9 Career Tips I Wish I Had Known in My First Marketing Job

I spent three years learning the hard way that doing good work is not enough. I always thought that if I kept my head down and shipped, I would get noticed. People would just know. That is not how work actually works. There is a hidden layer to being effective at a job that nobody really teaches you in school or at business school. Empathy, optics, and politics. If I had understood this from day one of my first marketing role in Paris, I would have saved myself a lot of frustration. Here are nine career tips I would tell my younger self.

1. Build relationships at every level, not just up

Most people only network up. They obsess over impressing their boss and getting a coffee chat with a startup CEO. Those are important but not enough.

If you want a real network, build across and down too. Stay close to your teammates. Get to know people in other departments. Talk to interns and junior team members. Career trajectories move. The intern you helped today might be at your dream company in five years. The teammate at your level might be the one who pulls you into the next opportunity.

It is not just who you know. It is who knows you. I cover the deeper version of this idea in my piece on the funnel theory of networking.

2. Stay out of office gossip

Office gossip is quicksand. It seems harmless and even a little entertaining. The moment you step in, it sticks. If someone gossips to you, they will gossip about you. When you engage, even by just listening, you are signaling that you are fine with it.

In work environments, perception is reality. People notice. If you are seen as trustworthy and drama-free, you become the person colleagues vouch for in rooms you are not in. Redirect, deflect, or move on.

3. Know when a role is structurally broken

My end-of-studies internship after my master’s was at a large corporate in Paris. On paper, a dream. Brand name, marketing, the role everyone wanted. I quit after one month.

From day one it felt off. The team had no space for new ideas. The managers already had a playbook for what every intern should do and I was basically following instructions. The company also rarely converted interns to full time, so it was a six-month dead end. The breaking point was a task to manually transcribe a TikTok video into an Excel sheet for an agency. I did not study tech for four years and business for three to do that.

That same day I started cold-emailing startup CEOs. A few days later I had a lead. Then a job offer. Then I quit. It felt like I was letting people down. I knew it was the right call.

Not every workplace is built for your growth. Some are structurally rigged. A manager who is never happy. A startup that pivots every three months. Leaving the wrong place creates space for the right one. This connects to a bigger lesson I unpack in 5 key career learnings.

4. You are your own internal PR team

Nobody is tracking your wins. If you do not tell people what you achieved, it never happened. People notice when things go wrong. They rarely notice when things quietly go right.

This is not bragging. It is visibility. The simplest version: send your manager a three-line weekly update. What you worked on. What you achieved. What is coming next. The people who get promoted and looped into high-visibility projects are not just shipping good work. They are making sure that good work is seen.

5. Underpromise, overdeliver

Promise timelines you can beat. If you can ship something in four days, commit to a week. People remember what you exceed, not what you achieve. If you say a week and ship in four days you look like a hero. If you say four days and ship in six you look like you are struggling. Same work. Opposite perception.

This is not about slacking off. It is about building buffers that protect you when something unexpected hits (it always does).

6. Keep 20 percent of your capacity as slack

Most people max out at 100 percent capacity. Meetings, projects, deadlines, all packed. Then something urgent lands and they crumble. I run on 80 percent. The remaining 20 percent is for handling the unpredictable.

When emergencies happen, you have the space to pivot and still deliver. When they do not, you use the slack to go deeper or breathe. Both make your work better over time.

7. Never bring a problem without a proposed solution

Nobody likes problems. Everyone has ten of their own already. Everyone likes solutions.

Person A says: “We are blocked because the API costs too much. What should I do?” Person B says: “The API we wanted is over budget. I tested a cheaper alternative that works 80 percent as well. I built a prototype. If you greenlight it, I can ship it this week.” Same situation. Completely different impression. I have been Person B and it pays off every single time.

Even when your proposed fix is not the one that ends up shipping, proposing something signals ownership. That is what managers remember. This is also why I push people earlier in their careers to figure out what they actually want so they show up with conviction.

8. Over-communicate by default

Assumptions kill projects. A misalignment in week one is a thirty-minute conversation. A misalignment in month three between two teams is a failed project. Always lean toward over-communicating. In emails, in Slack, in one-on-ones. When you think you have made it clear, make it clearer.

People rarely get annoyed at transparency. They get annoyed at vagueness. Clarity isn’t annoying. It is rare.

9. The No Hello rule

Never start a message with just “Hey” or “Hello.” Get to the point in the first message. Instead of “Hey, how’s it going?” send: “Hey, I need your input on the Q3 marketing plan. Free for a quick sync today?” In person, getting to the point that fast is rude. In a message it is the opposite. You are saving them time.