Not Needed: Chief Marketing Officer Job Description

Reviewing a BusinessWeek article yesterday, I was somewhat, though not entirely shocked, to read a chief marketing officers’ tenure is now 23.2 months, a decrease from 23.6 months 3 years ago. Amidst the increasing rate at which employees are changing jobs, my generation’s desire for full employment satisfaction, the consistent pressure for numbers, and the current volatility resulting from the Internet, I am not surprised at the short-lived affection for a chief marketing officer’s high-pressured position.

The article also mentioned the extremely vague job description accompanied with this title. Not knowing what to do with these CMOs, companies are justifying their dismissal. However, as a Global Marketing, Communication & Advertising graduate student (yes, did you catch the words ‘marketing’ and ’student’ together - not a good combination…equating the job-less with a job perhaps on the verge of extinction), I am not overly concerned.

Despite the possible U.S. economic recession looming overhead and now slow death of the $100,000 education I have been absorbing (slight exaggeration), I see the chief marketing officer’s position as solid as the job seeker/employee makes it. Similar to the stock market, as seemingly future value increases, so does the stock, as a CMO’s perceived value increases, so does the solidification of the position. Just as negative and positive PR can either drastically hurt or help a stock, us, job seekers and employees need to tout our successes from the rooftops, convincing others of our value. We don’t say, ‘CMO - in need of job description,’ we say, ‘CMO - you can’t live without us.’

Is this being truthful? Absolutely. We can only speak the truth of our successes, but, we need to legitimately add value if we’re to stick around. Has added value become more difficult to sustain as instant results are desired? Yes. So, is there any answer here? Unfortunately, no. To add to the complexity, last week my professor suggested to us that satisfaction and work need to be redefined in our country. We’re extremely service and knowledge-oriented (CMO’s included), and the price tag of ideas and information remains to be sorted out.

So what future does this offer for a young professional just beginning her career? Well, to be honest, I’m not quite sure, yet; though, I’m positive it will require the same vitality, curiosity and work ethic the world has required from past generations.