Lately, I’ve been hearing more and more from acquaintances that they have a dear niece, relative, or friend’s child who wants to work at an online marketing agency. Although it doesn’t hurt, but acquaintance is certainly not enough.
And since we are constantly looking for talented young people, a lot of job applications land in my mailbox anyway. Hearing and seeing these, I wondered how aware the applicants (and their relatives) are of the criteria an ethical online marketing agency uses to select entry-level employees.
I’ll cut to the chase right away: it doesn’t matter if you know the boss or anyone from the company. Although I have an extensive network of acquaintances, I have never hired anyone just because we have a mutual acquaintance. Not even if it’s my best friend or my own nephew. Not out of snobbery, but simply because I believe that work and a colleague are chosen on a professional basis, out of motivation, because both parties benefit.
Based on conversations with agency leaders and my own extensive experience, I have compiled the following criteria. So let’s see what qualities you need to have if you want to spend your exciting days as the newest member of a cool creative/communications/marketing agency.
Online marketing expertise
It may be clear that we start with this, but it is far from the most important criterion. Coming out of university, one might think they’ve learned everything about the profession. They have passed marketing research and international marketing exams, so bring on the lion, let me tear it apart. Well, no. Let me disillusion you, most educational institutions’ curricula are not even remotely related to real, practical online marketing.
That’s why it’s not a bad idea to start reading professional blogs. These present the profession through practical examples even during your studies. Moreover, it will be a big advantage in the interview if you can present your own portfolio of your work, whether it’s the Facebook page of the family corner store or the neighbor’s crafty aunt, the website you made for your dog, or a poster you made for the local DJ’s party. No matter why, for whom, let’s see what you’ve done on the topic!
Commitment to digital marketing
For me, this is one of the most important virtues. There’s no such thing as marketing or marketing stuff. There’s marketing. When you apply to be a surgeon, you don’t say, “I’m interested in this medical business, I’d like to try poking around in other people, and then we’ll see what happens.” It’s essential that you take yourself and the profession seriously once you’ve decided to become part of it.
As in most areas of life, it’s true here too that those who put in more effort than the average or the minimum expected achieve the most results. I think you should apply to an online marketing agency if you know that’s what you want to do: if you wake up and go to bed with ads, if you want to create value, if you want to tap into your creativity. In every selection process, there’s at least one applicant who passionately loves the subject. You won’t stand a chance if you only take the profession half-heartedly.
Creativity
I would also put this among the misconceptions, at least in the sense that someone thinks creativity is the decisive factor, or that creativity is enough for someone to get a job at a good agency. This is where one of my favorite quotes comes in: “Hard work beats talent, when talent doesn’t work hard.” Although many people don’t know it, creativity is learnable and can be developed. Creativity needs to be kept alive, it needs to be trained.
Practice, brainstorm, experiment, start over a thousand times until it becomes a usable idea. At the same time, every idea is worth as much as it is realized. At an online marketing agency, it’s not just about creativity if you come up with clever wordplay, have good video ideas, or come up with clever graphic memes. It’s also important that you approach a project or task in a way that it can be realized at any cost. This is also creativity.
Humility
This is also one of the most important values that can easily be seen from the first interview. Moreover, during a freer writing exercise. This is a quality that is just as important for beginners, seniors, and agency leaders. Never believe that you are good enough, or that you are the best! Because as soon as you believe this, you close the door to the desire to grow and learn.
I’m not saying that you should undervalue yourself, far from it. But know your place. There is always someone who digs deeper into a field than you, or looks at the problem from a different perspective. Be open, listen to others, approach clients, and colleagues with empathy. Don’t think you’re the best, the smartest, because you probably aren’t, which is not a problem. Learn, develop, accept constructive criticism with dignity, help others to be better. Never forget to climb the ladder in a way that lifts others up with you, not stepping down. It’s bad on one hand, and karma will do its job anyway.
5 tips to definitely draw the attention of an online marketing agency when applying
Finally, I have gathered some practical tips that can help you stand out among the best even when sending your resume.
Precision:
It may sound banal, but 3 out of 5 people fail at it. Read the job posting again, send all the documents they ask for, but only those. If a Hungarian CV is required and you send it in English, it’s not a good point: either you didn’t read the job posting, or you didn’t care – neither is too advantageous. If there are typos or spelling mistakes in your application, what can they expect from you in the future? Sometimes I receive CVs without any explanation.
Write down what you are applying for, why, where you found it. On the one hand, it’s positive if you take the effort, on the other hand, maybe they are looking for someone for several positions at once, and it’s not always the same where you come from: if you met the company at a professional event, or noticed them while listening to one of the CEO’s professional presentations, and you write this down, you can start from a more advantageous position.
Addressing:
I always shiver when I see “Dear Company”, “Dear HR Colleague”, and other perfectly impersonal greetings. On the one hand, in a smaller agency, there is usually no separate HR department, on the other hand, with a simple Google search and some text analysis, you can find the leader of the agency, with whom you will surely meet during the recruitment process. As a last resort, use the name of the marketing agency, e.g. “Dear Chiro Team”, as a greeting, because at least this is kind, and minimally personalized.
Resume:
Please, please, please do not send a Europass resume. I know it’s the easiest thing to do, to download a CV template from the internet and replace the text in it, but surely you don’t seriously think you can kick the ball with this? T here’s nothing wrong with templates, but choose creatively. It doesn’t have to be overly complicated, it doesn’t have to be flashy and have pink ponies swimming through it. But let it be tasteful, consistent, and consistent. Pay attention to typography, use consistent fonts, sizes, colors, highlights. The style is the person himself. Right?
Motivation letter:
A motivation letter at better places has long been not about ticking off the mandatory elements. Forget about the stupid, template-based texts you can download from the internet about how much of a team player you are, and how much you love challenges. Bullshit, if you come with this, I won’t even remember who you are by the end of your motivation letter.
Write down what you have in common with the company: do you like its values? Do you like its image? Can you identify with the employees based on Instagram? Would you like to work with one of the clients listed in the references? Was there already a Google Analytics logo on your sign in kindergarten? Did you go to Peru to enlighten yourself and a Facebook-shaped rock fell at your feet? Well, write it down! We’ll remember you. Oh, and I shouldn’t mention it, but still: it’s basic that your spelling should be perfect!
+ 1. +1 Test task:
If you make it to the next round based on your resume, most places will require you to complete a test task. It’s not about the agency wanting free work, because believe me, most of these trial tasks aren’t at a level where they can be professionally used. A lot can be revealed from this:how committed you are, whether you’ll even do the task. Many people fail at this stage, and I suggest that if you don’t want to deal with test tasks, then don’t apply for the job,.
because I don’t know of any online marketing agency where you can get into the team just by sending a resume… Take it seriously, because this is a much stronger filter than the resume and motivation letter. If you spend the time, do your research, put in the effort, then you’ll beat 80% of the field. Important to note, that if you handle this round well, you usually only compete with the top 4-5 people, not with hundred other applicants. Oh yes, an average online marketing agency position at our company receives this many applications.
And if you’re not too scared after all this and you think you’d like to be a part of our team, take a look at our CAREER page and apply to us!
If you haven’t decided yet, check out our Facebook or Instagram page to see what life is like with us:)
And if you agree with the above, please share the link, spread the word, I’ll be grateful for it.
