While everyone has a different career path, there are skills and advice that can be useful for everyone. Idea were delighted to attend the ‘Bricking it: Building Your Career’ event last week, hosted by The Marketing Society. Speakers included Fiona Sweeney (Strategic Marketing Director for Kerry), Orlaith Blaney (CMO for Ervia) and Jules Fallon (Founder and Managing Director of 1st Options) – and they all had interesting points to deliver:

Go Back to Basics:

Orlaith Blaney has a career spanning over 23 years in the Advertising industry – and her take home point is simple, effective and yet often overlooked. She explains we can often forget to say ‘thank you’ to clients – they will be surprised but happy. Keeping a strong working relationship is key. Orlaith also advised there is so much opportunity out there – if you are not fully content in your current position then get out and explore more opportunities – life is too short!

7 Steps for Success:

The next speaker Fiona Sweeney began her career in 2000 when she began an Internship with Smirnoff Ice. Fiona has worked with many brands such as Diageo and Coca Cola and Superquinn. Retail she explains is definitely something that all people should experience – it’s a tough and fast-moving industry. The next change in Fiona’s career was to join Kerry as Marketing Director. Fiona has seven golden rules that she believes are key to develop and sustain a successful career:

1. Only you will fight for your career as hard as you – It’s your own career and you have to work hard to put yourself in a position for promotion and self-development.
2. Let your position guide you – if you find your position or work is getting a bit stale then it is time to look for other opportunities.
3. Be self-aware – think about what you can leverage in yourself to be successful. You should be accepting of your flaws but be proactive in your attempts to fix them.
4. Emotional intelligence is king – it’s important to network and interact with people who are in your industry.
5. Find a great leader – reach out to someone who inspires you and ask them for advice and motivations that will drive you. Don’t be afraid to reach out to someone – most people will be flattered and happy to help!
6. Embrace the fear – Being uncomfortable is good and needed if you want to progress. It’s ok to make mistakes, but learning from these mistakes is the challenge.
7. Be insatiably curious – keep learning and asking questions.

It’s Good To Talk:

The final speaker Jules Fallon was modelling from a young age before accepting it was not her desired career. She decided to continue in the industry, albeit in a different role going on to found 1st Options Model Management. As echoed by Fiona in the previous talk, she believes finding a brilliant mentor is key to success. Old fashioned communication – such as asking your mentor to go for a coffee – is the best thing to do. Finally, Jules stated that networking is imperative. Get your name out there and watch your reputation grow she advises.

Thank you to all speakers for your invaluable advice – we are feeling inspired!

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