No, You’re Not Being Exploited: Multiple Skills are the new basics for Marketers

Are you tired of seeing job ads that expect marketers to juggle copywriting, video editing, data analysis, and paid media? Think it’s unfair? Think again. The belief that companies are abusing young professionals by asking them to "do the job of four" is outdated. In reality, this multifaceted skill set is exactly what the modern marketing landscape demands from the start. Here’s why being versatile is not exploitation—it’s essential.

A Real-World Wake-Up Call from the Field

Back in 2003, as a 16-year-old in Chile, I naturally fell into the world of digital marketing—out of pure passion and necessity—building websites and forums when the concept of digital media was still taking baby steps in South America. Fast forward through twenty years of grinding through the gears of marketing machinery in several countries, structures, and categories, and a stark reality hits: most of what I apply professionally today was self-taught, honed in the trenches of real work, not in the echoing halls of academia.

Why does this matter? Because, like me, countless new marketers are entering the field only to find that their degrees have prepared them to compete in a market that existed a decade ago, not the one they find themselves in today.

The Skills Gap: It's Real and It's Huge

Take a look at this graphic outlining the basic expectations for entry-level marketers from two different views: academia’s fragmented roles versus the all-encompassing demands of small businesses. It highlights the breadth of skills that are assumed to be the baseline for new marketers, from graphic design to data analytics.

Now, compare it to this second graphic, which shows the differences in expectations between corporate marketing roles and those in smaller businesses. The discrepancy is glaring but enlightening, emphasizing how varied the demands are depending on the size and type of business.

These visuals underscore a crucial point: modern marketing roles require a blend of creative and analytical skills that current educational pathways do not adequately provide. Also explains that is not like there is no space in the market for specialists because that would be completely wrong. The market needs specialists, and the market needs Jack of All Trades. Both profiles are needed from an entry-level perspective and then, WITH TIME, marketers will follow a path and they will go deeper into something or broader and that is fine, but doesn′t take responsibility out of what the academia is giving today as "Marketing Bases".

Transforming Marketing Education: A Hybrid Approach

Several years ago, while working at a tech company, I had a conversation with a highly skilled young social media copywriter who was upset about having to write push notifications, believing it was outside her role. She felt her advertising studies didn't prepare her for creating pop-ups. I explained that mastering push notifications could be a valuable skill, as future companies might seek experts in that area, and this task would only take up about 20% of her workload. Despite my assurances that she could opt out of the project, she viewed it as a deviation from her ideal 'Mad Men '-style creative role, a career path I argued was becoming obsolete. She chose to leave the company a few months later, missing a prime opportunity to adapt and grow with the market's demands.

I see this a lot in today′s market, and i think is an absolute toxic view that comes from the "Academic" vision of what marketing is today.

"I didn′t study journalism to manage a P&L"

"I didn′t study film to be asked to publish a paid campaign"

"I am a copywriter, I don′t do graphics"

"I am a business major in marketing, why should I care about creative concepts?"

Let's be clear, this is not about taking advantage of young professionals and asking them to work 3 times more, but if the workload is correctly built as a 35-hour-a-week position that includes all of the above... Why do most of the new professionals say NO? This is because they have an academic defined vision of a role that doesn't exist.

What's the Fix?

It’s simple to think, but hard to apply:

1. Forget Specific Named Careers: As soon as a person defines themselves as something, everything else sounds like an "extra." When you think of yourself as a "Copywriter" or a "Designer" or a "Film Editor," everything else looks "out of role." We need people who want to work on communications, and from time to time that will mean mixing and integrating horizontally or vertically things you didn’t know.
2. Less Memory, more Strategy: What is the point of repeating information from a book? Even more today, with access to AI assistants and infinite information with one click? We need students to be able to analyze and extract strategic action plans from data, not to memorize it. It makes no sense.
3. Make Adaptability the Backbone of the Career: Mind flexibility can be DEVELOPED. Students don’t need specific knowledge; they need mental frameworks to be able to critically analyze reality and adapt to new tools, needs, and knowledge. Said differently, I don’t need you to be an expert on Adobe Premiere; I need you to be savvy and agile enough to keep a brand identity, understand our goals and the audience, learn some video tool and build upon it.

Today, knowing how fast our industry is changing using AI, the base of what I could expect from anyone is to be able to do an effective campaign completely alone. I don′t mean a perfect campaign, and that doesn′t mean you will have stronger talents in one thing over another, but this is not rocket science. Marketers need to be able to do basic end-to-end digital management.

Moreover, it’s time we valued skills like critical thinking and adaptability right alongside technical abilities like SEO and video editing. These aren't just complementary skills; they're essential for navigating today's digital marketing landscape.

The Road Ahead: Making Real Change Happen

As someone who’s interviewed over a thousand candidates for various marketing roles, I can tell you firsthand: the gap between academic training and market reality is not just a stumbling block; it's a chasm. It's why when someone tells me in an interview they "managed" digital campaigns but never actually ran them, red flags go up.

According to RoberHalf.com 53% of managers are expecting difficulties finding "people with the required skills", and I can recommend checking the "Skills" that are more looked for today so you can see that Data Literacy, Short-form video making, AI Prompting, social media and CRM are not just cool concepts, are BASIC SKILLS for new marketers.

Let’s shift the paradigm. Let’s make our marketing education as dynamic and robust as the field it aims to prepare students for. Let’s not churn out graduates who can recite marketing theories but falter at the first sign of a real-world application.

I invite educators, industry professionals, and students to rethink what we think we do and be realistic about it. Stop thinking about how you learned about something and think about how it actually is and how is going to be. Are you sure that even the definition of "Video Editor", "Data Analyst", "Community Manager" and others make sense today? Isn't it more about what WE know that what is happening?

Your Thoughts? Dive into the discussion, happy to have a conversation.

#marketing #academy #jobmarket #marketers #ai