I know, it is tough to get the right person to fill a position, especially since there are so many qualifying marketers each year. What skills are you looking for?

We have been left with the bozo's who are unemployable anywhere else. Do what I am doing, trying to find work in a market where there is intelligent life. And it ain't here in South Africa.

Marketing is a field where experience is key and a qualification, while it is necessary, is slighlty less important. It seems as if you are expecting people who are new to the job marketing to become instant experts overnight. This can only be achieved through experience. Someone who is new needs to be adequately trained and guided to a certain degree. Im not saying that incompetence should be put up with but marketers new to the market need to be assisted.

You would be surprised as to how quickly most people catch on if given adequate training and guidence. Your troubles could be attributed to you not doing you job properly when looking for new employees and not knowing what it is you want, or looking for employees in the wrong place. The reason could even be both due to your poor recruiting abilities and managerial ability(or lack thereof). Making generalizations that the new generation of marketers are of a low standard is completely ridiculous and I can personally vouch for that. Get your facts straight before you pass such harsh judgement.

Well put ( Excuse you )....couldnt have said it better and as for the "old ad bullet", maybe it is time you went somewhere else...your old, negative and washed out!!!

I have been trying to look for a job as a marketing assistant for a while now, but 90% of the jobs advertised are in actual fact for 'PA-type' jobs or sales positions, not something that a Marketing degree is suitable for. Many employers don't seem to understand the role of a marketing assistant.

Just train your people properly and stop looking for excuse...

Marketing should not be a department, but a corporate belief system. A "marketing qualification" is common sense with bullet points.

So if you're not prepared to apply your "qualification" to PA work, how do you expect to learn the political ins-and-outs and corporate agenda? And if you're too aloof to get involved in sales, how can you come up with masterful solutions that grab your customers and are implementable by your front line?

A good marketer gets things done, and doesn't go around whining about what is or isn't in her job description. Really good marketers don't believe in job descriptions of more than two sentences.

if you think no one can do the job why don't you just do it yourself, clearly no one will ever be good enough. there are a lot of graduates out there without a job. how are they supposed to get any experience if you don't give them a chance.

Its blatantly obvious from the responses thus far that the problem lies with YOU, the employer and not with the new generation of marketers.

Next time think before you talk because its clear that you have no idea what you talking about and are clueless as to what you are doing and the amount of talent that is out there.

A true marketing person should be someone who thinks out of the box. I also have a marketing degree and am now in a marketing communications role which is hugely diverse and exciting BUT in order to get there I've had to take up positions in the PA field which lead to a marketing secretary and then a marketing co-ordinator until I finally got to my ideal job. I've even had to do a few months as a bookkeeper and internal sales person. It is all this experience added together which gives you the overall experience to truly be a marketer. It is absolutely true that marketing is a corporate function more than a department. A degree gives you the theoretcal knowledge but don't be fooled into thinking that you are "too good" for PA positions etc. Theory and actually applying it are worlds apart.

I am currently returning to South Africa and looking for a vacancy in this field. Are you a recruitment agent or a marketing company? Do you have contact details for me to forward my CV to?

companies want to call you an assistant ,pay you like an assistant but dont want invest in training you ,and we have qualificatins and some experience but no one wants to give us a chance.
i am also seeiking an assistant marketing JOB