Labels:
Career Development
,
MBA
Marketing Roles - What Companies Look For in MBA Candidates
Posted by
Unknown
on
November 20, 2016
Marketing is one of those functions, that if done
successfully, requires a little bit of everything. In other words, it is highly
cross-functional and requires a lot of different skills. In Kathryn Ullrich’s Book, Getting to the Top, Strategies for Career Success, she states that close
to a third of CEOs have a sales/marketing background, which also turns out to
be the biggest bucket for CEO background functions.
Being somewhat new to business, this was something I did not
know before or during my MBA at Duke. I think my biggest misconception back
then, which many other non-MBAs also had, was that marketing equated to advertising – the kind that went on cereal boxes at the supermarket.
Advertising, while a tactic that results from the
development of marketing strategy, is only a very small portion of a marketer’s
role, and probably the one that is the least impactful from a value-add
perspective.
Where marketers add more value is in developing the strategy
of a brand and deciding how to position it in the marketplace. This is the
strategic side – after this marketers rely on leadership and operational skills
to align teams and ultimately execute the plan. As you may imagine, the newer
the brand, and the more brands that compete in a market segment, the bigger the
challenge to marketers. Here's my experience taking the Marketing Strategy course at Duke Fuqua.
Here’s what hiring managers and commercial leaders look for
in MBA candidates recruiting for marketing roles. Before you read on, here's a backgrounder on commercial/marketing roles in the pharma industry.
Strategic thinking
MBA candidates should position themselves (if not already by
their company) as future senior leaders. Strong executional skills, while
critical to success, are considered basic and don't differentiate
MBAs from each other or from non-MBA employees. Furthermore, the ones with the
best executional skills are often not MBAs, but those that have stayed at the
junior level for many years – even decades – in the company or industry.
The ability to “get” strategy and understand how it applies
to tactics is thus a key trait to have. It’s actually quite hard to build
alignment among multiple teams in a matrix environment without a strong understanding of strategy. In addition, strategic skills are ultimately what
senior marketers rely on when making decisions ahead of market changes or when
trying to innovate and defeat the competition.
Therefore, MBAs should
demonstrate their ability to think strategically early on in their careers, and
continue to strengthen this skill as they build additional expertise in the
respective industries they are in.
Analytical skills
Analytical skills are what makes strategic thinking possible
in today’s business environment. Business for virtually every industry is
evolving so quickly that assumptions are changing every few months, making
anecdotal evidence less of a factor in marketing decision making.
Don’t get me
wrong – qualitative evidence from years of experience is still important – it’s
just that empirical, objective evidence is much less costly to obtain nowadays. In addition, the evolution of market trends is accelerating to the point that
subjective experience may not be enough to build confidence behind a marketing decision.
The challenge for most hiring managers in marketing is that
folks in functions that build strong analytical skills often lack the other
traits that make someone a great marketer, such as strategic thinking
(discussed earlier) or leadership potential (discussed next). On the flip side,
people with great leadership or customer-facing communication skills may not be
great analytically.
If you don’t have great analytical skills, learn how to work
closely with those that do in your company. This is also what John Beeson
recommends in his book, the Unwritten Rules, the 6 Skills You Need to Get
Promoted to the Executive Level (to be reviewed soon). In addition, identify opportunities to work
cross functionally with market research, competitive intelligence or other
groups that focus on generating insights from data.
Leadership potential
As many folks who know me in real life and who read my blog
may already know – leadership is my most favorite topic to discuss. This is
demonstrated early on in a marketing career by how you manage teams of external
vendor and agencies, your relationship with others in your matrix teams, and how
you perform in large, multi-team meetings.
Virtually all marketing tactics (advertisements, brochures,
etc) are actually built by agencies – this creates a great opportunity for
those who are new to marketing to demonstrate their ability to lead. If you’re
transitioning into marketing, this is an important transferable skill to show
that you have had success with in a previous role.
Marketing also requires a lot of collaboration with other teams, such as finance, operations, analytics, and other industry-specific
functions. However, marketers are usually the ones accountable for business
performance (as in senior marketers own the profit-and-loss of a brand), and
thus naturally assume a leadership role among peers and is ultimately
responsible for holding everyone accountable.
It is therefore important to
demonstrate, first, a desire to lead – and secondly – the potential to do so
effectively.
Summary
Hopefully this post creates a clear picture of what hiring
managers look for in potential candidates for marketing.
Look, there are so many
traits there that out there that can make someone successful, and everyone has
their own individual styles. However, I see the above three skills as the most
fundamental building blocks of a marketing career.
Read this post if you're interested in a commercial/marketing career in the pharmaceutical industry.
Read this post if you're interested in a commercial/marketing career in the pharmaceutical industry.

Subscribe to:
Post Comments
(
Atom
)
Excellent post. I was reviewing this blog continuously, and I am impressed! Extremely helpful information especially this page. Thank you and good luck. Octopus
ReplyDeleteIn the hierarchy of the business food chain, sales and marketing should not be seen as rivals or equals, but counterparts. One truly cannot exist without the other, but their skill sets are not the same - especially today, where advances in technology require the modern marketer to have a very specific, honed, and competitive set of skills that most sales people simply do not need to have.Socialener
ReplyDeleteWhat a thrilling post. It is extremely chock-full of useful information. Thanks for such a great info. Spanish transcription services
ReplyDeleteI recently noticed your website back i are generally looking through which on a daily basis. You’ve got a loads of information at this site so i actually like your look to the web a tad too. Maintain the best show results! Michael Rayburn SEO
ReplyDeleteAwesome article, it was exceptionally helpful! I simply began in this and I'm becoming more acquainted with it better! Cheers, keep doing awesome! smm panels list
ReplyDeleteThank you because you have been willing to share information with us. we will always appreciate all you have done here because I know you are very concerned with our. first reseller panel
ReplyDeleteAwesome article, it was exceptionally helpful! I simply began in this and I'm becoming more acquainted with it better! Cheers, keep doing awesome! OR Marketing
ReplyDeleteHello, this weekend is good for me, since this time i am reading this enormous informative article here at my home. postal mail advertising
ReplyDeleteExcellent website! I adore how it is easy on my eyes it is. I am questioning how I might be notified whenever a new post has been made. Looking for more new updates. Have a great day! Startup
ReplyDeleteI can set up my new idea from this post. It gives in depth information. Thanks for this valuable information for all.
ReplyDeleteForgotten Disney
Wow, What a Excellent post. I really found this to much informatics. It is what i was searching for.I would like to suggest you that please keep sharing such type of info.Thanks smm panel
ReplyDeleteThe website is looking bit flashy and it catches the visitors eyes. Design is pretty simple and a good user friendly interface. imarketslive sign in
ReplyDeleteI wanted to thank you for this excellent read!! I definitely loved every little bit of it. I have you bookmarked your site to check out the new stuff you post. LuLu Offers UAE
ReplyDeleteSuperbly written article, if only all bloggers offered the same content as you, the internet would be a far better place.. what is content marketing
ReplyDeleteI am impressed. I don't think Ive met anyone who knows as much about this subject as you do. You are truly well informed and very intelligent. You wrote something that people could understand and made the subject intriguing for everyone. Really, great blog you have got here. smm panel
ReplyDeleteI high appreciate this post. It’s hard to find the good from the bad sometimes, but I think you’ve nailed it! would you mind updating your blog with more information? marketing funnel with examples
ReplyDeleteYou know your projects stand out of the herd. There is something special about them. It seems to me all of them are really brilliant! imarketslive sign
ReplyDeleteIf you are looking for more information about flat rate locksmith Las Vegas check that right away. Jasa Import Barang Dari China Door to Door
ReplyDeleteI am very enjoyed for this blog. Its an informative topic. It help me very much to solve some problems. Its opportunity are so fantastic and working style so speedy. im academy trading scam
ReplyDeleteAwesome article, it was exceptionally helpful! I simply began in this and I'm becoming more acquainted with it better! Cheers, keep doing awesome! set up a business in dubai
ReplyDeletePretty good post. I just stumbled upon your blog and wanted to say that I have really enjoyed reading your blog posts. Any way I'll be subscribing to your feed and I hope you post again soon. Big thanks for the useful info. best leather portfolio
ReplyDeleteToo many Internet marketers waste valuable dollars trying to rank high for the most popular keywords. The most popular keywords often contain the most competition and are the most difficult to rank for. For example, using search engine marketing to rank for the phrase "make money online" would be a fruitless endeavor. Free Website Seo Analysis
ReplyDeleteThe tipping point in my own decision to upgrade-other than the truth that I consider myself a brandname ambassador of LinkedIn to the nth degree, and wish to speak from the viewpoint of the paid subscriber-is the expanded Who's Viewed My Profile (WVMP) capability. WVMP is becoming one of the very frequently discussed aspects of LinkedIn , as both a crucial metric and a proper touchpoint in social selling. Kennected LinkedIn Reviews
ReplyDeleteBuild content by utilizing functions on WordPress and Twitter and others to automatically repost your content to LinkedIn. If you have additional content - as an example a contact newsletter then you can certainly post links to those outside sites with a catchy title to grab attention (when posting links use to produce shorter links rather than using long cumbersome urls that continue for half of a page). Kennected Reviews
ReplyDeleteWow, What a Excellent post. I really found this to much informatics. It is what i was searching for.I would like to suggest you that please keep sharing such type of info.Thanks forsage
ReplyDeleteHello I am so delighted I located your blog, I really located you by mistake, while I was watching on google for something else, Anyways I am here now and could just like to say thank for a tremendous post and a all round entertaining website. Please do keep up the great work. ClickFunnels Alternative
ReplyDeleteThat is really nice to hear. thank you for the update and good luck. ClickFunnels Review 2020
ReplyDeleteThe Marketing Automation Software are looking at the people's profiles, habits, nature and collective psychographic data to understand if he will be interested in your product or not. What is a sales funnel?
ReplyDeleteAwesome article! I want people to know just how good this information is in your article. It’s interesting, compelling content. Your views are much like my own concerning this subject. Mark Lutchman
ReplyDeleteThere are a few reasons you don't want to focus on the things you don't bring to the table. The most obvious is that you will only be hired for the things that you do bring to the table, so everything else is just a negative distraction. Salesforce interview questions and answers
ReplyDeleteYes, I am entirely agreed with this article, and I just want say that this article is very helpful and enlightening. I also have some precious piece of concerned info !!!!!!Thanks. gmail blast email
ReplyDeleteThank you for the update, very nice site.. SASE
ReplyDeleteI heard about the 5 qualities that make a name awesome from this product naming agency? I heard a lot of people were able to come up with various creative names because of this. business people
ReplyDeleteI also heard about this agency's amazing service with creating brand sticky names. They were able to give all the ideas and inspiration that I was lacking. Email Extractor
ReplyDeleteThis will improve user-generated content and credibility as well as promote the visibility of your products and business. Your Instagram followers can significantly influence the success of your enterprise, and you should never underestimate them. have a peek at these guys
ReplyDelete