Entry-Level Positions for Aspiring Marketers
Jon, a founder and partner at GreatBuildz and Maxable, highlights that entry-level marketing roles offer a choice between "generalist" and "specialist" paths, recommending early career generalist experience to gain broad exposure. He also notes that smaller businesses frequently hire interns, sometimes leading to full-time employment; "I've had multiple interns that have stayed on the team."
Marketing, Entrepreneurship, Internships, Entry-Level Jobs, Small Business
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Jon Grishpul
Founder, Partner
GreatBuildz, Maxable
Cal Poly - SLO
n/a
Business Management & Admin, Marketing
Architecture, Construction & Design
Entrepreneurship and Business Owner
Pell Grant Recipient, Took Out Loans, Worked 20+ Hours in School, Greek Life Member, First Generation College Student
Video Highlights
1. There are many entry-level marketing positions available, such as generalist (managing various tasks) and specialist (focusing on a specific area like SEO or social media).
2. Early career experience as a generalist or specialist within a team is highly recommended to gain a broad understanding of the field.
3. Small businesses frequently offer internships and entry-level opportunities, sometimes leading to full-time employment for exceptional interns.
Transcript
What entry-level positions are there in this field that an undergraduate college student might consider?
If someone wants to work in marketing, there are many different entry-level opportunities to get a taste of it. Within the industry, there's the term "generalist" and "specialist."
A generalist is like the puppeteer, managing a lot of different things. A specialist dives headfirst into one area, like Google Ads only, or SEO only, or social media management.
Early in a career, it's probably better to gain experience as a generalist, or be a specialist in something you're interested in, but on a team with other specialists. Ideally, have another generalist to get exposure to all these different realms of marketing.
If you want to work in social media, there are tons of jobs out there. The same goes for Google Ads on the agency side, SEO, or anything like that within the online marketing world. There are many opportunities to get your feet wet and see if it's the right fit.
If someone wants to work in entrepreneurship, that's a little harder. Speaking from experience, small businesses are always looking for interns and trying to get people involved in the team.
This could be a short-term summer opportunity, cheap labor for a period of time, or a more permanent role. I've had interns who did exceptional work for a couple months, and if it was going well for everyone, we made it official.
I've had multiple interns stay on the team, and I've brought them on in a more official capacity. Whether it's entry-level positions as a college student, a summer internship, or right out of college, there are many opportunities to work for smaller companies like mine. You can get your feet wet in the marketing industry.