Happy new... job.
Hello.
Newsletter, late. Infrequent. Lacking consistency.
My wife recently told me that I'm late for everything. "So, you're saying I AM consistent?"
Anyway, today's a pretty big deal for me - I no longer work at Marmalade Marketing 😢
As of right now I'm technically jobless, however, I have exciting (well for me) news about my next move. You'll have to read about that next week 😊
Before we get to that, I want to wrap up my time at Marmalade with a bit of a retrospective.
As a career #RecruitmentMarketer, I joined Marmalade as my first job outside of in-house marketing for #RecruitmentAgencies. Marmalade's premise is outsourced marketing for recruitment agencies, so it was a great fit for me.
With experience at three medium to large recruitment agencies, I could help many more businesses do better marketing by being at an agency myself.
It was an opportunity I relished. And as it worked out, I did get that chance to work with many more recruitment businesses - some at a minor level, some became major consulting opportunities for me.
A key difference being a recruitment marketing professional not within the business? Sadly, in many ways, my opinions, suggestions and recommendations were taken more seriously and valued more than at any of my previous in-house jobs.
Although that sounds negative, to some extent there is arguably a timing factor, in that #RecruitmentMarketing did (and continues to) see a shift in how it's perceived by recruitment businesses.
There's no doubt we're held in higher regard now than say in 2019, or as in 2008 when I took my first 'recruitment marketing' job. Shit that's a long time ago.
Rollercoaster🎢
To steal Hishem Azzouz's term about recruitment being a rollercoaster, my experience as a recruitment marketing agency recruitment marketer (😅) was just that.
In 2019 when I joined Marmalade, we were a team of four with the support of freelance specialists. Within six months, we were in lockdown and clients were understandably panicking.
Sleeves up and survive. 2020 was, as it was for everyone, carnage. But, we got through it. Good clients stuck by us (you know who you are and thank you). We helped them, they helped us.
We did have to consolidate, but we did so in a way that built a stronger foundation for future growth. As an agency we innovated, and hired expertise that perhaps wouldn't have been possible without the shitstorm that was happening.
Coming out of the quagmire, I was able to do what I'd had in mind when joining Marmalade. Build a team that could support recruitment companies with marketing services that would be (for all but the big players) impossible to do in-house.
We had a great team and adding to it with former colleagues in key roles, we had the structure, skills and experience to offer clients a solution to their marketing challenges. I leave a team of 11, with a network of freelancers that themselves have vast recruitment marketing experience. Pride is my overriding feeling. So to all of my former colleagues and the freelancers I worked with - thank you all ❤️
Personal Development 🌱
I've developed and managed teams before, but never in a role where I was also implementing operational structure for the actual business itself. Marmalade gave me an eye-opening lesson in how a business operates.
This gave me a massive chance to learn. Something that I'm really grateful for.
My own purpose evolved. I still wanted to provide a great marketing service for clients, but my true 'why' become about developing others. Providing opportunities for people to develop themselves as recruitment marketers.
Recruitment is truly a remarkable industry. For marketers embarking on their career, I can't see a better industry to be in. Whether in-house at a recruitment company, or at a recruitment marketing agency, the chance to develop is incredible.
A fitting end 📊
One of the last projects I worked on at Marmalade was the first ever (I think!) Recruitment Marketing Salary Survey.
This was a long standing idea that needed support to execute. Marketing Salary Guides/Reports are ten a penny. But they are generic - i.e. cover marketing salaries from any and all industries.
As we know, recruitment is unique in how it's viewed marketing over the years.
So to provide recruitment businesses and recruitment marketing professionals with a Salary Report that was meaningful, we had to get responses from recruitment marketing professionals, and in enough quantities to produce valid data.
I contacted Glenn Southam, Darren Westall and Emily Jerman about collaborating to get the reach we needed. Glenn's community, The Lonely Marketers, and Paiger's network was what we needed to get the survey to as many recruitment marketers as we could. Thankfully they backed the idea 😊
The resulting report is something I'm really proud of and a fitting end to my time at Marmalade. Keep your eyes on Marmalade Marketing's page for access to the report soon.
No spoilers (👀), but the data is extremely valuable to any recruitment business that is looking to invest in building a marketing team, or considering outsourced marketing solutions. You can now 'price up' your options effectively.
More so, for recruitment marketers like me, it's the perfect salary benchmark to evaluate whether or not you're being correctly rewarded for your skills, expertise and the value you bring.
Moving on
What next? I have tried to leave the recruitment industry before. It last 10 months. Law was not an industry for me.
So I'm not completely leaving the industry. A different role, a different kind of business but one that I'm buzzing about.
Now, a week off with a kitchen to decorate and a new pup to play with 😊
Thank you again to colleagues, freelancers, suppliers, partners and clients for the past three and a half amazing years ❤️
Managing Director at Phoenix Resourcing Services Ltd
1yBest of luck in your next adventure!
Improve & Increase Website Traffic | Keyword Research | SEO | Google + Bing Ads | Data Driven Content Strategy | Quality Backlinks | Drive Sales, Profit & ROAS FASTER.
1yWow... Great news for you Kieron - exciting times ahead and I look forward to learning more next week!
bye my m8 x
Building ChildrensFootball.com into a leading independent retailer of football equipment, accessories and gifts across the UK. 💚 ⚽️ Proud football dad coach too.
1yEnjoy your break mate, and look forward to hearing what you're up to next.
Digital Marketing Specialist at Paiger | Win new business, attract candidates and build personal brands | Book your demo today - paiger.co
1yYES Pablo 🐶😍 It's been buzzing working with you again - you'll smash whatever is next 🙌