Hard knocks can be the best teacher

For marketing or communication management positions, I often wonder why organizations feel compelled to hire someone with background in the product or service versus hiring someone who is a professional marketer by trade.

Learning a new product/service is relatively easy. A marketing professional can bring an objective view of your product or service.

(If you’re just “preaching to the choir”, you may not need a marketer anyway. A marketer reinforces the choir's belief in you and coaches them as evangelists but, most importantly, brings those to your product or service who don’t already know and love you.)

Years of marketing and communications experience isn’t come by easily. It’s not something you can necessarily learn from a book. Sure, you can get the basics and the background, etc. But testing and real-world applications, i.e. the school of hard knocks, can be the best teacher.

My 2 cents.

The "IT" List

Wanted to share what I consider to be THE list in Hampton Roads, the Job Blast email. The Job Blast is something that my friend, Elaine Kennedy, does as a courtesy to colleagues in sales and marketing. She believes in the "Pay It Forward" principle just as I do and knows that if you’re in the industry you WILL be looking for another job sooner or later!

The jobs range from entry-level up to VP Marketing and Sales levels with commensurate salaries. Jobs have also included web designers, programmers and developers; customer service positions, printing and mail house reps; publishing positions; media sales, design, and production personnel; and marketing communications/PR positions. The Job Blast is:

• Free to all
• A distribution for sales & marketing and related job announcements (that includes all related industries/disciplines)
• Not a means to distribute resumes
• Not affiliated with any organization

The Job Blast started more than 5 years ago because people knew that Elaine knew people. There are more than 380 sales and marketing professionals on the Job Blast list now. And, Elaine's emails are some of the most-forwarded in Hampton Roads! It has become a great place to post a job or get a job targeted to sales, marketing and related professions.

So if you want to POST a job to the Job Blast email or if you know someone who would benefit from OPTING-IN, email Elaine at elaine@rechargemarketing.com

Thanks to:
Elaine Kennedy of RECHARGE Marketing
...helping businesses grow since 1986
www.rechargemarketing.com

e-Job Search

Here are some of the best sites for searching for a job online:

• http://www.rileyguide.com/eresume.html with links to Wall Street Journal Career Site
• http://jobs.careerjournal.com
• http://theladders.com (check for free trial periods and promotional programs/discounts)
• http://www.resumerabbit.com/ posts resume to 80 online sites (not free)
• http://jobs.hamptonroads.com/index.cfm?pn=register CareerConnection.com
• http://my.net-temps.com/postres.html
• http://hotjobs.yahoo.com/
• http://www.monster.com/
• http://www.marketingjobs.com/ Sales and Marketing Jobs Nationwide
• http://careerbuilder.com
• http://virginiajobnetwork.com
• http://www.norfolkjobnetwork.com
• http://hrew.com/ Hampton Roads Employment Weekly
• http://www.usajobs.gov/
• http://www.indeed.com