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Episode Summary
The pandemic has forced companies to make significant budget cuts, which has resulted in numerous layoffs; some have even closed their doors permanently. However, the pandemic has also initiated a significant shift in how we do business. Remote-first or remote-only culture has become common as organizations saw the benefits of a global talent pool. Similarly, job seekers have more options since they can now apply for roles at companies around the world.
Still, layoffs are hard, and we all approach them differently. In this episode of The Anonymous Marketer, we chat with Brianna Doe, the director of Demand Generation at Aion, about how you can recover after a layoff and start looking for a new job. Brianna shared her experience and gave valuable advice on using social media and communities to land new opportunities.
Brianna and our host Nick Bennett touch upon the difference between small and large organizations from a marketing perspective. They also talk about the best mediums to present yourself to a potential employer, whether you are at the beginning of your career, you have been laid off, or want to change your job and specialize in a specific marketing field.
Guest Profile
- Name: Brianna Doe
- What she does: Brianna is the director of Demand Generation at Aion.
- Company: Aion
- Noteworthy: Brianna also runs The Career Lab, where she offers free job search and career resources primarily for entry to mid-level marketers and professionals, helping them track job searches and learn how to position themselves effectively. She also offers one-on-one coaching.
Key Insights
- Keep a record of your accomplishments. Make note of even the smallest projects you’ve worked on because you never know when a job opportunity may present itself, or you may find yourself looking for a new job. You want to have everything you've ever done in one place so you can update your resume accordingly. ''One thing, looking back, that I'm grateful I did, or I'm proud of, is I'd already had some quick wins at that job, and I was proud of them. So I was moving over screenshots of projects I'd completed into my own personal drive, so I didn't have to worry about that when I got laid off. And that is why it is so important to have your accomplishments' log and update it consistently. I would say weekly or every time you finish a project so that you don't have to worry about that when you get home and realize that you don't have any records.''
- Cross-functional collaboration is critical for personal and organizational growth. That's especially challenging for a marketer moving from a small to a larger organization. But the rapport you'll build with other teams — customer success, sales, product, etc. — will help you approach your day-to-day tasks more strategically. We asked Brianna to share her experience. ''If a startup is too small, decisions can be made slowly; at a certain level or number of employees, things move quickly, and decisions are made quickly. And then, once you get into a larger organization, you get back into a lot of red tape situations. And so learning how to work cross-functionally with so many different departments as opposed to an environment where it was me, and maybe two other people, was a big shift, but it was an important one."
- Moving from being a generalist to a specialist requires letting go. It may sound like new-age psychology, but it's the right way to grow in marketing. As young professionals, we make mistakes by packing our resumes with everything we have done. But, it's one thing to have it all on a personal drive, as Brianna says, but another to choose what accomplishment will make you a candidate worth considering for a particular role. So if you wore many hats in your previous company and want to specialize in one or two fields, highlight the previous experiences strictly related to that area when applying for the next role. ''I had to approach my background and skill set in such a way that I'm marketing those parts of my background effectively when I'm interviewing and trying to get the role, and remove the irrelevant. Because one thing I also came in contact with was if I still advertise that I had these other skills, you'll start to hear people asking you to do these things anyway, and it'll take away from the role that you wanna specialize in, and it's not going to help you in the long run.''
Episode Highlights
Layoffs Are Tough, and Everyone Has a Mechanism for Dealing With It
”I was laid off back in 2015 or 2016, and it was a very small organization; I wore every marketing hat possible. […] I remember it like it was yesterday.
The first thing I did was I told my partner, I told my family, and then I went home and looked back at all the companies I had applied to and interviewed with right before I accepted this position.
And I reconnected with those hiring managers, the CEOs, whatever the company was, to see where they were, if they’d ended up hiring. And I also looked at my finances; I looked at the severance I’d be receiving.
And then I took the rest of the day off. I know this might be different for everybody, but I think it’s important to decompress after something like that before diving in, even if it’s eight hours and a good night’s sleep. I had to take a step back.”
How and Where to Look for New Job Opportunities
”I would immediately start networking, and what I mean by that is getting on LinkedIn. I would set up informational interviews with anybody in the field I was interested in, willing to chat with me. I would start engaging with other, in this case, marketers.
I would also take a look at my resume and update it immediately. I would take any of the wins I hadn’t already added and get that updated to make sure I’m positioning myself effectively.
And from there, I would build out the strategy. So I wouldn’t even start applying yet. I would see what the job market looks like. I would figure out what I want to do, like, ‘Do I want to stay in this field, or do I want to take a step back and try something else? What job titles am I interested in? What kind of company do I wanna work for?’”
Networking Recommendations
”Once you know that you wanna stay in marketing and know what you wanna specialize in in marketing, I would look to find Slack communities you can join. So, for example, if you want to stay in revenue-generating roles, RevGenius, or demand gen community, dive into those.
If you pick one that has a significant number of members — over a thousand — it’s a blank slate for networking. You can meet so many people on many different levels, from VPs to entry-level. So the barrier’s going to be low for you there, as opposed to — I call it, cold network — reaching out to people on LinkedIn.”
Advice for a Junior Marketer Figuring Out How to Stand Out in the Market
”I’m not a huge fan of cover letters. I am a fan of personalized emails or DMs, which could be considered the new age cover letter. I would always recommend video, which I know some people, including myself, would be uncomfortable with. But it’s also a great way to stand out. A lot of people aren’t doing it.
If you don’t have a ton of experience, I’d recommend some certifications because they’ll help you grow. And two, it’ll look good. It shows that you’re pursuing that growth. […] HubSpot, it’s free, I believe, and you can learn about anything. And HubSpot certifications look good on a resume, especially as a junior marketer. Also, anything related to Google certifications will help you as you grow.
When I talk to junior marketers — recent college grads — sometimes they discount their experience because it maybe wasn’t for a company or a corporation. But let’s say you want to go into social media, and you’ve been posting for years for your personal brand, and you have a substantial following. Or you have a blog, or you’ve done volunteer work for your dad over the summer, marketing his restaurant. All of your internships are relevant. So focus on what you’ve learned during those experiences and where you want to take that experience.”
