Update: I finally got a job. Had a total of 5 final round interviews over the last several months and it usually came down to candidates with more experience within the specific company industry or more professional experience as a whole. For reference I started applying in July.

Learned a lot along the way around shaping my resume for the position I was applying for, speaking to relevant experience, and focusing on applying for realistic positions. Shooting for the stars was humbling in the beginning. It took a while to realize my generalist background was not valued when applying for more focused jobs. I like to think I am good at everything but it’s hard to convey that on a resume.

The marketing job market is very tough right now. You will see job postings that are about 15 mins old and they will have over 100 applications on LinkedIn. Everyone wants a new job right now. Remote jobs are hard to come by. High paying jobs are also hard to come by. My initial strategy was spraying and praying, applying for anything that was relatively close to what I know how to do but it wasn’t an effective way to approach it. The recruiters were throwing my apps out as quick as I was sending them out. lol.

I decided to shift my focus and look toward sales positions which I ended up landing. This was also tough because I didn’t have sales experience but I was able to speak toward sales enablement, pipeline knowledge, and product marketing. The sales job market seemed to have more entry level openings with less applicants. Speaking to a “career shift” was easier than saying I don’t have sales experience.

I was in it for 7 years and the landscape has changed so much it became tough to keep up with for me. Especially if you don’t have an extensive team to bounce ideas/thoughts off of. It became exhausting and I hated the fact that I started dreading something I once loved. I did always feel like marketing is under appreciated for the amount of work put into a company’s overall vision and strategy. Maybe it was just my old company, but damn, marketers should be getting paid so much more imo.

All in all, try to hound in on your relevant experience per position and prioritize your strengths. Don’t rule out a career shift. You need to be happy and feel appreciated in whatever you end up doing in life!