“Opening doors: How digital marketing helped a designer climb up the career ladder. Meet George.”
George Spiteri Galán, Senior Graphic Designer
4 minute read
- Student story
- Digital
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When George’s career ambitions outgrew the small company he was working for, he soon realised that finding a new position would be difficult due to his lack of experience in digital. To gain a more competitive edge, he decided to add digital marketing to his graphic design skills. This is how a single course helped him on his way to becoming senior graphic designer at LeoVegas Group.
Before you studied digital marketing, you weren’t all that happy with your job. How come?
I was working for a small company so my role didn’t come with that many opportunities to expand in the digital realm. The medium was always books, so I couldn’t experiment or grow. Despite my design degree, my job at the time wasn’t leading to the career I wanted for myself. My profile wasn’t all that great because I couldn’t learn new skills or gain new experiences. Whenever I tried changing jobs, I’d get rejected because of this lack of exposure or I’d end up being offered positions with a lower salary than the one I had, so I was stuck.
Once Covid hit, the company I was working for unfortunately took a hit, and so did my paycheck. I was reduced to a three-day week at a time when I was preparing to get married and had a loan to pay. This was obviously unsustainable and my new circumstances pushed me into doing something I’d been putting off for a long time. I decided to improve my chances of finding a better job by enrolling for the Professional Diploma in Digital Marketing.
How did digital marketing help you advance your design career?
I didn’t think that one course would be enough to help me find a better job in a few months. The training I received compensated for my unvaried work experience and helped me break away. As soon as I shared a post on LinkedIn to say I had started a new course, I immediately noticed the difference. I hadn’t even completed the course or got certified yet, but recruiters were already contacting me and it was giving me traction in interviews too. So this is how I managed to find a new graphic design position that finally allowed me to expand my skills and develop my talents further. In my new role, I was expected to use my new digital marketing skills too, so I was applying what I was learning in real time.
I didn’t think that one course would be enough to help me find a better job in a month’s time. The training I received compensated for my unvaried work experience and helped me break into new opportunities.”
Changing jobs was the first step. What happened then?
Thanks to this course, I was able to start a new job that would make my professional profile more competitive, but I didn’t want to stop there. Within months, I landed myself my first role in iGaming – which is something I had tried to do before but never quite managed – and I set myself the goal of being promoted to a senior position. I’ve always had great career ambitions so this was finally my moment. I worked really hard and my digital training helped me give my output that 360-degree approach that my superiors were looking for. Today, I’m really happy that I managed to prove myself and live up to my potential.
Do you think designers benefit from studying digital marketing?
Definitely. I believe that designers who know how digital marketing works can become better designers. I chose this particular subject myself because it’s directly related to my role as a designer. During my job search, I’d often come across vacancies that required designers to have certain digital skills so that they can manage social media platforms, for example, so it was always clear to me that digital marketing is a useful skill set to have and that it complements graphic design very well. I even have colleagues who did the same course. Ultimately, you should always invest in yourself because no matter how much you know, there’s always more to learn. Thanks to new skills, you can do your job better and keep pushing your career further.
Thanks to a single course, George was able to set his ambitions in motion and work towards the career he deserved. And because he could split his course fees into manageable, budget-friendly payments, he was able to pursue his learning goals at a time when his financial situation would have otherwise prevented him from doing so. It’s always a proud moment for us here at ICE Malta to see our students challenge their situations and rise to new heights.
