Professional development for strategic managers

Marketing Strategy Job Opening Letter

I am writing to you in the hopes that your company is currently seeking an experienced and dedicated marketing manager, strategist, and innovator to help build your company into an international performer on par with industry leaders. The quality and innovation that has been created by this company is first-rate, and I would be quite pleased to be a part of expansion efforts as operations and staff are expanded. My knowledge and experience would be valuable assets to the company, and being a part of the team that helps such a focused and well-oriented company to grow and develop its industry position would be enormously rewarding on a personal level.

Marketing management and strategy has long been a passion of mine, and I have been fortunate in my ability to combine this passion with the pursuit of learning and, in more recent years, with my professional development. While earning bachelor's degrees in marketing and management, I secured an internship at a boutique marketing consultancy firm that specialized in a highly specific industry sector. During this internship I was exposed to my first taste of primary marketing research and strategy development, and was even able to initiate and contribute to several ongoing research projects with results directly reportable to clients. The link between effective marketing and effective growth was rendered abundantly clear, yet I realized that there were intricacies to the issue that I had not yet fully explored or even been made aware of. It was for this reason that I selected a graduate program that would allow me to immerse myself fully in specific issues related to a geographic region of the world I see as an important future market for any global organization.

Latin America has a large population and is undergoing significant economic development due simply to its proximity to North American markets and economies. As international attention in the region increases, economic conditions are generally improving and opportunities are expanding. During four years of graduate research and study through the University of Knowledge, I lived and worked throughout the region, examining the effects of various marketing techniques and perspectives and publishing several papers containing my findings. The publication and favorable reception of my master's thesis was partially responsible for my attaining a position at Manzanita Mexico, part of the larger Manzanita Corporation after graduating, and within two years I was made head of the marketing department for the region. In this position, I have been responsible for reorganizing the department and establishing a new marketing strategy for the company to pursue, which has met with great success according to most measures.

While my work at Manzanita Mexico has been rewarding, there is little room for growth or mobility. I am seeking a more dynamic position within a growing company, and believe that my skill set and desires would be an excellent fit with your company's needs. I look forward to an opportunity to discuss our mutual prospects in the near future.

Respectfully yours,

Full Name

Personal Development Plan

In order to advance as I would like to in my career and personal development, there are several personal attributes that I will need to keep in check and others that I will need to enhance. I am lucky in that my education and my professional experience have both been directly in line with my plans for future development and success, and I have managed to put an excellent portfolio of past work produced together. These external achievements, however, while representative and formative of certain internal qualities and skills, will not directly assist me in achieving more and greater results in the years ahead. For this, I will need to engage in a specific development plan that addresses me personal characteristics, desires, and situation in a manner that is proactive, optimistic, and objective and honest as is humanly possible.

There has been a tendency on my part to overestimate my available time and capabilities, not in terms of my knowledge and skills but in terms of my speed and efficiency. While I consider myself highly productive, at times I take on more than I can handle, and then all of my projects suffer for it. In order to develop more effective personal and professional strategies, I need to work on my ability to effectively plan and manage my time, and to remain ambitious yet be realistic in my projections for what I can accomplish. In line with this, I am at times over-confident and can appear arrogant, which is actually useful in certain business environments and cultures (for better or for worse), but which can definitely be a hindrance in other settings and cultures. Learning to attenuate and adjust in these circumstances would also be a beneficial path to greater development for me, assisting in personal and professional areas.