Is Marketing Temp Work The Right Step For Me

How do you know if marketing temp work is the right move for you, instead of taking on another permanent corporate role?

If your circumstances have changed radically in a short space of time – such as a highly skilled, experienced marketer who has been made redundant or chosen a voluntary redundancy – temporary, contract or interim marketing work could be the start of an exciting new career phase or the opportunity to develop an incredible new skill set.

What Are The Benefits?

  • The chance to work on interesting and varied contracts, increase your experiences and develop new skills in a relatively short space of time are all strong reasons to consider marketing temp work.
  • Chances are, you’ve been hired for a specific role or project, so you’re unlikely to get bogged down in the bureaucracy and office politics that can affect permanent colleagues, allowing you to really focus on getting things done.
  • In many cases, with marketing temp work, you’ll have the opportunity to drive change and demonstrate clearly what you’ve achieved by the end of the contract.
  • Contracting is a great way to get a “foot in the door” with organisations and sectors you may be interested in. Temporary roles can sometimes lead to permanent offers, and it’s a useful opportunity to test the waters in different sectors.
  • You’ll have the flexibility to take time off between contracts – ideal if you have family commitments, study, or a dream holiday planned.
  • The ability to demonstrate your skills in challenging situations with marketing temp work means you’ll soon get used to picking things up quickly and getting to grips with new challenges. This level of initiative, drive, resilience and people skills are highly attractive attributes to employers.

What Are The Downsides?

  • You’ll need to commit to a marketing temp work contract for its duration, so you may miss other contracts or permanent opportunities during this period.
  • There’s no guarantee of permanent work at the end of the contract, although the experience and skills you’ve gained will always be valuable.
  • You’ll need to budget for time between contracts – the next role may not begin immediately after the first, so there could be times when you aren’t earning.
  • You may not feel part of the organisation or social culture the way that permanent staff do.
  • In most cases you won’t benefit from perks such as healthcare, novated car leases, pensions or social club initiatives.
  • The market is increasingly competitive, with clients often preferring “professional” marketing temp workers rather than candidates dabbling in contracts because they happen to be between jobs.

Interested In Marketing Temp Work?

If so, you should be offering your employers:

  • A flexible attitude about the location.
  • Previous experience in marketing temp work. This isn’t always essential, but it’s important to realise that you may not be the ideal candidate for the role just because you’re out of work at that point in time. A proven track record of completing similar projects is the experience most highly rated by employers.
  • Experience working in multiple organisations. Remember, it’s easier to hit the ground running in marketing temp work contracts if you have experience in multiple environments and organisations.
  • An expert’s view of your field. Whether it’s coordinating online marketing campaigns or turning around plummeting sales, you’ll need to demonstrate proven tangible success in your field to differentiate yourself from the rest of the market.
  • Capacity to deal with change – being a temporary worker or interim manager is not easy and you should be comfortable with change and changing environments. Clients pay a premium for flexible staff who can be productive immediately, without losing time on a lengthy learning curve.
  • A clear outline of your skills and what you can offer an employer. Very rarely is a “jack of all trades” what a client needs. Focus on your skills and finding roles that call for those specific strengths.

For assistance with your marketing job search, please contact us today to speak to one of our specialist consultants