If this post doesn't follow the rules report it to the mods. Join our community Discord!

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

If you're not working at the moment, why not?

Take the job and immediately start applying for others. It sounds like it will be a nightmare but it’s easier to find work when you are in work.

They obviously don’t know what the job entails- this is your opportunity to shape the job and even learn on their dime while you throw things at the wall to see what sticks.

I think if you haven’t worked in marketing for 3 years and have still been offered a job as marketing director, then you probably shouldn’t expect it to be a buttoned-down, organized, top level situation. Bluntly, If it were, they would have been able to get someone with more current experience.

At least in my opinion, we rarely get what we want right in the beginning. Often, we start somewhere bad.

And then we learn, get experience, improve, make plans, and can try to move toward of goals in life and career.

I probably would take that job in that situation. Not because the job is good. But because it's a step that may help me to get what I want later.

If I kept waiting to find a good job from the beginning, I probably would have waited forever.

Some bad jobs were really important for me to see the problems, and then get better at solving the problems tobe a better professional and get better jobs later.

Genuienely, yeah you probably should take it. You're not giving up a career for it, the daycare sounds like it takes care of most problems surrounding the kid and if it doesnt work you justngo back to being a mom.

I’m in a similar boat. I took a break, life happened, and I haven’t been in marketing in a while but would love to get back in. It sounds like they don’t have a clear direction and one way to look at it is you have the opportunity to correct that. If we’re in your position the first thing I’d do is take an audit of how their system is currently working then reassign roles to the existing team and start a plan for moving forward. Worst case scenario, you get paid. Best case scenario, you succeed.

If you have the luxury to be a SAHM because your partner provides enough for the bills to be paid, then do it. If it doesn't work out, or if it's a toxic company, you can leave without any consequence and focus on the next one.

And otherwise you should do it and if it's the above but you can't fall back on SAHM just find another job during the other job.

I'd say go for it!

For inquiring minds who want to know, and out of pure curiosity, can you share more about how the interview process went? Like do they realize your lack of recent experience?

I also have some super early assumptions as to your demographic information, but I might be wrong.

Are you good at two things: (1) developing a clear vision for what should be done and (2) persuading others that your vision is correct? If yes, then take the job and get started laying out that vision. If no, maybe take the job and be prepared to move on if necessary.

It could be a good thing that they don’t know what they want…IF they’re willing to listen to your vision.

Absolutely take it.

I’m in a very similar boat as you right now. I’m currently a Marketing Director at a start up that has no clear job definition. I’m the only one on our team with a background in marketing. Since applying to other jobs I have gotten more responses because I have the marketing director title on my resume. I landed a new job with better pay and an actual marketing team in less than three weeks. This could be a good stepping stone for you.

[removed]

[removed]

I think you should take it. You will figure it out on the job. I will strongly suggest you to request them to rename the position to "marketing manager" something like that. So that if you have to exit, it will be easier for you with that designation. You don't have experience other than internship. So director will make it diffcult for you to land another role.

How big is the company?

Because three jobs in one may not be such a terrible thing if this is a small company and the workload is manageable. Provided you know how to do those things.

The more worrying thing is “they don’t know what they need.” (Hint they probably mean graphic design and advertising). Can YOU figure out what kind of marketing they need based on their type of business? Will you be able to conduct an analysis of their buyers and determine which channels they need to be active on? Can you create a marketing plan for their next year?

You don’t seem to have had a lot of work experience previously, but I’m assuming you are educated in marketing. If you feel confident that you can do so snd apply your marketing knowledge, take the job to gain the experience. It may or may not work out (as with any job) but at least you will have worked as a marketer.

Sounds like an opportunity to make the job what you see fit and shape the department. If you succeed and show value the salary will quickly catch up, if not you learned a lot and have a director title on your resume. Not a lot of downside for someone currently not working.

[removed]

Take the job!

Congrats on the offer.

If you want to get back into marketing full-time, which I assume you do, definitely take it. Any experience is better than no experience in the eyes of future hiring managers.

I've been at the VP/CMO level for many years and hired several marketers so my advice comes from that perspective:

As someone else mentioned, marketing manager is a more appropriate title. You always want to right-size title to capabilities: 1) it gives you a higher likelihood of promotion within this current company, and 2) future hiring managers will see through the inflated title and pass you over OR you'll land a position for which you're not prepared. It's truly a difficult time to be a marketer and the downward pressure from leadership, industry, the economy, et al is palpable. Operate from a position of self-preservation vs ambition until conditions improve.

With this current company, will you be the sole marketer and have they had a marketing function before? Can provide more specifics once you answer and happy to take this offline.

[removed]

What is the industry? Don’t join a losing team, research their background and finances, ask about their sales team’s performance and organizational structure. There’s only so much marketing can do if the rest of it is garbage, especially the product.

Yeah you should take it but you do have valid concerns.

You’re probably right that it will be a shit show if they don’t know what they want.

But as others have said, that also means you can shape the job to what YOU think it should be.

Figure out what the goals of the company are (or should be).

Take control of the situation because clearly if they don’t know what they’re doing, you need to at least act like you know what you’re doing and guide THEM.

Catch up on marketing trends with ChatGPT etc and just ask it a lot of different questions.

[removed]

I'm probably way to late to the party to have this get read, but here we go.

First, should you take the job?

• Do you need a job? (yes)
• Is this better than nothing (maybe)
• Does it create new opportunities in the future (probably)
• Will it give you valuable experience (probably)

Generally speaking, my threshold for changing jobs is "30% better." If a job isn't at least 30% better, I'll pass. That is measured by a mix of pay, quality, experience, lifestyle, and opportunity. Generally I've averaged about 50% pay bumps every 3-4 years. I'm not too picky, but also I'm not going to hop for tiny improvements. This has worked very well for me, and I make over $400k total comp as a director.

You're not working, but compared to your previous work this seems like a no brainer. Though compared to staying at home with family that can be tough. It sounds like this is a good match though with the daycare option.

If you take the job

This is what I wanted to write more than anything.

Before you do anything, you need to build trust and you need to build authority. Your first week should be heavily focused on meeting regularly - even to the point of having a daily meeting set with your boss(es) to onboard to the business and needs as quickly as possible. Make it clear that you understand the needs, the existing data, the processes, the gaps.

Then you will need to say "no." And you'll need to say it a lot. There's no shortage of ideas, possibilities, and goals. They want a lot because they think solving their problem will require "all the things." Your purpose, as director, is to guide them on what they are doing and what they are not doing.

The best way to say "no" is to understand what's a real problem and what's a perceived problem, and to build a plan to solve the real problems. Not enough sales is a real problem. But it might not be a marketing problem. Not having enough followers on Facebook is a perceived problem. It might be a completely useless metric and completely untethered from your sales. Or it might be a real problem, but 10th on the priority list and not something that will give greater returns than items #1 - #9. Once you have a clear plan and roadmap, get people to agree and then stick to it. Don't worry about all the things you aren't doing. Those are infinite. Focus on the 2-3 things that will give the best chance of success and turn that around first.

As the sole person in marketing, doing something is better than the "nothing" they've been doing so far. Plenty of companies thrive with single-channel marketing before expanding. Companies that try to do everything just end up doing everything poorly and it flops. Don't try to do everything and don't try to do the work of 3 people.

At some point, you'll also need to build the authority to make a business case to hire more people. As you help the company grow, your team should grow too. You'll need to learn how to make the business case to hire an intern, managers, or to promote yourself to VP with a pay raise. Set this as your goal: measure your performance well enough that you can use it to predict the increased outcomes by hiring more people.

Take it. You need experience to get experience, and this breaks that cycle. The confused HR thing is red flag but you're coming from a gap use this to rebuild your resume and learn what you want next.

Meanwhile keep browsing other options on platforms like myTrudy, ZipRecruiter that help match roles better. Worst case you leave in 6 months with fresh marketing experience.

[removed]

[removed]

[removed]