Congratulations! You’ve achieved a globally recognised qualification, so what’s next? The CIM is the World’s leading professional marketing body and you chose your qualification well. It can and should be a route to career progression. Hopefully our set of steps will help you on your way…

Step 1: Update your credentials

It may seem obvious but the very first step is to update your qualifications on your CV. Make good use of the digital badge you’ll receive from the CIM by putting it on LinkedIn to stand out in the recruitment and selection processes.

Step 2: Build your profile

Seek out ways to get greater standout. Many students (but not as many as should!) post about their study journey on social media platforms, especially LinkedIn. It’s a great opportunity to tell your followers that you’ve passed, thank those who’ve supported you and generally elevate your profile. Why not share a few tips and words of wisdom based on your experience?

Step 3: Keep a record of application

It’s one thing gaining a qualification, it’s another putting the skills and knowledge into practice.

Start building a bank of evidence that captures the details of how you’ve been able to apply what you’ve learnt. Create this on an app that’s shared across all your devices, so you can quickly and easily add to it as you think of things. Not only will this remind you of why you invested in the qualification in the first place, but it will boost your confidence and help you to prepare for interviews.

Step 4: Get interview ready!

Some employers will be looking for a specific qualification and level of achievement to help them create a shortlist of candidates for a role. Inevitably there will be an interview as part of the recruitment and selection process.

A good interviewer will be looking to discover the practical experience you have to demonstrate application of the skills and competencies required for the job. From all the information you can access about the company and role, try to extract what you believe these are. If this is proving challenging, take a look at the CIM wheel of competencies to help you get started:

Step 5: Get really interview ready!

To gain an understanding of real experience, many interviewers follow the STAR method. Even if they don’t, preparation for this technique will build your confidence and stand you in good stead.

Once you’ve identified the skills and competencies, start mapping one or two examples of your practical experience for each, considering:

  • Situation – Identify a relevant situation you’ve experienced.
  • Task – Identify the tasks and outcome you sought to achieve.
  • Action – Define the actions you took.
  • Result – What happened as a result of your actions and, most importantly, what you learnt from the experience and what you would do differently in the future.

Step 6: Broaden your horizons

You might want a break from formal studying, but there are plenty of ways to develop yourself. One of the most rewarding (and CV friendly!) activities to engage in is mentoring. If your organisation has a formal programme for this, find out about the opportunities available. If not, then consider starting one! Either way, it shows a firm commitment to developing yourself and others as well as real leadership skills.

Conclusion

Your achievement with the CIM qualification opens doors to exciting possibilities in your marketing career progression. By updating your credentials, building a strong online profile, recording practical applications, and mastering interview techniques, you’re positioning yourself for success.

This blog post was written by marketing expert and CIM tutor Nick Day. If you’re interested in furthering your CIM journey, check out our list of CIM Accredited Awards, enabling you to deep dive into essential digital marketing topics.