Thursday, April 2, 2009

Experienced Online Job Seekers are Available!

We have a great group of graduating seniors this year, versed in Search Engine and Email Marketing, Web Site Design and knowlegeable about trends in Social Media. These talented students learn Exact Target as an email marketing tool, are currently running live Google Adwords Campaigns, understand SPSS and how to analyze web traffic, are running a wiki and blogging daily. How many marketers with multiple years of experience have the same skill set that we are teaching in our courses here at Northern Illinois University? So how come we see employers asking for several years of experience in this area when we look at job descriptions? I would challenge employers that few marketers today have as much real world experience in interactive and new media as the graduates from our Interactive Marketing Area of Study. If you do get a resume from one of our graduates, at least take a few minutes to interview them and find out the skils and the talents that they do have. In the last recession, companies cut back in hiring new grads and then were surprised several years later that people with three to five years of experience were not available. I know that times are tough, but the companies who take a chance on a new grad with updated skills will not only invest in their future but reap current benefits. We have grads that have taken jobs in SEO, for example, and are able to contribute on day one. Check us out at http://www.interactivemarketing.niu.edu!