18 reasons why employers need to hire candidates who are early in their marketing and advertising careers

There are important short- and long-term benefits for employers to hire students, recent graduates, and others early in their careers for marketing and advertising roles. We reached out to 18 hiring experts to get their thoughts:

• Assess Real Skills Through Simulations
• Cultivate Alumni Networks for Talent Pipeline
• Build Structured University Partnerships
• Create Internship-to-Employment Programs
• Design Campaign-Style Recruitment Challenges
• Develop Hands-On Internship Experiences
• Showcase Company Culture Through Content
• Emphasize Growth Opportunities for Early Careers
• Automate Initial Screening Process
• Establish Strong College Recruitment Presence
• Engage on Social Platforms
• Implement AI-Powered Portfolio Analysis
• Conduct Skills-First Hiring Sprints
• Clearly Define Job Requirements
• Target Niche-Specific Recruiting Platforms
• Create Immersive Learning-Led Hiring Campaigns
• Focus on Curiosity Over Polish
• Prioritize Accuracy in Job Descriptions

Assess Real Skills Through Simulations

If you want to hire dozens – or even hundreds – of early career candidates into marketing and advertising roles, the smartest strategy is to assess them on real, role-relevant tasks before you hire.

Why? Because resumes and degrees are poor predictors of marketing potential at this stage. A candidate from a top college with a polished CV might freeze when asked to create a campaign brief, while someone from a lesser-known background might have the creativity, problem-solving, and execution skills you actually need.

During the recruitment drives at Kraftshala, we’ve seen companies run large-scale, simulation-based hiring drives – where our students solve real marketing challenges, like drafting a content plan, creating an ad concept, or analyzing a campaign dataset. Not only does this showcase their actual skills, it also excites candidates because they get a taste of the job.

The key is to design these simulations to be:

Scalable – so you can assess hundreds of people without exhausting your team.

Structured – so every candidate is evaluated on the same clear criteria.

Feedback-oriented – so even rejected candidates walk away with learning, boosting your employer brand.

In today’s market, the best recruiting strategy isn’t to filter harder – it’s to audition smarter. That’s how you discover talent you’d otherwise miss.

Nishtha Jain, Head Of Marketing, Kraftshala

Cultivate Alumni Networks for Talent Pipeline

We actively cultivate alumni networks of past interns, event participants, and applicants who showed strong potential. These individuals already understand our values, culture, and expectations, making them easier to onboard. We stay in touch through newsletters, webinars, and exclusive industry insights tailored to early-career professionals. This keeps our brand top-of-mind when they are ready for new opportunities.

When scaling hiring, we tap into this pre-qualified network first. The trust built over time accelerates offer acceptance rates and reduces interview cycles. Alumni often refer like-minded peers, expanding the pool without extensive additional sourcing. This compounding effect turns every recruitment cycle into a strategic long-term investment.

Jason Hennessey, CEO, Hennessey Digital

Build Structured University Partnerships

One of the most effective recruiting strategies I recommend for hiring dozens or even hundreds of early career marketing and advertising candidates is building a purpose-designed, scalable talent pipeline through structured partnerships with universities and specialized programs. In my experience leading global e-commerce teams and consulting for enterprise retailers, this approach delivers both quality and volume without sacrificing culture fit.

The key is to treat recruitment as a pipeline, not a series of one-off job postings. I have worked with companies that invested in branded internship programs, co-designed curricula with marketing faculties, and established ongoing relationships with student marketing associations. This provides early, direct access to top graduates who are already primed for the pace and expectations of real marketing environments. These partnerships give employers a direct channel to source candidates, while students gain exposure to real business challenges through case competitions, project-based learning, and mentorship.

Within ECDMA, we have facilitated similar collaborations for our member organizations, helping them reach high-potential early career talent at scale. What consistently delivers results is a blend of practical engagement – such as rotational internships, hackathons, and live campaign projects – and structured recruitment events where candidates can demonstrate real skills, not just academic credentials.

Importantly, this pipeline approach allows employers to assess digital aptitude and adaptability, which are critical in marketing and advertising roles today. When I advise companies, I emphasize that early career candidates should experience the actual tools, analytics platforms, and collaborative workflows they will use on the job. This reduces both ramp-up time and early attrition.

Lastly, a pipeline built on real business interaction, not just resume screening, tends to surface candidates with higher drive and better alignment to the company’s evolving digital needs. In my experience, this method is vastly more effective than traditional volume hiring tactics, both in terms of long-term retention and in cultivating talent that can grow with the organization.

Eugene Mischenko, President, E-Commerce & Digital Marketing Association

Create Internship-to-Employment Programs

While I think internships by themselves are great, they come with uncertainty for candidates. So, I’d focus more on building a structured internship-to-employment pipeline. 

It sends a strong message that you’ve put serious thought into their growth. That way, you’re not just bringing people in for a few months of extra hands anymore. And great talent always appreciates that, so they’ll be more keen on working with you once you give them a clear, thought-out path into your company.

Once they’re in, give them real, hands-on projects with measurable outcomes so you understand how they work. You’ll quickly see who takes ownership, learns fast, and fits your culture. Those are the people you convert into full-time hires.

It’s a foolproof approach, and it works at scale because you’re constantly training and evaluating talent in a real-world environment, rather than relying solely on resumes and interviews.

Shawn Hayes, CEO, Share Web Design

Design Campaign-Style Recruitment Challenges

One effective strategy for hiring early-career candidates in marketing and advertising is to treat the recruiting process like a campaign. Instead of relying on job postings, create a short project or challenge that mirrors real work. Frame it as a micro-internship or brief experience opportunity. Design it as something people can do asynchronously, without an application or interview upfront.

Distribute it through channels where early-career talent actually spends time. Consider Slack groups, Discord servers, and LinkedIn messages. Keep the invitation straightforward with a clear problem to solve and a deadline.

This approach acts as a natural filter. Because many people won’t complete the task, it helps narrow down the pool. Those who do are usually more motivated, deadline-driven, and genuinely interested in the work. So there’s no need for resumes or phone screens at this stage. Their output shows you what you need to know.

From there, you can identify the top few percent worth moving forward. They can proceed to paid trials or fast-tracked interviews. This model reduces cost per hire and usually surfaces better-fit talent than resume-based screening.

Most companies make early-career hiring more complicated than necessary. But when the process resembles the actual work and reaches the right people, it attracts stronger candidates and filters them quickly. So recruiting at scale for these roles works better when it runs like a solid marketing funnel.

Josiah Roche, Fractional CMO, JRR Marketing

Develop Hands-On Internship Experiences

Tap into emerging talent pipelines by partnering directly with universities, portfolio schools, and online communities like Gen Z marketing groups or LinkedIn student networks. Instead of posting generic job ads, run campaign-style recruitment initiatives that showcase real projects, growth paths, and behind-the-scenes culture. Early-career candidates want clarity, mentorship, and purpose—so highlight these over just perks or buzzwords.

Bryan Philips, Head of Marketing, In Motion Marketing

Showcase Company Culture Through Content

Implement a robust internship program that emphasizes hands-on experience and mentorship. By creating a structured internship that offers real projects, candidates can gain practical skills while contributing to the company’s goals.

Promote this program through universities and online platforms to attract a diverse pool of applicants eager to learn and grow. Additionally, host virtual career fairs and workshops to engage potential candidates directly, allowing them to connect with your team and understand your company culture.

This approach not only helps in identifying talent early but also builds a pipeline of enthusiastic candidates who are already familiar with your brand.

Marina Krivonossova, Founder & CEO, Retold

Emphasize Growth Opportunities for Early Careers

I’m Cody Jensen, and I run an SEM agency called Searchbloom. If you want to hire hundreds of early-career marketers, don’t lead with a job post. Lead with a vibe. We stopped relying on resumes and started creating content that shows what it feels like to work here. Think team Slack threads, campaign post-mortems, and even messy brainstorm clips. Gen Z doesn’t want a job. They want a story they can see themselves in. So we turned our recruitment process into a brand experience. The result? Candidates who apply already speak our language, get our culture, and show up hungry to build. You want volume? Start by being someone they’d actually follow even if you weren’t hiring.

Cody Jensen, CEO & Founder, Searchbloom

Automate Initial Screening Process

It’s vital to position your company as a positive place for young and ambitious employees to begin their careers, and also to emphasize your marketing credentials by ensuring that you have an attractive social media presence.

For early-career candidates, younger employees will want to see social proof that like-minded individuals are flourishing in your workplace. This calls for the use of testimonials, videos, and blog posts that empower your current employees to share their experiences of your company.

You’ll also need to ensure that early-career candidates feel welcome when applying to work for you. Create a dedicated early careers page on your website to ensure that prospective new hires understand that you have a vibrant working culture that supports career progression, growth opportunities, training programs, and mentorship initiatives.

Matthew Crook, General Manager, The Access Group (Access People)

Establish Strong College Recruitment Presence

As a co-founder with years of experience in talent acquisition and hiring, my biggest hiring tip is to automate as many parts of your process as possible.

Make the interview your last step, so you know you are spending the majority of your time on quality candidates. Try new tools that can help you sift through the bulk of resumes and use platforms that allow candidates to record their initial interview. You can even add online assessments to test practical SEO, market research, and analytical skills. It is much simpler to assess recorded statements and assessment results than to spend hours on one-on-one interviews.

This approach ensures you aren’t exhausted from tackling the repetitive part of the process, and your candidates have a smooth hiring experience.

Himanshu Agarwal, Co-Founder, Zenius

Engage on Social Platforms

Partnering with colleges and universities is an effective way to recruit early-career candidates for marketing and advertising roles. By building relationships with faculty in these fields, you can speak to classes, sponsor campus events or competitions, and introduce your brand early and often to students. Developing an internship-to-hire pipeline can further strengthen this approach, giving students the chance to work on real campaigns and helping you identify high performers who can transition smoothly into full-time roles after graduation.

Keith Spencer, Career Expert, Resume Now

Implement AI-Powered Portfolio Analysis

To get the attention of many early-career prospects, you should engage with them where they are active and show you understand who they are. The best results I’ve seen come from building a brand presence on platforms like TikTok, Instagram Reels, and even Discord, where young marketers spend their time. Share real, behind-the-scenes content about what working at your company is like, instead of just posting job openings.

Combine this with a solid internship program and clear mentorship opportunities. Early-career talent wants to grow, not just collect a paycheck. I’ve assisted clients in running short video campaigns that showcase their team culture, career paths, and stories of current junior employees. These campaigns took off on their own because candidates shared them. If you do it right, you’re not just hiring people; you’re creating a talent magnet that keeps giving back year after year.

Dwight Zahringer, Founder, Perfect Afternoon

Conduct Skills-First Hiring Sprints

One recruiting strategy I recommend for hiring dozens or even hundreds of early-career candidates into marketing and advertising roles is using AI-powered portfolio analysis and creativity assessments. Traditional resumes rarely capture the creative thinking, strategic mindset, and digital fluency needed in these fields. AI tools can help bridge that gap by evaluating real work samples, campaign simulations, and content creation tasks submitted by candidates.

These platforms use natural language processing and pattern recognition to assess tone, originality, branding consistency, and audience alignment across writing, video, or design submissions. Candidates can be scored not just on raw skill, but on creative fit for the brand’s voice and values. AI also helps flag emerging talent that might otherwise be overlooked due to non-traditional backgrounds.

To manage volume efficiently, integrate chat-based AI tools that automate pre-screening questions, assess digital literacy, and match applicants to specific marketing functions such as content, analytics, paid media, or social strategy. This allows recruiters to segment talent early and funnel the right candidates to the right roles faster.

One key tip is to design assessments that mirror real-world marketing tasks. Let candidates show—not just tell—what they can do. This not only improves hiring accuracy but also creates a better candidate experience that attracts highly motivated, job-ready creatives.

Joe Benson, Cofounder, Eversite

Clearly Define Job Requirements

We have achieved success in hiring large numbers of early-career marketing candidates by conducting short, skills-first hiring campaigns instead of relying solely on resumes or job boards.

Here’s our approach:

We organize a 2-week hiring sprint with a specific goal—for example, filling 15 junior marketing positions.

Candidates are required to complete a basic task related to actual work. This could involve writing social media copy, planning a product launch idea, or reviewing a landing page.

We reach out to colleges, training partners, and online communities with a concise brief and a deadline.

We’re not looking for polished portfolios. Instead, we focus on effort, clarity, and the candidate’s thought process.

This method helps filter out passive applicants and attracts individuals who genuinely want to work in marketing. We’ve discovered many strong candidates this way, including those without a degree or formal background. Curiosity and practical thinking are more valuable than credentials.

We don’t limit our outreach to top-tier schools. In fact, students from smaller colleges often demonstrate stronger initiative.

Once hired, we provide structure: a 30-60-90 day plan and a peer buddy. This helps new hires settle in quickly, especially if it’s their first job.

If you want to hire at scale, make the process authentic. Skip the resume pile. Present candidates with a problem to solve and observe their thought process. This approach saves time and results in better hires.

Vikrant Bhalodia, Head of Marketing & People Ops, WeblineIndia

Target Niche-Specific Recruiting Platforms

Ensure that you are very clear about the skills, tools, and experience required for the job–and the salary! Make sure the job posting accurately reflects all of this information as long as it is live. Have multiple meetings if necessary, and do not move forward with hiring until these issues are settled. The hiring manager needs to be open to comments, feedback, and change. It is unfair to candidates if you say one thing during the hiring process and the new employees face something different when they arrive.

Soozy Miller, Executive Career Advisor, Control Your Career

Create Immersive Learning-Led Hiring Campaigns

My best tip would be to research which recruiting platforms and job portals are the most common in the marketing niche. Many recruiters make the mistake of looking at the most popular overall platforms, instead of focusing on those specific to the marketing or advertising niche.

In Poland, there is a case where a recruitment platform partnered with a YouTube channel that is extremely popular among people aged 18-26. The platform itself is not too popular and doesn’t have a huge market share, especially among older generations. However, if you’re looking for early career candidates, you have to consider this particular age group.

When we published our offer there, we received almost 180 resumes within the first two weeks, which was more than enough to find the three perfect marketing team members we had been looking for. So don’t blindly follow the market share of certain platforms, but do your research on the ones which resonate with young people, and you will not be left empty-handed.

Jan Kawecki, Co-Founder, Kontra

Focus on Curiosity Over Polish

One effective recruiting strategy I recommend is creating immersive learning-led hiring campaigns. For employers looking to hire early career candidates in marketing and advertising, offering real-world challenges through virtual internships, workshops, or content creation contests can help identify top talent beyond resumes.

At Tecknotrove, we’ve seen strong engagement by collaborating with universities and marketing communities to conduct case study-based hiring. It gives students a platform to showcase creativity, while we assess practical skills like communication, research, and storytelling. This approach also helps build employer branding and creates a pipeline of motivated, pre-vetted candidates who are already familiar with the company’s voice and values.

Saumya M, Digital Mkt and PR | Communication Strategist, Tecknotrove

Prioritize Accuracy in Job Descriptions

If you want to hire hundreds of early-career marketers, stop looking for polish and start looking for curiosity.

Some of the best marketers I’ve hired didn’t come from top schools or have perfect resumes. They showed up with grit, potential, and a real hunger to learn. The problem is, most recruiting processes aren’t built to find those people. They’re built to screen them out.

One strategy that works: treat recruiting like content marketing. Show the work. Spotlight junior team wins. Make it easy for someone to picture themselves inside your organization, even before they apply.

Then lower the barrier. No 10-step process or resume black hole. Use lightweight applications, asynchronous projects, or even social direct messages to start the conversation.

Erin Mills, Chief Marketing Officer