SRM Marketing

The management process responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitably.

CIM definition of Marketing

Now that I've really got going on my CIM course, I've been applying for some jobs. I was invited to an interview with SRM Marketing at 2:30 today. I was pretty dubious about the whole thing because of the huge number of adverts they have posted on every single job site. None of them were particularly well written, and despite the months of advertising they have done, they are still looking for "20+ people for immediate start" - never a good sign. I had a quick look on their website and was, again, worried. It's really badly written, it's designed by Vistaprint (one of their free designs) and says they are based in Nottingham. Odd, very odd. Anyway, I didn't think much about it after that because I was pretty busy.

So I headed to the library (in the pouring rain) and printed out a CV and a couple of bits to add to my portfolio. I found the office, eventually, and climbed the delapidated staircase to the first floor. The only sign that anyone had been there in the past 100 years were the A4 printed signs saying "SRM Marketing" and "Interviews". I walked into a small room with a dirty carpet and some awful music playing loudly on the radio. There were loads of chairs around the edge of the room and a desk and phone in the corner. Bizarrely no computer - how did they even get my application?! There was a girl sat there who said she'd been waiting 10 minutes and still hadn't seen anyone, but, as directed by another shoddy printout, we dutifully began filling in the application forms sat on the desk. I just wrote "see CV attached" in most of the boxes and left it at that. Eventually baby-faced Simon appeared and invited me through for a "chat".

The main interview room was much bigger than the first, but pretty empty. There was a desk with a chair on each side, and a "Talk Talk" poster on a stand. Simon looked through my CV quickly and asked how I felt about working to targets (I said it's good as long as they're achieveable). He spent a good ten minutes telling me about all aspects of the company, I didn't follow much because he was speaking so damn fast! From what he was saying I got the impression that it's going to be a sales job, but when I asked him what the job is he started drawing arrows on the back of my CV. I was told that from entry level to a senior management position managing 50+ people would take just 6 - 10 months for the right candidate. I couldn't help but wonder where these people are, what they are doing, and how the alleged FTSE100 customers hired them to design marketing campaigns.

And that was it. My 'interview' was done and I was barely given the chance to talk. I was told to expect a call later if I was succesful. I left feeling incredibly bemused, and wasn't surprised to receive the call inviting me to a second interview tomorrow. Simon told me to dress smart, but wear comfortable shoes because I'll be on my feet most of the day (I'm going to be there 12:30 - 8:30 apparently!) observing one of their campaigns. I'm going to go, but I doubt I'll stay.