Today we’re looking at the 10 biggest reasons that you should look for your next digital marketing job: From ensuring you aren’t getting left behind in
Switching jobs is one of the biggest decisions you will make in your life and career: So it’s important you do it for the right reasons.
Which is why we’re delving into some of the biggest reasons that you should consider looking for your next digital marketing job, whether you’re working in SEO or Performance Marketing.
If you’re in a team of 5+ SEO Executives, and there’s already 3 SEO Managers above you, then there may be no need or opportunity to promote you: Meaning you may need to look for a new role if you’re ready to progress.
Of course this isn’t always the case, because businesses or agencies will likely understand it’s much more cost effective to keep you than replace you.
But there may not be a business need to promote you: And despite how hard you work or effective you are in a role, promoting you and paying you more is a business decision at the end of the day. A business or digital agency doesn’t often need 5 Managers and 0 Executives.
Personal life starting to suffer because of long working hours, is one of the most common reasons a lot of the candidates we work with want to look for a new role, and we don’t blame them.
And often, the problem doesn’t present itself immediately. As responsibilities or pressure from managers mount, you may find yourself staying later and later to get work done.
So it’s always worth thinking back to how much you were working a year ago and if it has changed: Without changes in your remuneration etc.
And this can be more than just the time you spend at your laptop in the office. If you find yourself answering more emails or messages outside of work hours, or that you’re thinking about work more, it might be time to make a move.
If you’re working in an agency and only working on the same client accounts for months or even years, you’ll naturally be more accustomed to the client, industry, market, etc. So you’ll get better and better at your job, which is great!
But it’s not all great. Essential to career growth, is variety in your work, and fresh challenges of new client accounts. If you only ever work on the same clients, you run the risk of siloing yourself into one type of client or industry, and stagnating in your career.
Of course, before you start looking for a new job, you can ask to work on new clients: But if you’re being effective on your current client accounts, then there’s no guarantee your manager or employer will want to go through the trouble of moving someone off their current client, while moving you to a new client.
Salary is one of the most common reasons for looking for a new job. Whether you haven’t had a pay rise in years, or you feel your current salary doesn’t match how your skills, experience, and worth to the business have grown: It might be time to look for a new job that does offer the salary you are looking for.
But before you start your job search, it’s essential to do your market research and make sure that your salary expectations are realistic and find a job that pays you the right amount.
And something we always tell the candidates we work with is to speak to their manager or employer. Because while it can be a bit daunting, it can save you the headache of looking for a new job, or make you certain that looking for a new job is the right decision.
For more information on how to ask for a pay rise, check out our guide here.
Digital marketing is an ever-evolving industry: New technology, innovations, software, social platforms, and insights into the industry are constantly emerging.
And it’s incredibly important that you’re getting support and development opportunities to work on new tech or learn new skills.
Which means if your business or agency isn’t adapting to new ways of working, and offering training for them, you might want to start looking for somewhere that is.
Some of the best agencies we work with also offer the chance to move into other departments: For Paid Social professionals to move into Programmatic for example. Or, offer Paid Search professionals training to learn Paid Social, to become cross-channel specialists.
If your hard work isn’t being recognised, then it’s time to start looking for a new job.
Not because it doesn’t feel great when you aren’t receiving recognition (which is a valid enough reason on its own), but because it can actually be damaging to your career.
If you’re not getting the recognition you deserve, it can prevent you from getting any promotion that you deserve.
And when you look for your next job, a future employer may see the fact that you didn’t receive, or had to work longer for a promotion as a negative.
And putting opportunities for progression and promotions aside, if you’re feeling undervalued then you’ll likely become unmotivated with your work, underperform, and burnt out.
If you constantly have recruiters reaching out to you with opportunities, it can be a sign that you should be looking for a new job.
For example, here at Herd Digital we will sometimes reach out to digital marketing professionals if they haven’t moved roles or been promoted in a few years. Because it’s often an indication that they’re being undervalued or don’t have any progression opportunities in their current roles: Which means they will be more likely to work with us and want to move roles.
While this isn’t always the case, it can mean that when you’re being headhunted by recruiters, it can indicate that there has been some development in the digital marketing job market, or that there are better job opportunities out there for you.
A lot of work you do in your job, is doing the same thing everyday. Which will be the same everywhere you go.
But if you’re not being given the opportunities to adopt new tasks as you become more experienced, and stuck doing the same thing after 3, 6, 12 months, then it’s time to look for your next digital marketing job.
Say for example, you’re an SEO Executive and a large part of your job is doing keyword research and SEO audits. As you become a more experienced SEO, you should have the opportunity to get hands-on experience with SEO strategy, client management, and working on bigger client accounts.
So take a look at where you were a year ago. If you’re still doing the same tasks, day-in, day-out, then it’s time to find some fresh challenges.
All too often we’ve seen businesses or agencies push their employees to return to the office, stripping back remote or hybrid working.
Even adding one extra day in the office a week can mean an extra two hours of commuting a week, which decreases time spent with family, and increases the amount you have to spend on travel: Especially if you’re living and working in London!
Sometimes for good business reasons, such as company performance or company culture. But it can also be for negative reasons such as managers not being able to effectively manage employees remotely or old-fashioned work attitudes.
But whatever the reason, there’s no reason why you have to stick around when changes like these have such a huge impact on your work-life balance and how much you enjoy your role.
If your employer is making big changes to the way you work and you have absolutely no input, then that’s not a good sign, and more than good enough reason to start looking for your next digital marketing role.
The company culture is defined by the people who make up the business as much as it is by the leaders within the company.
A company culture changes over time, as new people join a business, with new attitudes, ways of working, and perspectives: And unfortunately, this isn’t always for the better.
When a company culture does become a toxic workplace environment, it can have a significantly detrimental impact on your career progression and how much you enjoy your work.
And can be more than enough reason to look for a job that will provide a better work environment that will support you to work how is best for you.
Knowing that you need to start looking for your new job is only the start. But before you jump into applying for new jobs, there’s a couple of things you should do first to make sure you find, and secure, the job that is right for you.
Hiring needs of businesses and agencies change over time as the market does, so it’s important to make sure that you understand which digital marketing skills are in the highest demand.
So that you know which of your skills to emphasise on your CV, or which to learn and brush up on before you start your job search.
It’s a good idea to speak to a recruiter in your industry, or reach out to your connections on LinkedIn before you start actively searching for a job.
This will help you get a feel for how the digital marketing job market is, what skills are most in-demand, and the kind of salaries you can expect.
And of course, they may be able to give you some insights into job opportunities on the market, or coming up!
Not many of us keep a completely up-to-date CV to hand, so it’s also time to update your CV. You want to make sure you include your most recent experience, the new skills you’ve learned, and what you’ve achieved most recently: Which is often the experience that is most important.
And if you’ve done your research into the positions you want to apply for and the most in-demand marketing skills, you should have a good idea of what’s most important to include in your CV.
You can also check out our guide on writing a digital marketing CV here, if you want to make sure you include all the most important bits.
Similar to your CV, your LinkedIn profile is a reflection of your professional experience. And while not as essential as your CV, it’s still important to update it to present the most accurate reflection of your professional experience.
This means updating your “Experience” section to highlight the biggest achievements in your current and past roles, as well as your skills section: As well as your “Summary” section and perhaps even opting for the “Open to Work” banner.
Check out our article here for more information on improving your LinkedIn to help you secure your new job.
Of course the reasons we’ve listed above aren’t the only reasons to look for a new digital marketing job, and these may not even be the most important ones to you! But these are some of the biggest, or most common reasons that the digital marketers that we work with choose to look for a new job.
Sometimes, these issues can be solved by talking to your manager or employer. But not always.
When that’s the case, it’s time to start looking for your next digital marketing job. And lucky for you, you can check out our open digital vacancies here!
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