Your Questions About Direct Marketing Jobs

Jere answers:

I got a two year degree at the Art Institute of Seattle and got a job designing advertising at a small town weekly newspaper. After six years there, I moved to a daily newspaper in a city, and then to a bigger one after that. After 17 years in the business, I am now the Art Director who runs the creative department for the Advertising Director. It’s a great career for someone who is driven by results and likes being creative under the pressure of a deadline.

I don’t know how they run things in the UK, but here in the US, a good way to get your foot in the door is to take an unpaid internship at a marketing firm. Getting a degree in marketing would help, but so will the B&E and IT never hurt anybody. It depends on which side you want to work: sales or creative. They complement each other as one cannot exist in the absence of the other. If you have the ideas, but lack the talent to execute them in relevant and attention grabbing visuals, then becoming an account executive would be the path to follow. They make the sales and have a direct hand in steering marketing campaigns. They direct the graphic artist in what the client will see, so ideas are a premium in this endeavor. If you can create a campaign for a potential client, have your graphic artist create something dazzling with your information, research and guidance, then sell it to that client who then gets more business because of it, you will start making good money. At my paper (we do tons of commercial printing as well as web design and online campaigns), we pretty much hire anybody off the street to try their hand at being an account rep. We prefer sales experience of some sort, but management is willing to give anybody a try who can sell themselves at the interview. The logic behind that is simple, really. Credentials and experience don’t mean much when someone can talk a person into a decision. It’s a gift, but can be learned.

Jere answers:

Not that I know of. There might be some laws regarding registered broker-dealers or securities sales-people, but years ago my friend was in in Excell, and he was a broker-dealer, also CPA. If there was a conflict, or it was unlawful, he would not have done it. Now we are in FHTM (owner of company used to be in Excell; in fact, was highest-earner ever in any direct-marketing company).
Primerica says they don’t allow their reps to join another company where they have to recruit, as they are similar to network marketing and just recruit, recruit, recruit. It’s really the only way to make money. But they cannot call themselves “financial advisors.”
That’s what network marketing is all about–recruiting and building a big team. Sounds like you are doing a good job. Good luck. I recommend network marketing on here and get “flagged”. Too bad. People are missing a huge opportunty.

Jere answers:

There are a number of firms in Vancouver that find people with your background for clients. Here are a few sites to check out
www.goldbeck.com
www.discoveryvancouver.com
www.allstarjobs.ca/British_Columbia/Vancouver/Employment_Agencies
www.wood-west.com/company
they are all Vancouver based firms.

Jere answers:

You should have a long term ideal to bare something (especially forking for someone else)
If you get stocked at a point think about your ideal and do what is best to reach it.
Changing lots of jobs is not a good reference.
You may have career tests on reputable companies which may be free of charge and direct yourself in that way… I had one and seen that I am highly suitable for sales and marketing (now I like my job on this field)
PS: I do not say these all that I can succeed in it. I have changed 4 jobs since 2004. I am trying to do what I told you here..

Jere answers:

An internship would have been your best bet, or an associates’ program. What you need to figure out is what part of publishing are you interested in? Editorial work, Marketing, Subrights, Design, Managing Editorial? It’s not the type of industry where you take a job in any department and switch over later. It’s rarely done (although not unheard of). If you don’t know where in publishing you’d like to start, I’d suggest starting in production/managing editorial. You need a strong background in grammar, since you’re basically a glorified copy editor. But this department will give you the opportunity to see what every single department does toward the production of a book. Once you get your feet wet in production editorial, try to find a job in the field you feel best fits you–at another house. Same house wouldn’t be a problem, but it can get pretty uncomfortable.

You can try looking for jobs at the websites of publishers (you can get names of houses from the LMP–the Literary Market Place; should be at your library or local bookstore), posting your resume on LinkedIn (I found my direct report that way), or checking Publishers Weekly.

Best of luck!