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Good morning, Marketers, is there such a thing as climbing the job ladder too fast?
That question was posed by an attendee of our Ask the Winners of the 2021 Search Engine Land Awards session at SMX Next earlier this week. In a six-month span, the individual went from being a PPC coordinator to a PPC specialist and was recently offered the role of PPC manager.
Search Marketers of the Year Sean Kaenic of Quattro and Fred Vallaeys of Optmyzr shared some wisdom based on the paths they’ve chosen for themselves:
- “Be honest with yourself, because the last thing you want to do is get into that role and realize you aren’t ready, whether it’s for managing people or managing that size of budget or managing the full strategy yourself — those are big steps,” Kaenic said. “If you’re moving within the same company, you know the people, you know the players, they obviously trust you and you’ve proven yourself in some way to make that step,” he added.
- “[In marketing,] very quickly, your option is to become a manager or to basically become stagnant in your promotions and your compensation . . . one piece of advice that was given to me that really worked out well is whatever you do in terms of climbing the ladder, make sure that you’re never more than one level removed from the customer. There’s that really dangerous middle management layer where you’re the most expendable part of the company because you don’t know exactly what the customer wants and you’re not in charge of making the decisions,” Vallaeys said, adding, “If you’re in that middle position but you’re close to the customer, well, even if they fire you, you know exactly what kind of startup to do and how to become a consultant because you know the five problems that can immediately turn into money for yourself.”
As we approach the end of 2021 (already!), some of you may be having discussions with your superiors about what your role will be next year. It can be a nerve wracking time, so I wish you the best of luck and hope that the guidance above helps inform your decisions.
George Nguyen,
Editor
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