Being a marketing student can be hard. Everyone who has been there will confirm this statement. But, one thing that is even harder than trying to survive through college and keep your grades up is to jump-start your career while still being a student.

Education has always been an important factor for future employment. However, there is no reason to hide the fact that landing your first job with a single degree (that is not even complete yet) is a hell of a challenge.

To succeed, you will need much more than that. To be more specific, in addition to your degree, potential employers will also be looking for certain personality traits, skills, and experience.

So, how can a student build a marketing career? Read on to find some handy tips!

1. Find a Way to Handle Your Homework

First and foremost, you have to understand that landing a job will mean that you will have less time for your studies. The problem is that students often suffer from a critical lack of time, even without a job. Every day they have to listen to hours of lectures and take care of plenty of academic assignments, papers, and projects. 

So, our first tip for marketing students trying to start their careers is to find professional help with their academic matters. Hiring a professional persuasive essay writer on EssayPro is a good way to solve the issues you are facing. There are always constant tests and exams in the courses important for your major. Delegate something you have not much use in, and your life will become much easier.

 And, there should be at least some time left for rest and personal life. If you keep this all in mind, it can seem nearly impossible to fit a full-time or a part-time job into your already busy schedule. The good news is that it is possible. But, you will need some help. 

Some professional help will let you get rid of stress and get plenty of free time without giving up on your grades. Thus, enlisting the use of this service is a good first step for starting your career path.

2.  Brush Up on Your Skills

A good marketer should possess a whole range of soft and hard skills to survive the competition and land a job. Chances are that, at this point, you may still lack some of the critical skills. But, the good news is that employers that are willing to hire students realize that you may have certain gaps in your skills and knowledge, so their demands will be slightly lower.

Nevertheless, in order to ensure success, you must still brush up on some basic skills. To be more precise, some skills you want to work on before applying for jobs include leadership, problem-solving, communication, and teamwork. So, the number two tip is to work on improving those abilities.

3. Try Freelancing

This next tip is especially good for students. Becoming a freelancer is a great way to start making money, gain experience, and level up your professional skills while working on your own project. At the same time, freelancing is much easier to combine with studying. If you become a freelancer, you will be responsible for managing your own schedule. Thus, you will have the possibility to build your workflow so that it doesn’t get in the way of your studies. With FreeUp, you can hire reliable freelancers who will help you with your academic duties so you can focus on networking and polishing other important skills. FreeUp recruit, interview, and vet thousands of freelancers each week for their skills, communication, and attitude.

3. Consider an Internship

If you happen to be lucky, you may land a full-fledged job while still being a student. But, the truth is that most marketing positions require relevant work experience, meaning that students just don’t fit for these roles. So, if your applications don’t receive positive replies, don’t get upset. Instead, consider an internship.

Finding internship opportunities in your field is a good way to gain some professional experience and start a career.

4. Grow Your Portfolio

The next tip for starting a career in marketing as a student is to build a solid portfolio. How will it help? A good portfolio can make up for the lack of professional experience. For potential employers, it will be proof of your knowledge and skills. So, don’t neglect this tip.

Okay, but how can you build a portfolio without getting a job first? There are plenty of ways to do this. For example, you can work on your own projects or offer free marketing help to startups or people you know.

5. Seek Volunteering Opportunities

As we have already said, you will most likely need to possess relevant experience in order to land a job in marketing. This basically means that you need the experience to start gaining experience. 

Without a doubt, this is rather frustrating. But, there is one more solution other than freelancing and getting an internship. It is volunteering.

Volunteering is great in many ways. It can help you practice your skills, expand knowledge, make connections, and start on a portfolio. And it looks great on a resume! So, one more career-building tip we have for you is to look for volunteering opportunities relevant to marketing and use them to your benefit.

6. Network Like It’s Your Job

Another trick that often works where traditional job search strategies don’t is networking. This is especially true for students. Networking can help you make connections that can help you in many ways, including exchanging experience, getting mentorship, and even gaining job opportunities. So, if you are trying to start a career while still being at college, don’t neglect the usefulness of networking.

Where can one find networking opportunities? The options are almost endless. Networking can occur pretty much in any place, from a local cafe to your college’s campus. But, if you want to get the most of it, try finding networking opportunities that will help you make contacts relevant to your industry. For example, consider attending various marketing, such as seminars, trade shows, conferences, etc.

7. Work on Your Own Branding

Finally, one last tip we have for you is to start building your branding right now. Having a personal brand offers plenty of benefits. To name a few, it can help you step outside of the shadow, get noticed, outrun the competition, and acquire a variety of handy skills.

But, how can one build a personal brand? Start with establishing a distinct visual identity. Create accounts in various social media and get active there. You can also consider creating a unique website or blog to expand your reach even more. Most importantly, be sure to keep your accounts professional and deliver valuable content through them. If you can do this, your brand will grow and start bringing real benefits.

The Bottom Line

Trying to start a career as a marketing student can be rather challenging. It takes skills, knowledge, and lots of effort to land your first job. But, though it can be a challenge, this doesn’t mean that it is not possible.

With some dedication and the help of the tips from this article, students should be able to jump-start their careers faster and easier. So, now, when you have everything to set yourself up for success, be sure to follow the tips and tricks we shared here and don’t give up. Keep moving forward to your goals, and you will be destined to succeed!

 

Vivianne Bell is an academic writer with EssayPro who’s also involved in website content creation. She is an expert in website development, content creation and analytics.