How I Created My First Marketing Job From Scratch

Have you ever been in a position where you can’t possibly see a way out? Maybe its a problem that you’re not meant to solve or a job that seems to have no future to it. That’s where I was in the Summer of 2018. I was back in school to finish my degree and I had gotten a part time job at the campus library shelving books.

I tolerated the position. It earned me enough to make rent and it got me out of retail which I had been trying to do for 6 years at that point. I also moonlighted as an after school teacher but that's a story for a different time. Both of these jobs were fine but they weren't taking me anywhere and I was painfully aware of it. I was faced with the dilemma of wanting to go higher and further in some semblance of a career but how? I had no degree, no real vision beyond maybe continuing in education post-grad, and my only experience was middle management at retail chains. I had always been ambitious in my retail jobs but I could only go so high without a degree. I was itching for an opportunity. And then it came.

I had made my way up to supervisor of student workers in the library. A bit more responsibility but still low on the rung. I wanted more, I wanted something that meant a damn. And then a coworker asked me to help with a simple task: “Andrew, could you make me a caution sign for the construction on the 5th floor?” Naturally, me being the over-achiever I am, didn’t just simply type out CAUTION and call it a day. I used my limited self-taught knowledge of Photoshop to procure the best caution sign that the University Libraries had ever seen. 

 

A bright yellow triangle with an exclamation point in the center. It was as simple as a line of copy offering an apology just above the library logo. This coworker probably wasn’t too terribly impressed, after all, it was just a simple flyer. But what he did notice is that I was willing to do it. He came back to me anytime the facilities needed a sign. Then other departments began asking for their own signs. About a month later the marketing director of the libraries came to me with a special request: create a set of departmental posters using the school branding. Branding? WTF was that?  

She sent over a brand guide and I devoured it. I memorized the color swatches, downloaded the fonts and the logo and I was ready to go. I began the poster in a new-to-me program called Illustrator. I had fiddled with it once before but had found it too difficult so I moved away from it. But now I thought that if I was going to do something this official, it better be done right. I watched tutorials, sketched out a thumbnail, researched the department and pulled together some resources and before you know it I had a poster with a few specific design elements unique to the project and all branded to the director’s specifications. She was thrilled with the result (even though looking back she was totally just being kind) and asked for another. And another. And another.

 

Soon I was doing design more than I was doing my actual supervisory job, and my boss was not happy. One day she found me doing a flyer on the clock and asked me to stop doing them altogether. I was devastated. I talked to my coworker who had given me the first task and he gave me an idea: What if this was a real position?  

Facilities, where this coworker worked, and marketing both had the ability to have student workers but the positions didn’t exist. So he and I devised a plan to build the position from scratch. I would work facilities and marketing as a split job. I wrote up a proposal, attached my resume and examples of my work and as a bundle of nerves I approached the dean of the libraries and asked him for the job. A few heartstopping weeks later I got an email. “Andrew, you’re in. I’m excited to see what you’ll do.” I left the sorting department, got a swanky closet office on the 4th floor and began my work. Every day I split my shift between facilities and marketing. Moving furniture one hour, making flyers and writing copy the next. I did this for about a year before the demand from both sides grew during a major renovation project. I had a choice to make, would I continue with marketing or facilities. The decision was easy. I was made the Graphic Designer and Marketing Specialist for the University Libraries and remained on for another 3 years.

I mastered the full Adobe Suite in this time including InDesign and Illustrator. I became a better artist, a better designer and built skills I never would have imagined having. I moved the libraries towards a more unified brand image within the university, and I connected the libraries further to the student body and community partners through marketing and design efforts. Our socials increased following, attendance for events went up, and I was the happiest I’d ever been in a job at that point. I won’t pretend that this was a completely self-started venture. I did put in a lot of work and effort into making the position that didn’t exist before me. But I wouldn’t have been able to make that move without the trust, leadership, and opportunity that a select few gave me. Without that chance I may not have ever found my path and certainly would not be in the place I am today. Reflecting on this also requires me to see the sheer determination I must have had, and still have, to see an opening and be able to go at it full force. Some may call this bull-headed but I prefer to see it as ambitious determination. Its a quality in myself that I admire.

There were other things happening in my life at this same time that could have derailed this whole process and no one would have judged me for it. That's to be explored in a myriad of other blog posts but for now, in this moment, I’m glad I stuck it out. I’m glad I was able to use my bull-headedness to press on and to build a life that I can now be proud of. All because a couple of people took a chance on a 25 year old former college dropout working in a library.