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Tips for how Marketers and Digital professionals can find the right role in 2025

Writer's picture: Jay ThandiJay Thandi

The job market has been turbulent over the last two years, making it increasingly difficult for professionals to secure the right role. With increased competition and economic uncertainties, many marketing and digital professionals are struggling to stand out. In this blog, we'll explore the challenges job seekers face and provide strategies to overcome them to find the right roles in 2025.


Stressed woman job seeker


The Problems

 

The job market has seen significant fluctuations, with many professionals finding it challenging to secure the right role. According to Statista, as of the second quarter of 2024, there were approximately 930,300 sales, marketing, and related associate professionals in the United Kingdom, compared to 916,700 in the previous quarter. This represents an increase of nearly 150,000 professionals since Q2 of 2022, although growth has slowed down from a high of 947,900 in Q3 of 2023.

 



 

Expansion and redundancies have led to a more crowded job market, intensifying competition among candidates, especially at senior levels. Political and economic factors, both domestic, and international, have resulted in cautious hiring practices. Many predicted a market upturn in September 2024, with autumn traditionally being a busy time for marketing, branding, and digital recruitment. However, negative media coverage before the Autumn budget led to businesses delaying their hiring plans. Although increases to Employer National Insurance were not as severe as speculated, they did not promote growth, especially as many businesses experienced lower-than-expected trade due to high interest rates and reduced consumer spending caused by high inflation. This has also led to reduced investment in teams and technologies, meaning marketing and digital teams cannot grow or operate as efficiently.

 

We’ve also seen a widening gap between employer expectations and what jobseekers are looking for across areas from experience, proficiency with new technologies, aligning skills to requirements, and an increasing salary disparity for professionals although they’re working at similar levels.

 

The other critical issue is recruitment itself. Many jobseekers I’ve spoken with have told me applying directly for roles on job boards feels like a wasted effort, with people often feeling their application has been rejected without “human eyes” ever seeing their CV. So aside from low response rates, many feel that job listings aren’t always genuine (aka Ghost Jobs) or that they need to keyword stuff their CV to get past an automated filtering system.



Stressed man job seeker

 

How to navigate the market

 

So, what’s actually working for people looking to secure new roles? This is the million-dollar question, and unfortunately, different things are working for different people..

 

So what are people doing:

  • Applying for roles

  • Working with recruiters

  • Networking

  • Keep a finger on the pulse

  • Be prepared when you go in to an interview

 

However, the key is to approach these activities with intention, rather than using a "spray and pray" method.

 

One job seeker told me that they approached job hunting like a role. They would set times, read through roles, research companies, and be selective about where they applied. They would also tailor their CV to the role, as long as it was an area they’d covered or had relevant experience for.

 

As a recruiter, I was overwhelmed by the number of irrelevant applicants for roles in 2024. Some of these professionals should’ve been experienced enough to know they weren’t right if they’d read the job description.

 

If you’re applying directly for roles, make sure your CV aligns with the job description. Don’t keyword-stuff your CV, and try to keep it to a maximum of 2 pages. If you could be a good fit for more than one role or industry, create multiple CVs tailored to each role.

Content is king, and a well-written CV that aligns with a role will help you secure more interviews. For more CV writing advice, we have a guide here and a template here.

 

Do your research when selecting recruiters to work with. Pick those you’ve worked with in the past, those who’ve been recommended to you, or those you can have honest and frank conversations with. Be selective and keep the number to 2 or 3 who you can really trust.

 

They should know about your industry and be able to help you navigate the market.

Networking is crucial in this market and can help you bypass long-winded applications. People like to work with those they like and will refer those they feel will be a good reflection of themselves. Attend industry events, keep up to date with the latest trends, and understand what businesses need from professionals.

 

Networking will help build your knowledge of what businesses are looking for. Do they want someone more familiar with using AI tools? How are flexible working practices changing? Where could opportunities be emerging?


Networking isn't just sending a message on LinkedIn and thinking job done. It's not just sending a generic email. Get back in touch with old colleagues and managers, they may not be hiring, but they could point you in the right direction. Look to build new relations if you need to.

 

Keeping a finger on the pulse goes beyond just learning trends; it also involves upskilling yourself. If you need to be more analytical, Google offers a free certified Data Analytics course. If you’re a B2B marketer who hasn’t used Hubspot, complete their free courses.

 

By spending time developing yourself, you can get one step closer to your next role.

 

If you’re a senior professional, Mark Ritson’s Mini MBA courses in Marketing and Brand Management will mean you join a prestigious alumni of 25,000 global professionals (of whom 40% are based in the UK). This means not only have you learned, but you’ve also gained access to a wider community of like-minded professionals.

 

The first few points will help you get to an interview, but that’s only part of the parcel. What you do next is crucial.

 

When going to an interview do a few basic things and they’ll help you go a long way.

 

  1. Reread the job description and make notes with examples of when you’ve handled something similar.

  2. Put together some tangible examples of impact you’ve made in a similar role and what this meant for your employer commercially, operationally or for the brand.

  3. Look at the competitors and try to understand where the business is in comparison. Refer back to job description to understand the objective of the role and try to think how you can help them get ahead of the competition.

  4. Use CAR or STAR method to answer questions (click here for a the guide)

  5. Ask meaningful questions during the interview to really try and understand the business and their objectives and what they want the successful person to do.

  6. Put effort into the task.

 

The last one seems to be a bit of a sticking point. Businesses and hiring decision makers want to understand what you can bring to role if successful. However, I’ve heard about people being burnt or feeling like they have. Although I’ve not personally seen ideas being stolen, I have seen people share and discuss similar ideas and strategies. Also the people I’ve seen secure roles have usually blown their tasks apart, answered questions and shown additional considerations.

 

There are debates if tasks should be paid for, less demanding or based off old business needs, and there are strong cases for these practices to change. Whilst I cannot guarantee we’ll see that shift completely in 2025 although some of my clients have started adopting alternative practices in place of the tasks.

 

If you're looking to explore new Marketing or Digital roles in 2025 you can get in touch here.

 

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