Training: Getting into training - A growing emphasis on qualifications among employers means formal training is becoming more important to marketers’ careers. LOUELLA MILES reports on the courses and qualifications available

There are two inherent problems with marketing qualifications. One

is that at graduate level, blue-chip companies are more interested in

the origin and subject of candidates’ degrees. The other is the

perception that marketing credentials are rather ’soggy’ compared with

those needed to enter the professions, such as law and accountancy.

This attitude may never change. After all, it is unlikely there will

come a time when a marketer is legally required to have a qualification

in the subject before he or she can practise. While other professionals’

status is recognised by the qualifications they hold, marketers tend to

be judged purely on experience - a factor which can work against them in

the boardroom.

A growing emphasis on performance management culture, however, is

helping to change this situation and make marketers take training more

seriously.

It is a change which is being fostered by the Chartered Institute of

Marketing. ’Through membership and continuing professional development,

we are encouraging individuals to do these qualifications and employers

to stipulate them when recruiting,’ says Jennifer Wilby, training and

consultancy services marketing manager at the CIM. ’We have seen,

through training, that qualifications are increasingly important to

employers.

They can evaluate the investment they have made in their staff.’

The growing number of training options available reflects this increased

importance. Colleges offer modules on the subject, in-house tailor-made

courses are growing steadily, while the CIM, the Institute of Direct

Marketing, the Institute of Sales Promotion and the CAM Foundation also

provide training.

In addition, there are many MBA courses on offer.

One way of evaluating employers’ views of marketing training is to see

what they require of graduates. Jack Gratton, managing director of Major

Players, a recruitment consultancy specialising in below-the-line

agencies, says: ’I feel that graduates don’t need experience. A degree

is a piece of paper that shows they can hold down a job. Then it is

imperative that they are trained properly. If applicants have an NVQ or

a marketing diploma, I can guarantee them a job. If they don’t, I can

still get them a job, but they are not as marketable.’

The jury is still out on the value of an MBA in marketing, but increased

demand for MBA courses suggests they are highly regarded by

marketers.

Qualified support

At Michael Page Sales and Marketing, managing director Steve Ingham is

not convinced. ’We are not asked for a further qualification very

often,’ he says. ’I have recruited quite a few marketing directors this

year, including some with MBAs, but it is not a prerequisite. Whether it

turned out to be an advantage or not - once, maybe.’

Cranfield School of Management offers both full- and part-time MBA

courses.

In the past year to 18 months, demand has seen a big up-turn. According

to Gill Marshall, corporate communications manager at Cranfield,

consultancies are recruiting again, so obviously that has an impact.

’There is definitely an issue about where your MBA comes from,’ she

says.

’There are recognised courses and schools. There are over 100 courses in

the UK alone and they cover a multitude of sins, so questions are being

asked about the quality of programmes.’

Cranfield offers full- and part-time MBAs. The courses require a minimum

of three years experience, but typically they appeal to those with eight

or nine. ’In the current programme, sales and marketing people are about

25% of the programme, and about 15% go into marketing jobs.

’In the full-time programme, most are paying their own way - very few

are sponsored. In the part-time programme, most are sponsored in some

way. The form of sponsorship ranges from time off to payment of fees and

travelling expenses.’

If you don’t fancy an MBA, the CIM has 12 courses for senior managers

and directors in its latest prospectus, four of which are new this

year.

These include instruction in managing strategic customer alliances and a

workshop on current issues for sales directors. This growth has been

fuelled by the Institute’s recognition of the need for continuing

professional development. Members are asked to record a minimum of 35

hours of CPD activity a year.

Marketing is not a discipline where you can hit a peak. It is constantly

evolving, which means that even at director level, there is always

something to be learned.

Opportunity knocks

There is also a certain amount of cross-fertilisation that goes on. CIM

Diploma holders now have access to UK MBA programmes, and those taking

an MBA at Cranfield can pecialise in marketing in the second half of the

programme, and bid to sit the CIM exams half-way through.

Companies which are known for the quality of their in-house training,

such as ’universities of marketing’ Unilever and Procter & Gamble, have

to keep an eye on external training options to keep their own standards

high.

’The evidence is that when you meet people with formal qualifications

and compare them with those who have been on in-house training, there is

no empirical gap between the two,’ says Jerry Wright, a senior

strategist in Unilever’s corporate strategy group. ’We pick those at the

forefront of their profession to run the course. We don’t rely on

management to deliver messages and to tell us what is happening.’

Unilever has broadened its recruitment policy, with 10% of its intake

representing marketers in their late 20s with experience gained

elsewhere.

’We would be looking for all the same basic attributes and intellectual

qualities that we ask of graduates, but also experience in other

blue-chip marketing environments,’ says Wright.

’This ensures that they we don’t get too set in our ways, handing down

work practices from generation to generation, but recruit those who can

bring in new ideas and views that challenge those we hold.’

The bigger the company, the more generous it can afford to be with its

training. When Boots recruits it sees experience and skills as the most

important criteria and assesses graduates’ calibre using psychometric

testing - examining ability rather than personality. Once they are on

board, however, it is quite happy to sponsor any course that will help

the individual develop. The CIM’s is the one it is most frequently

called on to fund.

Progress charts

The difficulty is in knowing which courses are of most benefit to

marketers at different stages in their careers. The CIM offers a chart,

showing which ones are geared to fundamental, intermediate and advanced

level candidates. Other institutes and trade associations will offer

similar advice when called upon. The whole training industry, it seems,

is becoming more regulated and professional - but what is this doing to

marketing itself?

Formalising marketing training might take this flexibility out, and

there is a threat further down the line. Students become unable to take

a step back, to dissect a process and put it back together again.

Instead, they grow used to following a formula.

If these students become the marketers of the future, life is going to

become very tedious. It is not a finite science, but a constantly

evolving one. Training needs to bear this in mind.

LEVELS OF ATTAINMENT

- JUNIOR LEVEL: The CIM’s certificate in marketing practice requires 13

days training over five modules, plus four in-company projects, each

about ten hours long. This route assesses delegates’ performance through

both examination and employer-related projects. It allows delegates to

build up a significant insight into the role of marketing within their

own organisations.

- SENIOR LEVEL: The senior managers’ intensive diploma course, also

available from the CIM, is structured over five residential weekends

spread over five or six months. This qualification is seen as a licence

to practise and a benchmark of a practitioner’s strategic marketing

management competence.

HOW TO GET AHEAD AT UNILEVER

Jerry Wright, senior strategist in Unilever’s Corporate Strategy Group,

offers a typical route up the marketing ladder.

On average, from the time someone joins to the time they become

marketing director takes between ten and 15 years. Unilever looks for a

first-class degree, or a postgraduate qualification at the outset. It

has been known to take people with a 2:2, but they are in the

minority.

The first couple of years are spent on the bottom rung, a training

period, working as an assistant brand manager. Years two to six would be

spent acquiring a variety of brand management experiences, starting off

running one of the smaller brands before moving on to one of the bigger

ones.

Unilever then looks for its staff to have strong customer management

experience, so years six to eight typically will be spent in customer

development management on one of the big retail accounts. An

understanding of the channel through which you are to trying to

distribute your product to consumers is very important to the company.

It could alternatively be a trade marketing role, which might not

involve face-to-face customer contact.

By the time they reach years eight to ten, they will have obtained

marketing manager status, and the seasoned marketer will be running a

group of brands within a category with several brand managers reporting

to him or her.

Once they hit years ten to 12, Unilever would ideally look for them to

accrue experience outside the category they joined, so they would spend

some time abroad, as a marketing manager in a large overseas company,

perhaps in the same category. The alternative, which is less likely, is

that they would stay in this country but move to a different part of the

company.

After 12 to 15 years, they will be aged in their mid-to-late 30s and

could be looking at a position as a marketing director. They will have

received a good solid grounding in brand management, exposure to the

retail trade, marketing, customer development, management of a group of

brands and people, and have overseas experience. All in all, a

well-rounded marketer.

This article was first published on Marketing