Marketing Specialist

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Education · 1 of 4

The path

A degree helps, but this is one of the few business careers you can still enter on proof of work rather than a credential.

  1. 1

    High school

    Grades 11 and 12

    English, business and statistics. Run the social media for a team, a club or a small local business and keep the numbers.

  2. 2

    Bachelor's degree

    4 years

    Marketing, communications, business or English. Employers care more about the internship you did than the major you picked.

  3. 3

    Internship or a real side project

    During school

    An agency summer, a campus job, or one small business whose email list and ads you genuinely improved.

  4. 4

    Coordinator

    1 to 2 years

    Scheduling posts, building emails, loading ad campaigns, pulling weekly reports. Grunt work that teaches you the tools.

  5. 5

    Specialist and then manager

    Year 3 onward

    Pick a channel and go deep: paid media, lifecycle email, content or brand. Own a budget and a target.