What advice do you have for recent graduates that want to go straight into Demand Generation?

Network and seek advice. Getting to know people in the field, genuinely asking about their roles, responsibilites, what keeps them up at night, recommendations on where you might learn more is the best starting point. 

In addition to that, get in on these Sharebird AMAs, Demand Gen podcasts, take courses where applicable- this could be in digital marketing/performance, SEO, PMM, sales....all of these crafts are inputs/influence demad gen.

A personal goal of mine throughout my career has been to be a Tshaped marketer - to have a solid expertise in a few areas, and be knowledgeable enough in others (so I understand how it all works together as a system), this is an always on exercise and should never be "complete".

I recommend that you stay motivated and curious. It’s absolutely possible to get an entry level role in demand generation early in your career. One of the amazing aspects of demand gen is the breadth and depth that it allows for various entry points. It makes demand generation quite accessible. Let your determination fuel the areas outlined below:

• Be curious. Curiosity has been a huge driver for me. What other revenue levers can I define? How can I become more efficient? When thinking about this from the context of how you can dive in as a recent graduate, a curious mindset can be huge for you.
• Read deeply and develop a learning mindset. A growth mindset is critical. Demand generation is not a field where you do not have to continuously develop. It definitely favors those who genuinely love to learn and are up for a challenge.
• Find mentors or people who inspire you. Mentors are tremendously impactful in your life. However, you can even turn to someone who inspires you that you don’t know. Use their good in the industry as inspiration.

Think deeply about what you are passionate about. Seek out others who can help lead you on the journey to developing your demand generation career. While not required, you may find it helpful to start at an agency as you’ll have exposure to many industries and use cases.

Lastly, I recommend thinking about any new role you accept similar to a puzzle. How do you best support the customers you are serving? How do you generate new quality customers and keep them longer? Keep these types of questions in mind regardless if you are starting at an entry-level position or a director level role.

My advice for recent graduates looking to go straight into demand generation is to think about your own experience as a person who loves certain brands. Ask yourself what made you get into them, how you heard about them in the first place, and what about their brand makes you love and trust them. Then continue to do this exercise over the course of your career. It will remind you that every customer's journey is unique and nonlinear. And that the journey you plan out and hope they might go on is just one way that someone might find and end up loving your brand. Being able to empathize and put yourself in your customer's shoes constantly will be a superpower in this field.

Know what Demand Generation is, why you want to go into it, and show that you've done from preliminary work to build skills relevant to the field.

Many times, recent graduates are looking for any job, not necessarily this job. That's the very first thing I look for in an interview for an entry-level role: why this field and why this function. If you can answer that, you're already going to be ahead of many others interviewing for the same job.

Show that you've done some marketing work as well. Perhaps you majored in marketing in school and had an internship in marketing, but if not, show that you've been able to get Hubspot, Google Analytics, or 6Sense certified. Many of these (if not all) are free and you can take courses online. This will give you a second leg up on other candidates and show with even more clarity that you are interested in this role and are a go-getter.

There are so many great paths into demand gen. I actually think spending 1-2 years (at most) in a Sales Development or Business Development Representative role is an interesting path into demand gen vs going directly into marketing. It provides a strong foundation and understanding of how to tap into the customer's mindset and how the sales cycle works.

The hard skills can be learned. The soft skills learned from being in a sales role are transferrable to every job. Also a sound demand generation strategy often will involve a sales team so understanding inbound and outbound sales teams' mindset can provide a good foundation.