Ok so you have pursued your mechanical engineering degree, and then you decided to do your MBA.
But why are you interested in Marketing?
Ma’am I believe ‘Marketing is the most creative field, and I am very creative, hence’
If this is how you have been answering this question so far, you need to read this article right till the end!
This article will aim to cover the following points:
1. Who is more likely to come across this question of ‘Why Marketing?’ in the interview?
2. What is the reason behind asking ‘Why Marketing?’?
3. What are the top points to include in your answer to ‘Why Marketing?’?
4. The perfect outline to answer ‘Why Marketing?’?
Let's look at each of these points in detail
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1. Who is more likely to come across this question of ‘Why Marketing?’ in the interview?
Now to answer this question perfectly, let me divide the candidates into two sections.
The 1st includes candidates who already have some marketing experience or rather some marketing related background.
And the 2nd is that set of candidates who have absolutely no marketing background.
This video will cater to both these categories so do not worry, if you fall into either of these.
Now the 1st category people are not as prone to getting this question as the 2nd category.
And of course the struggle of 2nd category people is a lot more, because you might be struggling to establish a connection with your past and your future.
But in all likelihood, the 2nd category people are more likely to come across this question in the interview.
2. What is the reason behind asking ‘Why Marketing?’?
There might be multiple reasons to ask this question and it may depend on the interviewer but in general, you are asked this question to know how strongly you feel about marketing.
See it can always be a situation that you are just applying for this job cause it sounds interesting but you may not genuinely like marketing, that puts you in a tough spot because obviously the interviewer wants you to be invested in the role that is being offered.
If you aren’t invested, it just means that you are more likely to shift jobs later.
So the reason behind asking this question can be further divided as following:
1. To know what interests, you about marketing- is it in-sync with the role on offer
2. How well can you articulate your fit with the marketing domain
3. Are you honest enough?
Now the third one is the most difficult to gauge, but again it all depends on your storytelling skills!
How well can you convince the interviewer that you really mean everything that you have said so far!
3. What are the top points to include in your answer to ‘Why Marketing?’?
1 Link it to your personality
If you have no background in marketing, you might have to dig in deeper to understand what can be used to link to marketing.
For example, you can say that you have always been the kind who questions various things!
For example, as a kid I was always intrigued by why things happen the way they do, and that added to my liking towards marketing.
For someone with some background in marketing, this becomes slightly easier, but you can link it back to your study, for example, a subject that you really liked, say Consumer Behaviour, it intrigued me to understand how psychologically, consumers can be influenced.
And if you have work experience in marketing, just talk about your learnings there and how you wish to use these learnings in your new job.
2. Link it to how innovation is unique to marketing and why you love it
Remember that marketing is possibly the only domain that gives you an opportunity to innovate and experiment.
Unlike a finance, operations, HR or any other department, there are no set rules that marketing encompasses and depending on your area or sector or industry, you can try out multiple things.
Make sure you relate this to how you have always been an innovator and hence marketing seems like a clear choice to you!
3. It’s the only field where there is a constant demand
Take the example of Covid-19, even though the entire economy struggled to keep up in this pandemic, one department that worked extra hard was marketing!
Use this to your advantage, talk about how it’s always important to be a part of the team that is constantly growing.
You can highlight it in a way that ‘while the world is burning, marketing still survives’ and you want to be a part of this profession!
4. It’s the field with a psychological connect
Now this is the most important one in my opinion, and possibly the biggest reason why I love marketing so much!
It’s a field that has a direct understanding of how consumers currently behave and how you can psychologically influence them to behave in a way that works the best for you.
Now remember, this can pop up a counter question on whether its ethical to influence consumers, but you need to strategically think about it and answer accordingly!
5. Lastly, it’s an ever-evolving field, that will ensure your growth
This point will really highlight your profile because it will portray you as someone who is very much interested in growing professionally.
See, marketing is a field that requires you to be constantly changing and looking at newer ways to do age old things.
It helps you tremendously to grow as an individual, and hence make sure you highlight this point in your answer.
4. The perfect outline to answer ‘Why Marketing?’?