What Education Requirements Apply?
If the job you are considering after acquiring the education needed is in advertising management, there are many employers who prefer the candidate to have a bachelor's degree in journalism or advertising. There are companies that want their advertising employees to have a master's degree in business administration with marketing as an emphasis. It really depends upon the area in which you live and the requirements of the business climate in your area.
What course of study should you pursue if this is the field you have decided interests you? Consumer behavior, sales, marketing, communication methods, market research, communication technology, and a variety of visual arts may be the requirements of one employer. Many companies would prefer their employees to have an educational background that includes photography and art history.
Depending upon the job, the following courses may be required from certain employers:
- Economics
- Business law
- Mathematics
- Accounting
- Statistics
- Finance
Long Hours Are Required.
Working with marketing and public relations, the advertising sector requires long hours for many of their positions. The person who is not committed to spending at least 50 hours a week at work should not consider this type of job. Long hours are not uncommon, and this job finds people working weekends and evenings with not much free time.
A vital requirement for those interested in advertising jobs is maturity. This promotes creativeness, decisiveness, motivation, and great communication skills. This is not to say you must be a certain age to be successful in the advertising field; rather, you must be mature enough to handle the responsibilities given to you as a part of your job.
Since advertising strategies change regularly, many companies will pay for continuing education in the advertising field. This is a job that, due to the availability of the different avenues of advertising such as the Internet, will have continually changing requirements. In order to keep up with the latest in the advertising business, education is essential. Often the business will pay for classes at nearby colleges and universities. Conferences across the country are held on a regular basis to help those with advertising jobs learn the latest trends.
For instance, one that has become very popular lately is video advertising. This is becoming a hot commodity, especially for the Internet. When using a website to promote and advertise your company, the latest information is necessary to keep you up to date. Building connections within the business world is another way to establish contacts for the advertising business. This is extremely important to the advertising executive because they will sooner or later need a connection in this business for one thing or another.
Many steps are involved in getting ready for a career in advertising. If you want to be the best that you can possibly be, which means more opportunities and better pay, the advertising and marketing educational programs you take are going to be the key. Of course, experience is another big plus.
Often colleges will have internships in this business that you may join. This will allow you to get some practical experience as well as learning from on-the-job training. This will also give you time to see if this is the right business for you and show you the different aspects of advertising.
Advertising Jobs Offer Many Opportunities.
The field of advertising is a job within jobs. There are many opportunities within this field. Graphic artists, account managers, research and development, copywriters, and media are all part of the advertising field. Other personnel may include commercial artists, marketing research analysts, promotion specialists, and copy chiefs. They all work together in one way or another to pull advertising together for clients, the business, and each other so the company can be secure. Thus, their jobs will also be secure.
When the opportunities for an advertising job are being contemplated, one thing you may want to remember is that advertising is not only selling, it is influencing people as well. The advertising position will require that you are the type of person who can engage your audience. This is essential for direct advertising sales.
Working with the media via the Internet, magazines, newspapers, and television will be one of the direct ways of advertising your business or your company's business. This requires being very much a people person. You must be outgoing and entertaining as well as having a flair for captivating your audience. These are the people who will buy what you are advertising; so the better you make them feel, the more apt they are to buy.
Consider this when contemplating buying something for yourself. If the advertiser you are seeing is a glum, seemingly anti-social, boring, and not very talkative person, are you going to listen to them or consider buying anything? On the other hand, if they are outgoing, engaging, and interesting to listen to, you are certainly going to consider what they are advertising. This is the reason some people are great at advertising and others are not. If you have what it takes to put people at ease and get them to listen to you, these are traits that will be almost half of the requirements for an advertising career.
