Why a Graduate with Analytical Skills Should Consider a Career within Digital.

​So you’ve just finished your degree in Maths or Stats or Chemistry or Engineering or <insert BSc degree course title here > and you’re wondering what to do with the rest of your life but the Finance/Banking/Accountancy route doesn’t really appeal. What next? How can you apply your logic and numbers-driven brain in a career path that is interesting, fast-paced and has the potential to be very lucrative? Look no further, a career in the digital industry could be for you!

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Unless you’ve been living under a rock during your three years at university, you’ll know buzzwords like “digital”, “technology”, “big data” are an ever-growing part of our society nowadays – everything seems to be going online, people spend their days at computers surfing the internet or staring at their smartphones engaging with the world through a multi-colour screen – or through their SmartTV or tablet. As such, the internet is a hugely valuable place for advertisers to interact with their audiences and they can do so in innovative ways that ensure their messages only reach the right types of consumers who will have an interest of need for their product or service. As such, digital advertising and technology has grown from strength to strength in last few years and that growth is showing no signs of stopping anytime soon.

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I’ve been recruiting into the digital sector for over seven (!) years now and in that time I am amazed at how fast the industry moves – new technologies are evolving all the time in order to make advertising more relevant to the audience it is targeting; there are algorithms which will monitor who has clicked on what advert and then go looking for other people with a similar profile online to engage with them. How clever is that? And the ‘advertising’ doesn’t just refer to the banners you see when you log into your email account or any website but also the paid ads on Google when you search for things and amazingly even the ads you see in football stadiums could be different depending on which country you are watching the match on! Then there’s the ads on social media sites…and those that come up when you’re using your mobile phone. The possibilities for digital advertising are almost endless! This, in turn, means that there are (almost) endless career opportunities, especially for those who find the above fascinating.

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So how is all that relevant for you as a graduate with strong numerical skills? Because everything that happens with these types of campaign is monitored and tracked. And how is that fed back? Numbers. Numbers numbers numbers. Lots of them! And those numbers need analysing in order to work out what is happening, who is clicking on which adverts, and how successful campaigns are. Analysts work out if campaigns need optimising or tweaking to ensure that it performs as effectively as possible, in terms of what return the client/company want to see on their investment.

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The digital sector is, and has for the last couple of years, crying out for bright graduates who have the analytical ability and are passionate about this developing sector for a huge variety of roles – one could see you identifying the best way to engage with a specific audience based on a previous campaign all the way through to looking at a spreadsheet of data to see which advert is performing well, which isn't and why.

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You don’t need to be an expert as businesses are more than willing to train you up from scratch but what they’ll all want to see is that you have a real enthusiasm and excitement about this area! It’s tricky to start research right at the beginning – due to the ever-changing nature of the digital space, but here are some places you can stay up to date:

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Websites such as these will really help you get to grips with what 'digital' is all about

http://econsultancy.com/uk

https://www.iabuk.net/

https://www.ppchero.com/considering-a-paid-search-career-heres-what-to-assess/

https://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/job-programmatic-advertising/1490771

https://www.inc.com/john-lincoln/why-programmatic-advertising-is-the-hottest-new-digital-marketing-trend.html

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Keep an eye out online! What adverts are appearing? Are they relevant to you?

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Call us!We are always eager to hear from candidates with analytical degrees and we can tell you all about the vacancies that we’re recruiting for that will suit your background

As digital continues to evolve, experience and knowledge in that sector will only become more valuable. Starting salaries in digital start from £20k – which could be seen as a ‘low’ salary compared with the banking industry – however once you’ve been in a role for a couple of years and you’re an expert in your sector you can expect your salary to increase exponentially and continue to do so. So not only is digital really interesting, truly current and the perfect way to apply your numerical skills in the media world…but it’s financially rewarding too!

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Some graduates don’t know which direction to take after university and whilst we can’t be careers advisors (you need specific training for that!), we can help you consider options in our sectors if you have the right background, just like we did for this candidate, Maria, who was placed within a digital marketing agency:

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"After first speaking with Zoë and explaining what sort of thing I was looking for, she introduced to me a role she thought I might be interested in which I hadn’t considered and wasn’t even really aware existed! After doing some research I began to feel like this was an industry I could be really interested in and enjoy working within. Thank you so much for all your time and for helping me to find and secure this job which I’m now so excited to start!"

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Why not give us a call now to talk through the live roles we have right now – it could be the best call you ever make! We look forward to hearing from you!