Victoria Eastwood – Switch
What do you do?
My role is Head of Account Management at Switch Digital. My job is to work closely with clients to understand their goals and objectives, and then coordinate projects across our four teams: web development, digital marketing, creative and content and communications. Previously I worked client side (I spent 9 years in New York/London most recently working at the FT and American Express) which was a great foundation for an account management role because I understand what it’s like to be ‘the client’!
What do you do on an average day?
With such a diverse range of clients across many different industries you never know what’s around the corner! Agency life is very fast paced and I constantly need to think from different angles – for example, one client might be trying to raise awareness in the professional services industry, another might be launching a B2C product in a specific market. An average day might include: a monthly reporting meeting at a client’s office, a briefing session for a new website project, overseeing a photoshoot, discussing options with the creative team and a projects meeting at Switch where we talk through the priorities for the week. I love working agency side because you get to work alongside people who are highly skilled in specific areas (such as web development and digital marketing) and the role is overflowing with variety. It’s absolutely impossible to get bored!
Skills you need for the job?
Communication skills are probably the most important thing, being able to understand a client’s objectives and priorities, their challenges and where they want to be in 5 years time. Getting under the skin of what the end goal is and most importantly what the ‘why?’ is. This enables us to make recommendations that might be above and beyond the original brief. I also need to be very analytical and data driven – digital marketing is about numbers. What is the ROI, the click-through rate, the YoY uplift, results vs targets, the cost per conversion? Our job is to maximise the client’s budget to get them the best results – it’s an extremely satisfying industry because we can show clients exactly what we have delivered.
Advice for job seekers?
I would say try to work out what you genuinely enjoy doing (if you lose track of time whilst you’re doing it, that’s a good sign!) and then overlay that with which some research on which industries and job roles are growing. That way you are placing yourself in a strong position, where your skills and experience will be in demand. And because you enjoy it, you’ll look forward to going to work every day. When you start your first role, focus on attention to detail (I would recommend triple checking that things are correct). It’s really important and once people trust you with small things, they’ll start giving you more and more responsibility. Attitude is also imperative, be positive and enthusiastic about your work, try and make people’s lives easier – if people enjoy working with you, you’re on the right track! Lots of people in Jersey are very willing to meet job seekers and offer advice and mentorship. So I’d also say to buy lots of coffees – invite people for coffee and you’ll have the opportunity to learn from them for 30 minutes – it’s the best ROI you can get!