TLDR: Organizations hiring in MOPs often report a shortage of top talent, but many capable candidates are unsure how to illustrate their value and suitability. Before you apply for an internal promotion or a role in a new workplace, get to know three things: the standards and trends in the marketing operations space, your ambitions and preferences, and how you achieve goals, solve problems, and create positive outcomes. Then, you can enter your next career conversation focusing only on the right opportunities and ready to impress.
The job market in marketing ops is becoming increasingly dynamic, driven by the rapid growth of opportunities in the space and a collective reassessment of our relationships with work. Organizations hiring in MOPs often report a shortage of top talent, but many capable candidates are unsure how to show and prove their value.
If you’re considering a new role, whether an internal promotion or a new workplace, you’ll find yourself talking about the things you want from work and the positive impact you create. Hiring managers and your boss (for promotions) are ultimately looking to identify three things: if you can do the job, if you want the job, and if you’re the right fit.
In this Tough Talks Made Easy, you’ll learn how to position yourself as a credible candidate in career conversations.
Your power as a candidate comes from:
- educating yourself about how the expectations of each role compare to the norms of the market
- reflecting on your motivations and preferences, and
- preparing to demonstrate how you achieve goals and solve problems.
Research and reflection
Interviews are like two-way sales calls. As you relay how you solve problems and create positive outcomes, your employer wants to excite you with the role and workplace. You don’t want to lose sight of the things that matter amidst the pressure of an interview, so before you enter any career conversation, do some R&R (research and reflection).
Perhaps the most crucial question to answer is this:
What do you want from work? List your must-haves, deal-breakers, and future career ambitions to narrow down the roles and workplaces that fit well. A clear vision and authentic enthusiasm will help you speak with conviction about your skills and suitability for each opportunity, and you’ll likely receive more attractive offers as a result.
Even with what seems like a dream job, gather information before your interview and decide if the working conditions, responsibilities, and development opportunities on offer are what you want.
- What do employee testimonials reveal about an organization or team’s culture?
- Is the list of responsibilities in the job description realistic?
- How does the compensation package compare to market expectations?
Confident knowledge of the MOPs space lets you assess if the role has a fair workload, if compensation is in line with your level, and how the processes and tools used in a workplace compare to the industry standard.
Internal career conversations can be a touch more delicate.
Whether you want extra help, more money, or different responsibilities, give specific examples of the changes you want to your role with a promotion.
Make a case driven by impact data and achievements for why you deserve the outcomes you’re after and illustrate how a change in your role will add value or reduce problems to help the organization achieve better outcomes.
Show and prove
Marketing ops is all about optimizing your organization’s Marketing spend to increase revenue.
The following skills and traits are instrumental to doing that well:
- problem-solving
- results-driven
- growth mindset
- confidence, and
- expertise in the latest trends, tools, and practices in the space.
When discussing the role, illustrate your impact by describing how you’ve solved problems and achieved results that have boosted the bottom line.
If you don’t already know the goals you’re working towards, speak with your boss and set specific, measurable targets with deadlines. Establish what success looks like in each month, quarter, and year of your role. Then identify the performance metrics that matter to the business and connect them to revenue.
Read that paragraph again. That is how you can measure impact and build a verifiable case of your achievements.
Showing goal orientation to your boss is especially meaningful if you’re going for a promotion, but still helpful in conversations with external hiring managers too. You’ll benefit from a confident sense of how you meet and exceed expectations. In either scenario, come to the table ready to say things like: “One of my goals was to increase MQLs by 15%. I did so by 20%, here’s how.”
If you don’t meet those goals initially, proactively reach out to your relevant stakeholders to try and solve the problem.
Your manager, Marketing, and Sales are all your “internal customers”— people who should know the value of your work. Discovering why you didn’t achieve a goal or solve a problem and taking corrective action shows that you’re committed to getting results. In a career conversation, “I fixed this problem by working with others to come up with a solution, here’s the resulting progress” is a persuasive argument to make.
All of your research into the MOPs space especially pays off for internal conversations.
When you understand the direction of the industry and are ready to articulate your value, here’s a point your boss can respect: “The industry is changing fast and lots of opportunities are emerging. I like working here and wanted to give you the chance to continue my professional development with X compensation or Y responsibilities, but if not, I’ll have to look elsewhere.”
Your value explained
Whether you’re discussing an internal promotion or interviewing for an external position, the most decisive element of any career conversation is how you illustrate your impact and motivations.
Get to know the standards and directions of the MOPs space, what you really want from a new opportunity, and how you achieve goals, solve problems, and create positive outcomes.
Then, you can enter your next career conversation focusing only on the right opportunities and ready to impress.
Want to know more about demonstrating your value in marketing operations? Revenue Pulse is here to help.
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