Life After Grad: Exploring An In-House Digital Marketing Career

Let me tell you why I’m exploring the option of an in-house digital marketing career. This is a story of my journey into digital marketing and how RGU has opened the door to many study and work opportunities.

I have never really known what I want to do. In fact, it is only in the past six months from beginning the MSc Digital Marketing in September 2016, that I have felt as though I’m definitely on the right path.

During a period of career uncertainty, I applied to this course last minute. My decision was made clear when stumbling upon The Digital Scot About Us page. The course has only two previous cohorts and is the first of its kind in Scotland. I found myself relating to the stories from past students. I found many similarities with their study and work experiences. Their stories inspired me, along with the careers they are in now. This assured me that I was making the right decision.

I’m now eager to share my own story and tell you why I’m now thinking about a career in in-house digital marketing. I hope this may help if you are in a similar state of career uncertainty to that I once was in.

RGU Placement Year At Walt Disney World, While Studying Marketing?!

Hi! I’m Fiona. I’m 24 and an enthusiast of all things travel, lifestyle and digital. I graduated two years ago and have been putting increasing pressure on myself to make a firm career decision. However, not making a quick decision has actually led me on an ever-evolving and exciting journey to arrive at where I’m today!

After high school, I enrolled in the BA (Hons) Management programme at RGU in 2010. This broad-based course allows for students to learn the foundations for a range of business areas. It also offers a one-year salaried work placement in the third year and the opportunity to pick more specific modules in the fourth and final year. Personally, this allowed me to tailor my studies to marketing, an area I had developed a keen interest in over the years. Overall, I thoroughly recommend this course. It opens up numerous opportunities, especially if you’re unsure of a specific career path.

For my third-year work placement, I discovered Disney’s J1 Academic Programme. I interviewed to work at The Walt Disney Company. I also interviewed to study on the side with Central Michigan University whom RGU have an affiliation with. Feeling extremely lucky, I was offered a job and jetted off to sunny Florida for a year! I had the time of my life working in merchandising and entertainment costuming for parades at the Magic Kingdom. I even dressed the main man and boss himself, Mickey Mouse! The overall experience was extraordinary, topped off by networking with many wonderful people from around the world.

 

Learning About Marketing At Disney

Classes in the Magic Kingdom!

While working, I chose to study some classes in marketing. My interest in this area was growing. Professors from Central Michigan University gave lectures once or twice a week. We even had some classes held in the Disney Parks, using The Walt Disney Company as a case study.

I had to pinch myself once or twice…

From Dressing Mickey Mouse to teaching Taiwanese Kids…

After the whirlwind year in Florida, I returned to RGU for my fourth and final year. I tailored my modules to marketing and graduated in 2014. It was time to think about career options and life after graduation. My thoughts at the time were: I’m interested in marketing but unsure of a specific area of interest, I enjoy working abroad, I must take advantage of the many wonderful connections from around the world that I made in Florida, but I lack confidence.

I gave myself one year to work on myself, personally and professionally, before deciding upon a firm career path. I spent summer 2014 working on a TEFL Cambridge course with the aim of spending a year abroad teaching to gain some much-needed confidence. The anxieties I have do not extend to travelling solo around the world. I found my passion exploring South Korea, Macau, Mainland China, Hong-Kong, Japan, Thailand and finally arriving in Taiwan. Within a week, I managed to secure a 12-month contract teaching English as a foreign language with Shane English Schools.

Setting off on my own, with little plan, no secured job, little money but big ambition, enthusiasm and wonderful connections in every country, I successfully lived a wonderful life in a country I previously knew little about. It was fascinating to learn and understand the culture, language and general way of life and I received tremendous job satisfaction.

But what about my long-term career?

From Teaching to In-House Digital Marketing

My Interest For Digital Marketing Is Born!

My thoughts at the time while living in Taiwan: I have a strong notion of wanting to share my experiences. I’m attempting to set up a blog documenting my travels in Asia and I’m using social media more heavily to communicate and share my experiences as an expat working abroad. I’m also becoming fascinated watching Travel Vloggers on YouTube. My eyes are opened up to a whole new digital world. Overall, I’m inspired, but I lack all the technical skills to successfully create content others will find and genuinely want to engage with and find useful. Thus, my interest in digital marketing is born. I have found an area I want to learn more about. An area I can specialise in and build and hone the skills I learned previously studying for a broad business undergraduate degree.

Returning home to Scotland, I began to look at the different types of jobs in digital. There were so many exciting job roles. I was convinced by the industry as a whole and the opportunities it presented. However, my lack of knowledge and specific technical skills in this area was a stumbling block. So I began to think about a Master’s. RGU opened up the many opportunities in my journey and it felt only right to return to the university for my MSc Digital Marketing.

Exploring the Option of an In-House Digital Marketing Career

The MSc is teaching us the valuable technical, creative, analytical and soft skills needed for a career in digital marketing. We are learning how to work with real clients to solve their digital marketing problems. Personally, these experiences are helping me discover how I work best. It is leading me to think about my digital marketing career options.  I’m not averse to working in a digital agency and it is amazing to have the option of freelancing in the future. The nomad within me secretly loves this option. However, I’m currently exploring an in-house digital marketing career. This may of course change over time and as my skills evolve, but for now here are a few of my reasons why.

Why Opt for an in House Digital Marketing Career?

  1. Brand connection – Personally, I’m at my most motivated when I’m truly passionate about something. Working in-house will allow an individual to be part of one organisation, one brand. You can experience a brand connection that makes you want to work harder and better every day. You can build up a passion by getting to know a brand inside out.
  2. Teamwork – Working in-house will allow you to be part of an extremely engaged team with the same strong interest in the brand, striving for the same overall goals. Personally, I also hope to be involved with a team of experts in different areas of digital so that I can continue to learn on the job and hone down specific skills.
  3. Overall business goals – Being part of an in-house team will allow you to have a greater understanding of the overall organisation and its products and services. With my undergraduate degree, I have a general interest in business. Although my main area of interest is in digital marketing, I would like to see and have knowledge of the overall process of creating a product or service from start to finish.

Life After Grad

I’ve learned that the digital marketing industry is filled with exciting opportunities and our options just continue to grow! After studying for an MSc, it is satisfying now to look at job specifications and feel confident I have the skills required. It has been an interesting journey to reach this point. Opportunities grow from other opportunities. Sometimes it is exciting not knowing where life will take you.

Comment down below, and tell us the story of how you got to where you are today. Have you had any big career changes? I would also love to hear about the areas of digital marketing that are inspiring your career journey!

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