I’m going to be interviewed on The Marketing Ladder (A Marketing career growth podcast) and drafted a career progression framework. What do you think of this (sorry the formatting is lost)?
Here are some general rules of thumb for advancing to different levels in Marketing. Each builds on the experience of previous levels. These are not hard and fast rules, and many people will be exceptions to these in some way in their journey. Nevertheless, hopefully, it can help guide you.
To get your first (Marketing) internship:
Have a strong referral from someone
Do a side project so there is something tangible to show for your experience
Analyze the Marketing of the company you’re applying to and share that with the hiring team and post it on LinkedIn
Use perseverance, curiosity, and tenacity to find the first internship
To get your first Marketing job as an Associate/Analyst (for those who go to college, this is probably your first job out of college)
Internship or work experience
If you have 1 internship, you can hopefully get by
2-3 – likely to find something
4-5 – you’re setting yourself apart
Use the same principles listed above for getting an internship
To become a Manager of a specific discipline in Marketing (e.g. Product Marketing Manager)
Demonstrated completion of successful projects
Curiosity to learn more
To become a Senior Manager of a specific discipline in Marketing (e.g. Senior Product Marketing Manager):
Able to estimate timelines and due dates accurately and consistently
Able to plan out and execute projects with high performance from framework to collaboration & review to completion
Proficient with the relevant tech stack
Tracking the quantitative performance of activities
To become a Director of a specific discipline in Marketing (e.g. Director of Demand Generation):
People management experience (ideally 2+ people)
Deep expertise in the specific discipline of Marketing, perks if you have experience in another discipline too
Has shown the ability to create strategic plans but still able to get your hands dirty
Proficient with analysis and reporting
Proficient with your own discipline’s tech stack and some abilities in other disciplines’ tech stacks
Strong collaborator with other teams inside and outside of Marketing
To become a Senior Director of a specific discipline of Marketing (e.g. Senior Director of Demand Generation)
Do things that Directors do but be consistently achieving or outperforming people management, marketing planning, and quantitative goals
To become VP of Marketing:
People management experience (ideally at least 4-6+ people)
Product/brand marketing experience and demand generation experience
Able to speak to quantitative pipeline and revenue results
Experience in a similar industry