always do it in-house rather than outsourcing because team fit is super important to us and because creating jobs for Kiwis is one of our big drivers in business.
Over the past few weeks, I have reviewed hundreds of CVs and applications - honestly, more than I could handle, and I want to share a few things that really made applications stand out. I hope that these tips will help marketers who are looking for work. Unfortunately, many marketing jobs are cut at times of economic uncertainty so, I hope this is helpful. I will add that this is mostly useful to marketers who are at entry-level or in the first 5 years of their marketing career. Senior marketers are a whole other kettle of fish.
Number one, if you have worked in-house or client-side and worked at an agency. When marketers have done both, this is great on your CV. Agency experience is awesome because agencies are typically where people learn a lot, they often work under time pressure, they work direct with clients, and almost go through a bootcamp of marketing. If you've also worked in-house or client-side, it can help demonstrate that you have dived deep into one particular brand or product range, and you got to know it intimately.
You might have worked in a large team of marketers, or you might have been the one-man-band marketing department - which is super common among small-medium size Kiwi businesses! If you have worked alone, the good thing is that most of the time, you would have probably had to be your own leader and you have to motivate yourself to learn new things and get work done. Most recruiters really value this in a candidate. If you've worked in a marketing team, you may have had a senior marketer or some kind of mentor who can show you new things which is also valuable because innovation and trying new things is great in marketing.
Number two in the list that will make your application stand out: if you've tried doing a sidehustle. This might be freelancing or creating an online store or selling cakes that you bake and decorate and anything along those lines. I love when I see this on a CV, it shows that you're a self-starter, you're motivated, it demonstrates a passion for our work as marketers. These don't need to be a roaring success, but it's great if you can talk about the lessons and failures you encountered while doing it.
Number three in the list that will make your application stand out: I'm talking directly to graduates when I say that if you have some work experience in marketing, this is a big plus. I think that's an obvious one. So obvious that a lot of tertiary providers actually make this part of your course credit. I personally have a conscientious objection to unpaid internships - generally, someone needs to be in a very privileged position to be able to work for free while studying - I know sure as hell I couldn't when I was a student, I needed a paycheck. Anyway, that's a whole other video but if you do have some experience working alongside marketers understanding their challenges, it's a big plus.
And finally, number four, if you've put yourself through some training. Most of the time, formal education is important when you apply for jobs - it demonstrates your intelligence and stickability but, in marketing, some of the best skills you can bring to a role aren't what you'll learn at Uni or Polytech. Online courses in digital marketing are in abundance and if you have the motivation to do one yourself, that's a huge tick on your application. In particular, putting yourself through Google's Analytics Academy is a brilliant thing for any digital marketer to do. Analytics is one of the most important tools for measuring campaign success and the Google Analytics Academy is free and I highly recommend it.
Like I said, creating jobs for Kiwis, particularly graduates, is a huge driver for us in business and if. you're doing it tough out there in the job market, our hearts go out to you and I sincerely hope these tips help. All the best and thanks for watching.
