u/Any_Bee_413

Recently, one of our new team members said that it is very hard for business graduates to find a digital marketing job in New Zealand. That reminded me of how difficult it was when we started this company. I know that every beginning is challenging. Today, we are a Top 3% Google Premier Partner digital marketing agency in the ANZ region. So, I really want to share some advice about job hunting from an employer's perspective.

What is the most important thing for you? Data analysis skills? Experience with Google Ads? Knowing how to use AI agents?

No.

The answer is a strong belief.

Before applying for a digital marketing role, you need to be sure that you are truly passionate about digital marketing. Are you ready for a long and difficult learning journey? Can you revise your ideas 10 times a day just to meet client expectations and keep up with the competitive market? Building a career in digital marketing is a long and challenging journey. Without this belief, you won't reach your destination in this industry.

So, if your answer is yes, the rest becomes much easier.

Then, you need to prepare three things:

• A creative CV
• A tailored cover letter written by yourself, not AI
• A personal website that showcases your portfolio

Let's start with the CV.

Why should you create a creative CV? Most graduates have probably heard that they should use a standard template without a photo or any fancy design—just a simple one- to three-page Word document. That advice is fine for many industries. However, for marketing positions, the most important thing is standing out from hundreds of other CVs. A basic CV tells us who you are, but a creative CV shows us what you can do. So, create your CV in PowerPoint or Canva. Show your design skills, storytelling ability, and sense of aesthetics.

Next, let's talk about cover letters.

In the AI era, every marketer uses AI, and AI skills are essential for professional growth. However, sometimes I receive a "perfect" cover letter that sounds like it was written entirely by AI. I can't connect with the person behind it. Instead, it feels like I'm reading something written by your AI secretary, too perfect to read. As an employer, I would rather read a cover letter that is clumsy but sincere than one that is perfect but lacks personality. I suggest creating your own cover letter templates for different industries and then tailoring each one to the specific position.

Finally, let's talk about your portfolio.

As you know, most businesses in New Zealand have websites. So, having your own personal website is a great way to showcase your portfolio. Some people may ask, "How can I build a portfolio if I don't have local experience?" The answer is simple. You can showcase your university assignments, internship achievements, volunteer work, and your own creative projects. Your personal website itself can also be part of your portfolio. There are more than a thousand ways to show your talent. So don't hesitate to put yourself out there. Just do it.

To sum up, prepare a creative CV, write a sincere cover letter, and keep believing in yourself while continuing to learn in this ever-changing world. You will receive your opportunity, whether you are competing against 300 candidates or 3,000 candidates.

Good luck to all of you.

AI is replacing entry-level work, but entry-level work is how people become experts. What happens when nobody gets to learn?

Like before, if I had a problem, I’d sit with it, Google around, piece things together, maybe get it wrong first.

Now it’s just: ask ChatGPT, get answer, move on.

Way faster, obviously. But I wonder if we’re losing something there.

Been running ChatGPT Ads for about a week now. Still no event conversions yet, so definitely too early to call it a success or failure, but I’ve picked up two things that might help others testing.

1. Context hints were too detailed at first.

My first setup was super comprehensive — I included age, gender, industries, business types, pain points, and even a long list of possible questions users might ask. Probably around 1,000 words.

The result? Almost no delivery.

I’m guessing I over-constrained the model.

So I simplified it heavily. Cut it down to a few hundred words, removed most demographic restrictions (age/gender), and kept it more focused on business type + intent + use cases.

After that, delivery started almost immediately and my full $25/day budget began spending consistently.

2. Personal/professional photos outperform logos by a lot.

This one surprised me.

At first I used company logos and service graphics — CTR was around 0.5%.

Then I swapped in professional headshots / personal brand style images and CTR jumped to around 5%.

Huge difference.

My guess is that in a conversational environment like ChatGPT, human faces build trust faster and feel more native than brand creatives.

Still very early, and no conversion events yet, but thought I’d share in case it helps others testing.

Curious what others are seeing so far?

I recently started testing OpenAI Ads for one of my campaigns and still very early in the learning phase. Setup was pretty straightforward, but I’m curious about real-world performance from others here.
So far I’m treating it as an experiment, but would love to hear if anyone has seen meaningful results or if it’s still too early.