A PhD in marketing offers a variety of opportunities in the marketing field. Example fields covered by the PhD marketing program include the following:

• Marketing management

• Marketing of consumer behaviors

• Marketing of healthcare providers

• Marketing of private sector participants

• Marketing of private equity managers

• Marketing of small business enterprises

Marketing PhD candidates typically focus on the quantitative aspect of marketing, which is why our PhDs are often sought after in this field by marketers. However, marketing scientists are also increasingly common in the market research and measurement communities, allowing a PhD to tap into the scientific method in their own research. PhDs in marketing are also probably the only ones in their field who are familiar with the finer points of quantitative marketing research.

PhD marketing and PhD jobs

Marketing PhDs – as a professor – tend to get very highly paid positions, and will be working on the cutting edge of marketing technology for the foreseeable future. A marketing scientist with a doctoral degree will likely be making good money per year, and will almost certainly have a research agenda that extends well beyond what a PhD would cover on its own. In fact, in my view, a marketing scientist with a PhD / doctoral degree is probably going to be better supported by a research budget than a PhD candidate is going to be. This is not to say that a university cannot afford to pay that amount of money per year for a researcher, but the reality is that universities are unlikely to match that kind of money in terms of resources, and the relatively high salaries that marketing scientists are likely to be able to command will probably be unmatched by the additional money that universities are likely to spend recruiting researchers (which in turn will be offset by the additional money that universities are likely to spend paying researchers).

The good news for a university is that you do not have to compete strictly on your record. As you build relationships with a faculty, you will be able to persuade them to allow you to take graduate courses and review their work. This will allow you to cover smaller chunks of the curriculum, and allow you to focus on areas of research that you are particularly good at.

As you build relationships with your professors, it's likely that they will also allow you to take graduate courses. This gives you the flexibility of scheduling breaks to cover large chunks of the semester, and allows you to cover smaller chunks of the semester on the side.

What to do if you are pending a move?

If you are considering a move into the marketing world, it might be a good idea to let go of the idea of a formal interview. A formal interview will probably be a requirement for a position in marketing, and your performance in a formal setting will likely be compared to those of candidates who are unschooled in the field. For one thing, university admissions committees will be looking at your transcript, not your performance in an interview. By the time you get hired, your performance will be similar to someone who has already been hired.

We would also argue that a formal interview is probably unnecessary. First and foremost, universities are looking for people who are highly-motivated and eager to learn. Candidates who are highly-motivated and eager to learn will generally have an easy time landing a job at an entry-level position, and will end up at the VP level or higher. Candidates who are highly-motivated and motivated to learn will, in fact, often end up at the front of a hiring manager's to-do list.

Of course, you could always try to convince a university that you're a strong candidate who will get hired, and that you have the personality to get the job done. This is usually the route that gets taken by people who have little or no experience, and generally end up at lower than the VP level or higher.

What to do if you don't get a job at the university?

At this point, you should probably be feeling a little bit better about the situation. The good news is that there are probably a number of ways you could have a shot at getting hired at a good school. The bad news is that some of these jobs are likely to be administrative support positions. We spoke to a number of candidates this past spring, who were looking at jobs that involved administrative support, and it was clear from the response that these positions are likely to be entry-level or contract-level work. We also spoke with a number of candidates this past fall who were considering jobs that involved administrative support, and it was clear from their responses that these positions are likely to be entry-level or contract-level work. We also spoke with a number of candidates in October, and roughly half of the candidates we spoke with were considering a job in these areas. However, there are probably even more candidates out there who are interested in these types of jobs, and it's possible that there might be some job offers.