Psychology Graduate to Marketing Executive

Hiring graduates is part of Sphere’s DNA, and we pride ourselves on the success of the graduates who join us. We offer a bespoke training plan and a supportive, ambitious environment. 

Alice, our new Marketing Executive who graduated in July this year, discusses life as a graduate breaking into the world of work, and the advice she can offer to graduates looking to start their first role.

Applying for Jobs

Applying for your first job is a strange mix of scary and exciting. As much as I was ready to see the back end of my degree, I was scared to be leaving the student life that I had loved and had become so accustomed to.

Beginning my job search, I had no clue where to start, whilst I wanted to be ambitious and push myself, having tried to attain as much experience as I could whilst studying full time for my degree, I felt that I was still trying to work out what I wanted to do.

Having been told previously that marketing is a difficult role to get into, I shook off this advice not wanting it to knock my confidence… but oh how correct they were. Rejection after rejection, it was tough not to take it personally, however, I decided to ask for feedback in the hope of understanding why I wasn’t the right person for the role.

Continually, I was told:

"You’re a brilliant candidate, you’ve got lots of enthusiasm and we think you’d be a great fit; however, we just have other candidates with more experience." 

Bit of a backhanded compliment, but I accepted their feedback – the experience part was out of my control, but at least I was presenting myself well!

I carried on my job search and came across a post from Sphere and applied through LinkedIn. When I got a notification saying that they wanted to interview me, despite previous rejection, naturally I was still excited – could this be the one?!

My first call with Amy was a Facetime call, super relaxed having a chat about me, and my experience, and getting a feel for our vibe as we would be working together. I was thrilled by the end of the call for her to invite me to an in-person interview at the office in London. 

Going to the interview, I was super nervous – all previous interviews I had done had been online, this was my first face-to-face one. I remember getting such a great feeling for the company the second I stepped into the office, at this point I knew I would have felt more gutted if I hadn’t got this role, having got such a good vibe. So of course, I was beyond thrilled to be offered the role!

Advice

Looking back at the job search process, I wouldn’t want to jump back into it, BUT for all those just about to start looking for their first role, I definitely have some advice I wish people had given me before I started my job search…

Experience

Being a full-time student, it is hard to get industry experience. However, I realised that despite obtaining a degree, experience is also super helpful in landing your first job. Reading weeks, Christmas holidays, Summer holidays, apply for everything. Just getting a week of experience is always helpful - even just aiding you to figure out what you enjoy, or don’t! Some great sites I'd recommend are Bright Network, Rate my Placement and Milkround.  

Enthusiasm

One thing I was constantly complimented on by interviewers was my enthusiasm and positivity! I know it can be nerve-wracking going into an interview (especially if you’ve never done it before) but imagine if you were the one conducting the interview – would you be more likely to hire someone showing no enthusiasm and positivity? Or someone with a smile on their face, asking questions and willing to give everything a go!

Opportunity to Learn

One of the most important things about a graduate role is that you are a GRADUATE! Employers are aware that you have just come out of university, and you have never worked a full-time role before, they do not expect you to know how to do everything – and neither should you! Showing your willingness to learn always pays off, if you’re willing to constantly learn more about your role, your company, your industry, you’re always going to improve and get better and what more could an employer want?

Talk to your friends

Interview pointers aside, being a psychology graduate I had to include a final, mental tip. Whilst I was going through my job search, luckily the majority of my housemates were also going through the same thing. My biggest piece of advice would be to discuss this with your friends! They can understand how you’re feeling and they’re going to be the best people to cheer you up if you got rejected from a role you really wanted – chances are it’s happened to them too! They may also be able to give you great tips that worked for them in interviews!

I hope these tips have been helpful, and I wish all graduates the best of luck in their job search, I know it can be scary. Things will fall into place and if you don’t get the first job (or 10th) it’s not the end of the world – the right opportunity for you will come along!

If this advice was helpful or if you want some more tips, please feel free to reach out to me on LinkedIn.