Corporate marketing manager skills for your resume and career

Students often underestimate the importance of soft skills. To succeed in a marketing career, you need to be able to communicate effectively both verbally and in writing, work well in a team environment, use critical and creative thinking, and get along with others. On an individual level, successful marketers are typically good time managers, decisive, adaptable to change, good listeners, and open to feedback. Emotional intelligence plays a significant role in one's career progression and success.

As a science and an art, marketing utilizes both soft skills and technical skills on a daily basis. While some technologies are industry-specific, having an understanding and basic mastery of data analysis, statistics, data visualization, digital marketing, marketing research, and customer relationship management will position a candidate well.

Many marketing jobs require a blend of customer insights, data analytics, and strategic marketing decision making. So developing these skills may be helpful to be ready when the right job comes around. Skills in sales are often overlooked, but these are valuable too and have three advantages:
-There are many excellent opportunities in careers in sales that some students overlook.
-Even if one does not take a job in sales, the skills of deals involving business development, problem-solving, and communication are valuable in any career.
-Getting a job in the first place often involves selling oneself.
So having sales skills are also worth having.

If you can't find a job right away, volunteering is an excellent way to develop skills, make contacts, and stay optimistic. Look for opportunities at non-profit organizations, for example, where you may help out a cause that may be important to you and give you a chance to learn about skills that you may lack. Often, serious volunteers are given access and opportunities that paid employees may not get. It is also not uncommon for a volunteer position to become a paid position when opportunities in the organization arise.

In marketing and business, there are also many excellent one-year master's programs being offered to help students develop focused skills in marketing management, data analytics, and customer insights. Some are even focused on particular industries like health care or technology. These programs offer students a year of in-depth learning as well as career coaching and access to recruiters. They can be a treasured addition for students who have healthy non-business undergraduate degrees who may now want to focus on marketing career goals. Also, the starting salary and responsibility level tend to be significantly more than that of a recent graduate of an undergraduate program.

In our field, computer skills and proficiency with technology and data are in great demand (e.g., data analytics and engineering applications)

Graduates must not be complacent and assume their skill base will endure over a long period; they must continue to engage and learn in order to understand changes in the landscape and add value. Beyond listing specific computer software or hardware skills, we know from working so closely with employers to place our students that they are looking for students who possess excellent communication skills - including technical communication. Along the lines of communicating, employers seek graduates with the ability to analyze and succinctly synthesize sometimes ambiguous information. Finally, showcasing flexibility and an interest in learning will be important to employers.