There are numerous benefits to the broad scope of topics on offer to people studying marketing, such as: 1. Transferable Skills Similarly to other subjects that come under the umbrella of business studies, studying marketing can help you build on a number of different skills that will help you stand out to employers... 2. Great Flexibility Marketing degrees offer a lot of flexibility, both over the course of your degree and post-graduation...

8th May 2022

Why marketing? How studying marketing can boost your employability

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Are you thinking about studying marketing but are not sure if it’s right for you? Or perhaps you’re already a marketing student and are wondering: how can I boost my employability alongside my studies?

Studying marketing at university has many benefits and can help you hone an array of transferrable skills to help boost your future career prospects.

In this blog, we will discuss what it is like to study marketing, why you should consider choosing a marketing degree, and explore the fantastic employability-enhancing opportunities that come with studying marketing.

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What is it like studying marketing?

Marketing is an exceptionally broad subject within the realm of business studies and draws on aspects of psychology, sociology and politics to determine how consumers are going to behave and how best to approach them.

The huge array of topic areas within marketing is what really makes studying the subject so fascinating and exciting. You will have the opportunity to take modules that appeal to you and allow you to find your niche and interests within the subject.

To name a few personal favourites, having the chance to study consumer behaviour, digital marketing and brand management was fantastic and enabled me to hone my area of interest.

In doing so, I was able to identify the kinds of graduate marketing roles I was looking for after university and develop my skillset towards that particular goal.

Why study marketing?

Similarly to other subjects that come under the umbrella of business studies, studying marketing can help you build on a number of skills that will help you stand out to employers.

With a variety of skills coming into play throughout the various scenarios that will occur over the course of your marketing degree, you will end up developing a flexible and wide-ranging skillset, with assessments often requiring you to harness both your creative and analytical side.

Undertaking assignments and group tasks, for example, will help you develop research and analysis capabilities, improve your presentation and public speaking skills and encourage strategic thinking and planning.

Having to partake in such tasks will also aid you in refining your verbal and written communication skills, enhancing your ability to express yourself confidently and clearly – a key attribute for anyone facing the graduate job market.

In short, studying marketing will provide you with an important set of skills that are easily transferrable to whichever career path you choose to follow post-university.

This remains the case even if that path doesn’t end up being marketing related!
Marketing degrees offer a lot of flexibility, both over the course of your degree and post-graduation.

As previously mentioned, there is a broad range of topics available for study, touching on each area of the marketing mix (product, price, place, promotion, physical evidence, people and process) in different contexts and industries.

As such, studying marketing offers you the flexibility of picking and choosing modules to suit your interests and career aspirations, enabling you to really enhance the skills needed for the niche you wish to pursue.

Moreover, after completing a marketing degree the number of careers available to you is in no way limited – so no need to worry about what your next step is!

For example, studying marketing at university enables you to progress into both a general marketing executive role or something slightly more nuanced.

You may decide, for instance, to more specific roles in areas such as digital marketing, social media, public relations or advertising.

It is also important to mention here that if you’re unsure about whether you want to pursue marketing in a professional capacity, there is no need to stress or worry.

The beauty of a marketing degree is that you do not simply have to use it to become a marketer!

The world is your oyster; as long as you can showcase the transferrable skills that you’ve attained over the course of your degree to your future employers, you’re all set.

How can you boost your employability?

There are many ways to boost your employability alongside studying your marketing degree.

Here are some things that you can do as a marketing student that will help you stand out from the crowd:

Online skills courses

There are thousands of free online marketing courses, both long and short.

From touching up your skills on marketing analytics to creating your own social media campaign, there are endless virtual opportunities to build your CV while studying your marketing degree.

Here are some useful online skills courses:

Google Analytics for Beginners – A great introductory course for those looking to enhance their digital analytics skills and learn the basics of google analytics.

FutureLearn – A website full of free online courses made by industry experts, designed to help advance your career (with many courses offering certification once completed).

Google Digital Garage – Another online resource providing a range of learning content, from individual modules to entire courses.

Virtual internships & work experience

The idea of undertaking an internship can be daunting, especially given that securing work experience has become extremely competitive over the last few years.

As an alternative, I would recommend seeking out virtual internships or online work experience opportunities to boost your employability.

Doing so highlights to potential employers that you are proactive and provides you with valuable experience of working on real life projects.

For example, the Give a Grad a Go Student Guest Blog Programme is a great way to gain copywriting experience – a key skill for anyone looking to go into content marketing.

The programme is run in a competition format, wherein the best performing blog post wins a prize of £150 and receives a digital certificate, and is an amazing opportunity to gain real work experience coordinating with an established company.

As such, getting your blog featured on the Give A Grad A Go website is the perfect chance to gain real-life writing exposure and valuable material for your social media CV.

Volunteering

Volunteering your marketing skills to help emerging companies with their marketing functions is also a fantastic way to gain experience and build your employability.

Many start-ups, for example, are often seeking students or graduates with some marketing expertise to help them out on a voluntary basis.

In my own experience, there is nothing more rewarding than leveraging your knowledge and skills to help those who have no marketing experience and will truly listen to your advice.

University societies

Joining your university’s marketing society is a great way to start building your network with other students who are interested in the same industries as you and have similar career aspirations.

Alongside the social aspects, your university society will also hold events wherein you can gain insight into the more practical side of marketing from industry experts.

In this way, joining your university’s marketing society is not only a great opportunity to have fun and make like-minded friends, but it can also provide you with some really useful industry exposure.

Industry awareness

This may seem like an obvious one, but it is really important that you keep up to date with industry news and market trends whilst studying your marketing degree.

Doing so will enable you to apply the theoretical knowledge you have gained from your degree to real-life contemporary examples, displaying to employers that you have a more well-rounded understanding of marketing than the confines of your degree.

Keeping up to date with market trends and industry news will also help when it comes to future interviews. With potential employers often asking questions to check you’re industry-aware, being able to share your insights on market trends is bound to impress!

Studying marketing at university has an array of benefits. From providing you with great transferrable skills, to offering amazing career flexibility, marketing is the perfect choice for anyone looking for a degree with endless utility!

Whether you dream of a job in the marketing industry, or aren’t sure on what future career is right for you, studying marketing will enable you to develop a flexible and wide-ranging skillset, valuable to any future job prospect.

Ailsa Nellies

Student Blog Writer

Ailsa is a Marketing & Human Resource Management Graduate from the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, with a keen interest in digital marketing and brand management.