On Thursday, January 16th 2025, Director Liz Hopkins held the fourth event in our series exp...
On Thursday, January 16th 2025, Director Liz Hopkins held the fourth event in our series exploring ‘How women in marketing are shattering the glass ceiling’. These events aim to support women as they progress their marketing careers beyond the 'Head of' or 'Director' job title.
Together they explored some of their personal experiences and lessons they’ve learned as female leaders in marketing. They discussed the following topics and more:
Keep reading to discover the key takeaways from the event.
Our data has revealed that female marketers often struggle with career progression beyond the Director level. Our 2024 Annual Pay & Hiring Survey found that just 32% of women held the ‘Head of’ job title or above – 9% less than their male counterparts.
Liz kicked off the morning’s discussion by exploring some of the ways that women can continue their career development.
Both Tracy Woods and Janis Thomas have built diverse careers. They discussed taking purposeful steps into marketing roles that would allow them to explore different business sizes, sectors or marketing activities.
In the rapidly changing world, there are real benefits to having such a variety of experiences where you can transition quickly into a new marketing team.
The best piece of career advice that Kate Mackie has received was, “You work for your CV, you don’t work for me.” This has allowed Kate to better identify any skills gaps on her CV by questioning whether she would hire herself.
Whether you’re in the same organisation for 10 years or moving more frequently, the key to career progression is being open to opportunities. This will allow you to develop the breadth of knowledge required to be a successful marketing leader.
Do not be afraid of saying yes to opportunities outside of your core responsibilities.
To find those opportunities, you often have to focus on building relationships with those outside of the marketing department. Working with others on projects outside of the marketing strategy, will allow you to develop a more cohesive understanding of the business, it’s products and services.
Not only will this allow you to work more broadly across the business, but it also gives you promoters. Those that understand and trust you will advocate for you in rooms that you’re not in. Both benefits help set you up for the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO), Managing Director or Non-Executive Director role.
As marketers, there’s always new areas to upskill in, so it can often be easy to neglect soft skills when thinking about training.
In fact, Janis shared that she felt “stuck” at the ‘Head of’ level at one point in her career. That was until someone told her she needed to improve her communication skills. Now, she sets aside time each week to specifically focus on those traits, saying that “since I have done that, it has massively accelerated my career.”
Factor in time to improve your soft skills to supercharge career development.
Each of our speakers reflected on different challenges they’ve had to overcome during their careers. From climbing the next rung on the career ladder through to returning to work after maternity leave, each challenge is unique and personal.
A common interest in the room was around maternity leave. Many attendees asked if the panel had any advice for transitioning back into work after an extended period of leave.
Returning from maternity leave is a different experience for everyone. As a result, the steps you must take to transition back to work will look different, too. Having open and honest conversations with line manages can help set expectations and make it easier for your team to support you.
Whether you have children or not, it’s important to set boundaries at work – Kate shared the importance of “knowing what your red lines are”. While it can be tricky to begin with, your team will quickly learn your schedule and adapt to it.
Boundaries allow you to accommodate your responsibilities as a parent, your hobbies or your work outside of your day job.
A KPMG study revealed that 75% of female leaders have experienced imposter syndrome at some point in their career. It is a normal experience to have. So, Liz turned the topic of conversation to how the female leaders in the room can build their confidence and manage imposter syndrome.
At 3Search Events, our panellists often speak of understanding and using your “superpower”. Tracy shared that it can be easy for women to feel embarrassed or ashamed of their unique perspective when in a majority male environment.
However, it’s important to change the narrative and be proud of what makes you different – of your superpower. This will help you feel more confident in yourself and what you uniquely bring to the table.
As Liz went on to say, “Just because my opinion is different, it doesn’t mean that it’s wrong.”
A big thank you to our panellists for sharing such invaluable information with us – we really appreciate your time and insights. For more advice in growing your career, access more of our resources here.
