Are you a pro at coming up with slogans? Have you got a passion for statistics, research and creative writing?  Or perhaps you just want to put your mad men box set to good use.

Whatever the reason, if you’re the person who always gets asked to contribute to communications, effortlessly handles presentations and is always jotting down ideas for the next great TV ad, you might find a career in marketing a rewarding and exciting prospect. Not sure where to start? Here’s some top roles to whet your appetite and our top tips on how to improve your chances to securing them.

Marketing Assistant

What they do: Supporting the marketing manager, you’ll be at the heart of driving marketing campaigns for the department. An important cog in the marketing wheel, you'll be expected to be involved at all levels, including drafting press releases, updating clients and organising promotional events.

What you need: Competition to start a career in marketing is fierce and applicants with a degree in marketing, business or commerce will have an advantage over other applicants but this isn’t necessarily the case all the time.

Earning potential:  At an entry level position you can look to earn anything up from £17k but once you get some experience this can rise to anything between £18K - £25K.

Perfect for: People who like to be behind the scenes.

View all marketing assistant roles >

PR & communications

What they do: Working with the media to portray a positive reputation through communication,  building good relationships and creating understanding between an organisation and its public.

What you need: To be successful in PR and communications, the ability to build relationships with people is essential. It’s not all air kisses and muahs daahhling.  It’s a real understanding of influencing opinion and behaviour to protect reputation.

Earning potential: A £16,000 - £24,000 starting salary but as with anything, it depends on the type of company you work for.

Perfect for: People with good communication skills, powers of persuasion and can spin a good yarn.

View all PR and communication roles >

Digital Marketer

What they do: Digital marketing roles have a special focus on all things “online”, typically complimenting the offline marketing of the business and digitally transferring it via website, social media and search facilities.

What you need: Have a strong interest in digital trends, creativity, excellent copy writing skills and the ability to throw around technical terminology is essential. There are no specific qualifications that are a requirement for this role but any qualifications that demonstrate a strong familiarity with the internet and web design is a bonus.

Earning potential: Can vary greatly depending on the size and profitability of the company. While it is often in line with the salary of offline marketers (typical salaries ranging between £25,000 and £40,000) but with specialised skills in related fields like e-commerce, digital marketers can end up earning more than their offline counterparts.

Perfect for: People who are the first to download that new app everyone’s talking about and then review it to the enth degree.

View all digital marketing roles >

Market Research

What they do: Plan, implement, control, analyse and report on information that you gather. The data you collect will normally revolve around what organisations or people buy, need, do or think and the reasons why.

What you need: An analytical mind and strong knowledge of statistics.  An interest in psychology and behavioural science helps too.

Earning potential:  Starting on £15,000 to £20,000 a year which, with experience, would rise to around £28,000.

Perfect for: People who like collecting and interpreting data.

View all marketing research roles >

Top tips

1.       Set your Goals
The first step is the most difficult. Visualise the job you want. If the end goal is a stretch too far at this point, break it down into realistic and achievable steps.

2.       Know your capabilities
It’s time to look in the mirror and get to grips with your own strengths and weaknesses. Be brutally honest, know where you are in relation to your goal, but don’t let this put you off. You’re on a journey and that journey may take you onto some ‘B’ roads before you hit the motorway.

3.       Get a Personal Development Plan
Craft a Personal Development Plan and decide what actions you need to take to reach your goals. Be specific, make your actions measurable and write a date in which you are going to hit the milestones and stick to them!

4.       Take advantage of the many opportunities for in-house training that working in the charity sector offers. Talk to your line-manager about doing external courses or gain additional experience by shadowing others. If you’re working with suppliers they often offer free events to join that will add to your knowledge base. Take advantage of any free learning that is going on offer.

5.       Talk to someone who is where you want to be
Find someone doing what you want to do. Now that you have a role model ask yourself what is it about them that has made them successful. Maybe sit and have a coffee with them and talk about their career journey. Find out their secrets-of-success. You will find that people are often more than happy to talk about themselves and offer this key information quite freely.

6.       Connect with others
Build connections with people who can help you. Join communities and professional networks – these may be specific functional groups or skill-specific associations. Build a LinkedIn profile. Be relevant to their conversations and be prepared to hold your own opinions. It’s important to share your passion but stay on piste and develop an antenna to tamper down when necessary.

7.       Be prepared for change
Change is constant – get on board or get left behind. Keep your eyes-open to new deployments in your sector and do not be afraid to offer your services and get stuck in to any new project.

8.       Brush-up on your knowledge
Keep abreast of your profession, read sector related magazines and journals attend events and talk to people in commerce to get a fresh and up-to-date perspective.

9.       Adopt a commercial mind-set
Providing value-for-money in the charity sector is not good enough. The whole sector wants to see a measurable cost benefit and accountability for service delivery. Demonstrate that you can not only achieve targets but know how you can make these relevant to your publics.

10.   Finally...
Passion and ambition is infectious. Your drive and energy will elevate you to stand out in the crowd. Be generous with your ideas and treat others how you wish to be treated yourself.

The Morgan Hunt marketing and comms team has extensive experience in connecting great candidates with exciting vacancies in the charities, not-for-profit, education and arts and heritage organisations. Contact us or call the team on 0207 419 8900 to find out more.

Many congratulations. Your hard-work has been rewarded. You’re ACA qualified! What’s next?

Now’s the time to think about your future and getting ahead of the curve.

Know your worth

• ACA is an internationally recognised, highly regarded qualification
• You now have the edge that puts you ahead of the competition
• ACA prepares finance candidates for a wide range of careers

The skills that you have gained through your training will be highly sought after by some of the global market-leaders in:

• Commerce and industry
• Financial services
• Public practice
• Not for profit

You know your skill-set is desirable. Now it's time to make yourself marketable so you can turn every opportunity into a career prospect.
 

Choose your career path now

As a newly qualified ACA you can follow a number of routes depending on your training and specialist practical experience, including:
 

Commercial, reporting and strategic finance roles:

• Utilizing your analytical, planning and strategic skills.
• Typical roles range from management accounting and group accounting through to Finance Manager and Financial Controller positions in smaller companies. 
• More commercial focused positions are available, particularly if you have skills in modeling, M&A/corporate finance or financial analysis. These roles are key to supporting and driving business performance.

Specialist accounting roles:

• Drawing upon the technical elements of your qualification and experience, some entry positions into commercial firms are either as a Financial Accountant or Group Accountant. 
• These roles provide excellent grounding for a move into an FD role later in your career.

Roles within practice:

• You may be lucky enough to secure a new contract with your current employer and contemplating the next step to managerial level.
• If not consider whether you want to specialise, or if you would rather have a wider remit.
• Decide whether you are looking for the challenge of working for a higher-ranking practice, or a smaller, more intimate environment.

What salary can I expect?

Salary levels will vary by sector and the type of experience you have, whether you want to move into a corporate or SME. Corporate finance experience does have a premium.

Read our salary guide for average salary rates by sector and market insight into which sectors offer the most opportunity for career progression.
 

How do I choose what’s best for me?

With many options open to you it can be difficult to decide on the next best step for your career path. Ask yourself:

• Are there long-term opportunities with my current employer?
• What experience will help me develop the skills I need to continue to develop?
• What sectors have I been exposed to during my training, and are any of those of interest to me?
• Is there a specific part of my current role that I would be interested to do more in?
• Have I looked at job adverts to find out more about what opportunities are out there?

What motivates you?

• It may be that the higher remuneration packages of the corporate and financial services sector appeal to you, or maybe you’re looking to play an integral role in a not for profit organisation.
• You may prefer the size and scale of a FTSE corporate, or the challenge of working in a growing SME.
• You may enjoy diving into detailed numbers, being recognised as a specialist or having a broader role that spans the whole business.

What do I do next?

Ensuring your CV is up to date, effectively demonstrates your skills and experience and is tailored to the role and industry for which you are applying is key.

Then, once your skills get you through the door make sure you’re thoroughly prepared for that all important interview.

Speak to someone who knows the market. At Morgan Hunt, we understand what clients look for in newly qualified candidates, and have helped hundreds of candidates at your level with their career.

We offer you unbiased advice on what the current market conditions are across your sectors of interest, as well as provide some insight into the day-to-day roles you may be interested in pursuing.

Your skills are in demand – now is the time to make the most of them and further develop your career. Get in touch today – call Rob Anderson on 0207 419 8909 or email rob.anderson@morganhunt.com.

The number of people working in the public sector is the lowest it’s been for the last 15 years, or at least the lowest within a comparable series.

Labour market latest estimates show overall employment continuing to rise with unemployment falling. The switch between sectors has never been greater in recent times.

If you have spent most of your career within either the private or public sector, the prospect of moving between sectors and adapting to a different culture and environment may be a daunting one.

Generally speaking since private sector organisations are driven by profit, they tend to be more fast moving, while the public sector is more cost and results driven with a higher emphasis on budget control, targets and productivity, albeit the current government’s pledge to simplify some of the targets.

There are however a lot of similarities between the two sectors, with some areas of the public sector wanting and needing to be more commercial. Providing you do your research there are many transferable skills you can draw on if you are looking to make the switch.

It is important to spend time outlining exactly what you are looking for in your next position. Identify not only the type of role and responsibilities that you want to focus on going forward but also the type of organisation with which you want to engage. If you know what you want from your next job and the type of organization you want to work for, that hurdle seems manageable and even appealing.

So, what’s next?
 

Tailor your CV

It’s always advisable to tailor your CV to each individual job application you make, and this is particularly the case when looking to make the transition between the public and private sectors.

Avoid using any language or terminology which is indicative of the opposite sector you want to move into as this will suggest to the employer that you are less able to adapt to your new environment. Analyse the job descriptions and person specifications to gain an idea of the sort of language used, comparing like-for-like jobs in both sectors to understand the differences.
 

Do the research

If you have a particular position or company in mind you should do as much research into these as possible. However if you are moving from public to private sector or vice-versa it is important that you also look into the change of environment and culture more generally. There are strong cultures that influence both sectors in different ways, bridging this is more tricky than you might imagine. Get a job plan together here.

 As well as helping to tailor your CV effectively this will also give you a better understanding of the direction in which you want your career to progress.
 

Manage your social profile

Neglect social media at your peril. Make sure you are managing your social profile and actively use it as a tool to build your online brand. There’s no denying social media is here to stay and it is important that you familiarise yourself with these types of channels. Check out our tips on creating the perfect online ‘brand’.
 

Don't forget the basics

As well as taking steps to ensure you are prepared specifically for making the switch between sectors it is important that you don't neglect to do the same things you would for any other job search. This includes making sure your CV and covering letters effectively demonstrate your passion and suitability for the role you're applying for, as well as approaching companies speculatively to get on their radar for current and future opportunities.

So if you're looking to move between the public and private sectors, contact us to find out more about how Morgan Hunt can help you make a smooth transition. We work across both sectors and can advise you on the nuances of each.