Three career development directions for young marketers

In 6th number of the seminar series “UniPrep – Before university”, Ms. Le Huynh Phuong Thuc – General Director of Guardian Vietnam retail chain; Ms. Luu Thanh Huyen – Director of Human Resources, Capacity Development and Organization of L’Oréal Vietnam and Mr. Tang Gia Hai Lam – Deputy General Director of YouNet Group pointed out three typical career development directions for fresh graduates. school.

In-house marketing

Ms. Le Huynh Phuong Thuc step by step went up from an intern to a leader of a large brand in the direction of in-house (client), ie marketing for businesses.

In 1993, when there were not many marketing schools like today, she studied this major at the University of Economics in Ho Chi Minh City. Because, the female speaker loves the brand and is curious as to why users spend more money to buy a branded product instead of another similar quality option without the brand.

She graduated at the right time when the Vietnamese economy was just opening, and many foreign businesses came to look for business opportunities. She applied to many management trainee programs of corporations. There were 4-5 places to choose to interview and she successfully entered the Unilever program in 1998.

“That was the first step. Faced with three choices, I decided to choose marketing. From the lowest position, I did all the work in the department,” she added.

The first brand that Ms. Phuong Thuc accompanied was Omo. The female speaker has worked at this corporation for 10 years, of which 5 years in marketing and 5 years with trade marketing in the sales department, currently Customer Development.

The general director of the Guardian Vietnam retail chain affirmed that the path of a marketer does not always follow a straight line, from marketing specialist to brand manager. After leaving a number of impressions and certain achievements, she was promoted to the position of business director.

“At that time, I was quite young, worked for 8 years with Unilever and was one of the youngest managers at that time,” she recalls.

At this time, Mrs. Phuong Thuc also started thinking about the next path. According to her, every 10 years, marketers should have a change and transformation, contributing more. Therefore, she thought about becoming a General Management (general manager) and invested time studying MBA. Thanks to that, she fell in love with L’oreal with the right target position. After 6 years here, she moved to Guardian and became the current General Manager of Retail Chain.

Agency

Also from the position of an intern like Ms. Thuc, Mr. Tang Gia Hai Lam works for an American advertising company – JWT. However, before that, because he was not too focused on his studies, he had a situation where he did not know what he wanted, where to go or how to create a career.

The job at JWT was introduced by a friend. He started from simple things to better understand advertising and marketing. After a stint as a salesman, he began working as an account manager at the advertising agency Leo Burnett. Here, the male speaker experienced brand work, communication strategies for big brands to understand what it is to do professional advertising, how big brands use money, and how they care about customers. …

As social networks and digital technology in Vietnam develop strongly, brands begin to pay attention to user interaction and develop digital marketing. At that time, Mr. Hai Lam moved to work for Climax Interactive Agency – a digital advertising agency.

“I find it so cool, a new source of energy, refreshing the way I still envision branding. There is a whole new sky of knowledge and indicators”, he shared.

So he turned to do digital marketing. After 5 years, Climax Interactive Agency has grown from 40 to 130 people, from the original business to 5 subsidiaries. The Vice President of YouNet Group has experience from traditional to digital, from managing a small team to a team of more than 10 people, knows how to operate the company, better understand the user experience…

It was also from here that he realized the importance of data. With user data, businesses and marketers can create many different applications, helping to increase the value of brands and users to the brand.

Since then, the speaker has stepped into a new area at Buzzmetrics, a member company of Younet Group in 2016. By early 2020, he has been promoted to the position of Deputy General Director of Younet Group and manages many other businesses. of the cluster of companies including: technology, data processing – analysis, brand consulting and creative communication.

“At this point, I’m not just doing communication – marketing. I have to manage the company’s operations, manage people, finance, staff development… Thus, my expertise is my job. was wider,” he asserted.

Thus, a marketer can fully accumulate many skills during his career and succeed in a senior management position.

Niche field

With many years of experience in the field of human resources, Ms. Luu Thanh Huyen said that many young people today do not come from marketing majors but still love and pursue this profession. However, to be good at the job,young marketer Still need some background knowledge.

Assoc. Dr. Tran Ha Minh Quan added, young people today can follow other “touch points” such as market research, sales staff or many other positions and areas for marketing. “After a while working to have a deep understanding of customers and professions, you can do very well in marketing,” he affirmed.

Sharing a practical story, Mr. Lam said that in the process of working, he had two employees who were very successful even though they were “horizontal”. One was a biology teacher, then an agency, then a client and now a marketing director of a large corporation in the retail industry. The other is an accountant and currently also works as a marketing director for a company that provides solutions for B2B businesses (Business to Business).

“The core point is that if I’m horizontal, I can still do it, but it will be a lot harder,” he affirmed.

Update rate