Marketing and Market Research

Have a look at Prospects and targetjobs to find out what roles in this sector involve and how to get into them. These are some of the job profiles available:

• Marketing executive
• Marketing manager
• Digital marketer
• Social media manager
• Creative director
• Digital copywriter
• Web content manager
• SEO specialist
• PPC specialist
• Product manager
• Sales promotion account executive
• Market researcher

• attention to detail
• excellent spoken and written communication skills
• drive, motivation and initiative
• the ability to think creatively
• good organisational and planning skills
• the ability to work under pressure and to deadlines
• the ability to lead and motivate a team
• good business sense and budget awareness
• foreign language skills, which can be useful for international marketing jobs

Starting salaries for graduate jobs in this sector can vary depending on the position. 

To get an idea of typical starting salaries use the following resources: 

• our Discover your Earning Potential Pathway offers access to The Pay Index. This shows you how salaries vary across different roles, industries and locations 
• job profiles, such as those listed on Prospects or targetjobs 
• vacancy sites such as Glassdoor and LinkedIn 

For information about how to negotiate a salary, visit Handling job offers.

• Browse our Work Experience and Graduate Employment directories. See where our students and graduates have had work experience, or been employed. 
• Use LinkedIn’s Alumni tool to find out what Newcastle graduates are doing now. You could ask to connect with them, to gain advice and insights into their career. See Newcastle Alumni on LinkedIn to help you get started or watch our quick tutorial on Getting inspiration from others [3:13].  
• Attend alumni events, such as Newcastle Develop, to hear directly from our graduates.  
• Sign up for mentoring support with Graduate Mentor and  The 1 Hour Project. These aim to match students with industry professionals who can provide invaluable insights. Register to be connected for a one-hour meeting.  
• Attend recruitment events and  employer and sector insights. Hear about graduate jobs, placement schemes, build your network and ask questions.   

Searching for reviews online can be a useful way to get an idea of what to expect from certain roles or employers. Reviews are written by employees with different opinions about what makes a good employer.  

Use the following review sites for inspiration and insight into the recruitment process: 

• RateMyPlacement  placement year reviews written by students.  
• The Job Crowd – graduate job reviews  
• Glassdoor – company reviews from employees  

Read career guides for this sector, such as:  

• targetjobs – Marketing, advertising and PR
• Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) - Get into Marketing
• Jobs in marketing | Prospects.ac.uk

Use online magazines and journals to follow news from your industry. Reading about trends and developments is important for applications and interviews. 

Examples include: 

• The Drum
• Marketing Week include marketing and communications news, reports
• Content Hub is from the Chartered Institute of Marketing. It includes useful articles, podcasts and webinars
• Campaign
• IPM Bitesize is a source of news, reviews and features about promotional marketing.
• 1000heads: blog provides industry updates on social media trends and stories
• Alltop: SEO links to popular search engine optimisation (SEO) blogs and sites

Attend events to hear directly from professionals in the industry. 

See also our recruitment events and employer & sector insights. 

Join student societies through NUSU.

Many societies have secretary, social secretary or event co-ordinator positions. These roles are a great way to take part in something you are passionate about whilst developing relevant skills. Skills you could develop include promoting, organising and running events, recruiting members and running social media pages.

Use social media to find industry insights.  

Join sector-specific groups on LinkedIn to keep up to date. Posts often include news, events and opportunities. You can also find useful insights on careers on Twitter and TikTok. Treat these with caution, as not all content may be accurate. 

Find out more about how to use social media for your career and subscribe to our  marketing sector Twitter list.

Consider joining a relevant professional body/industry network  

Professional bodies often: 

• run networking events  
• have specialist groups you could join 
• post vacancies on behalf of their members 
• have member directories, useful for speculative applications 

Key organisations include: 

Marketing

• Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM)
• The Institute of Data and Marketing (IDM)
• Institute of Promotional Marketing (IPM)

Market research

• MRS (The Market Research Society)
• Association of Qualitative Research
• Social Research Association: Careers in Social Research

Finding professional bodies worldwide 

GoinGlobal’s country guides include details of professional bodies. Find them under ‘Professional and Personal Networking’ on each individual country guide. 

Apply for advertised opportunities as early as possible.  

UK applications typically open early in the academic year from September or October. Some close as early as November-December. Many employers close applications as soon as their places are filled. 

Use our resources to get started: 

• MyCareer - search for internships and placements in the North East, UK and overseas. Register/log in to access vacancies and sign up for personalised email alerts  
• Internships, placements & shadowing - links to vacancy sites 
• Global work experience - for internships or placements abroad 

Apply to become a paid placement year student for the Careers Service's Marketing and Events team. This involves promoting our activities and events . Applications typically open in semester 2 for the following academic year. This opportunity is advertised on MyCareer.

Search the following external sites for more opportunities:

• Unilever Graduates (unilever.com)
• Loreal - Where it all begins... | Students & Graduates | L'Oréal Careers (loreal.com)
• The DMA also offers a 3 day immersive academy exploring career paths in data within the marketing industry. This is London and accommodation is provided if you live outside London
• The Dots - creative network, includes marketing and digital marketing. Search for internships and job opportunities

The Careers Service runs flexible term-time and summer internships with local employers and on campus. NCL internships are aimed at all students, from any stage and often include marketing projects.

• Search for these under Vacancies on MyCareer. 
• You can find these advertised throughout the academic year. Full-time summer opportunities are advertised from around March. 

Access GoinGlobal for internships in over 120 global locations, updated daily. Search for opportunities in the local language, as well as in English. You can also use their country guides to find:  

• additional vacancy websites  
• CV, application and interview advice   
• Advice on living and working in different countries and cities around the world.  

If you’re looking for inspiration, try searching our NU Work Experience Directory. You can see where our students have had internships and placements in the last five years. To see all results in a search category, keep the search field blank.

The resources in this section advertise both graduate jobs and graduate schemes. See our graduate jobs page to understand the difference between them. 

For graduate schemes, apply as early as possible.  

UK applications typically open early in the academic year from September or October. Some close as early as November-December. Many employers close applications as soon as their places are filled. 

Graduate jobs tend to be immediate start positions which can be available all year round. You are more likely to apply for these towards the end of your studies. 

Use our resources to get started: 

• MyCareer - search for graduate schemes and graduate jobs in the North East, UK and overseas. Register/log in to access vacancies and sign up for personalised email alerts  
• Graduate Jobs – lists graduate vacancy sites 

See Prospects for a list of graduate schemes that includes:

• Associated British Foods - has a two-year scheme involving project management and delivering presentations.
• Centrica - offers a commercial and marketing scheme lasting two years and three months, with the option for flexible home working.
• Diageo - runs a three-year rotational programme involving brand marking and customer activation.
• Nestle - has a two-year scheme that covers brand communication and analysing market trends.
• Newton Europe - its people and marketing stream involves three placements lasting three to six months each.
• Virgin Media - runs a two-year commercial, product and marketing scheme with four, six-month rotations.
• There is also the 'Top 100 graduate employers' list, that advertises different marketing schemes and placements - The Times Top 100 Graduate Employers 2023-2024

See these vacancy sites for more marketing jobs:

• CIM Jobs - search for vacancies across a wide range of sectors
• Guardian Jobs - marketing and PR jobs
• LinkedIn: Jobs
• Campaign: Jobs
• Marketing Week
• Only Marketing Jobs
• Simply Marketing Jobs
• The Drum
• The Dots - creative network, includes marketing and digital marketing. Search for job opportunities
• Digital Marketing Jobs
• Digital Grads - opportunities in tech and media, including digital marketing
• Arts Marketing Association (AMA) - includes marketing jobs in the arts, culture and heritage sector

• Research Jobfinder - from the Market Research Society
• MrWeb
• Social Research Association - jobs
• Ipsos MORI – offers a graduate scheme in market research

See International jobs for details of overseas vacancy sites. 

Access GoinGlobal for job adverts in over 120 global locations, updated daily. Search for opportunities in the local language, as well as in English. You can also use their country guides to find:  

• additional vacancy websites  
• CV, application and interview advice   
• Advice on living and working in different countries and cities around the world.  

Start by identifying organisations you are interested in. Our guide to finding organisations below can help. Then use the following steps to approach them speculatively about possible opportunities: 

1. Identify a contact name to address your cover letter to. Call or email to find out who handles recruitment within the organisation. Or, find a key contact in the department you want to work in. 
2. Send them a tailored CV and cover letter, Express your enthusiasm for the sector. Show that you have researched the company. 
3. Follow up your speculative application with a phone call, or email, around a week later. This shows you are serious and motivated. 
4. If your application was unsuccessful, ask for feedback or advice, and keep trying! 

You can use this approach at any point in the year. We recommend that you: 

• start your research as early as possible to gather relevant contacts 
• contact organisations around three months before you want the opportunity to begin 

• Find organisations on MyCareer. Select ‘search' then 'organisations’. 
• Use the business directories and databases on our Researching employers page. 
• Search for companies on LinkedIn. The Find Alumni tool shows you where Newcastle graduates are currently working. 
• Browse our Work Experience and Graduate Employment directories. See where our students and graduates have had work experience, or been employed. 

Use the resources below to find organisations in the North East, UK and worldwide. 

• Digital Agency Network: Best digital agencies in Newcastle. This includes marketing, creative, social media and digital agencies
• Toffee Factory: Occupier directory - office space in Ouseburn, Newcastle. Includes marketing and digital companies
• North East Chamber of Commerce: Business directory. – Search for marketing agencies in the North East
• Explain Research - North East market research company 

UK organisations 

• targetjobs - search employers by sector, eg software engineering or technology 
• Find organisations on MyCareer. Click ‘Search' then 'Organisations’ to find companies the Careers Service has worked with. Can filter by keyword, sector and region
• LinkedIn Alumni tool - see where Newcastle University graduates are working for inspiration
• creativebrief - includes agency database of digital and integrated marketing companies
• Direct Marketing Agency – member directory
• Institute of Promotional Marketing. See their member directory for a list of agencies
• Association for Qualitative Research includes member and business directories, useful for speculative applications
• Yell.com - search for marketing/market research agencies by location
• Professional body websites sometimes include member directories, which are helpful for finding employers.

Search GoinGlobal’s employer directory for company information in 196 countries. Their country guides list professional bodies around the world.