The job market for marketers has been difficult for a few years now as pandemic hiring freezes gave way to concerns about the future health of the economy. One recruiter argued in MarketingWeek that organizations fall into three camps:
In other words, even for companies that are looking to hire new marketers, competition is likely to be fierce. Fortunately, with the steadily increasing popularity of Agile marketing, your Agile experience is becoming an ever hotter commodity.
As an Agile marketer with years of experience in hiring and recruiting, here are some simple things you can do to harness your experience to get a strong head start in the world of Agile marketing.
Label Yourself an Agile Marketer
It doesn’t get much simpler than this. But considering how little time most recruiters actually look at your resume, conveying your Agile experience from the first moment is critical. By labeling yourself as an Agile marketer from the beginning, you create a strong association that’s more likely to be remembered by a recruiter comparing you to dozens of other candidates.
After all, the latest State of Agile Marketing Report found that 43% of marketing teams were using Agile while more than half planned to implement it eventually. While there are more options for training new people in Agile ways of working, real Agile experience will always be highly sought-after.
Even HR departments themselves are increasingly turning to Agile, further fueling the emphasis being placed on finding candidates with real-world Agile experience. With all of that said, the popularity of Agile is only going to really help if you’re applying at a place with an interest in it. So look for organizations that already use Agile marketing as you’ll be a more attractive candidate there.
Describe Your Agile Experience Well
Of course, simply slapping the title “Agile Marketer” on the top of your resume isn’t enough, you need to describe your Agile experience in the right way. Beginning with the basics, avoid simply describing responsibilities. This is standard resume advice but is extra important for an erstwhile Agile marketer because it sounds very passive.
Agile marketing is built on a foundation of continuous improvement, so talking about Agile experience as if it’s a box you checked once won’t sound very convincing. Instead, for example, you can mention how you’ve applied your Agile experience toward solving problems. If applicable, absolutely describe any instances where you helped train others or manage the process of bringing Agile to a new team.
Beyond describing your past experiences, you can devote some space on your resume or in an interview to discussing your thoughts on Agile and how you’d like to further your Agile skills down the line. If the marketing department isn’t Agile already, you can emphasize how you might be able to bring some Agile frameworks to the team.
Overall, the best strategy here is to simply put yourself in the recruiter’s shoes. Consider where they’re coming from, what they might be looking for in a candidate, and how you can make it as easy as possible for them to say “yes” to you.
Consider Getting an Agile Certification
Agile experience comes in all shapes and sizes, so even if you have plenty, it can still be helpful to fill it out with a course or certification. This does several things.
First, certifications in particular make it easier for recruiters or hiring managers to trust your experience. Two different candidates can describe their Agile experience in the same way, but the realities of what experience they actually have can vary widely. Certifications allow for more confidence and comparability between candidates. In other words, they make a recruiter’s job easier.
Second, certifications clearly communicate that you’ve been proactive in developing your Agile skills. Beyond simply working on an Agile team and picking some knowledge up along the way, it shows that you’ve actually invested in Agile learning. For recruiters looking for a strong Agile marketing candidate, that speaks volumes.
Lastly, a certification can be an excellent way to address an experience or skills gap. For example, you may only have Agile experience from a non-marketing role. In this case, a certification or training course can help teach you how to apply that knowledge to marketing.
If you’re wondering which ones might be worthwhile, you can find plenty of options on our learning platform The Ropes that we believe will serve a modern Agile marketer particularly well.
Get Training in How to Apply Agile to Marketing
Fortunately, if you’re interested in understanding how Agile can best be applied to marketing, we’ve got a free 60-minute course on precisely that. In it, you’ll hear from one of the world’s leading experts on Agile marketing on why Agile is so applicable to marketing, and how you can harness your experience to be a more effective marketer.
