As Baldwin Wallace University’s female marketing students prepare to enter the job market, the experiences of women working in the field can help them know what to expect. Though the marketing field is currently a “challenging work market to go into” according to assistant professor Nicole Meadows, women currently hold around 60% of marketing jobs in the U.S., according to the American Marketing Association.

One challenge that women face is a lack of self-confidence, said adjunct professor Adeleine Whitten. Whitten said that this feeling of “imposter syndrome” is something that is easy to have in your younger years. Whitten also said that she herself has struggled with the feeling but stresses the importance of overcoming this struggle.

“My biggest obstacle is my own mind, you know,” Whitten said. “But once you get past that, the doors are so open.”

Another issue that women struggle with is finding a good work-life balance, said Meadows. When she had just started out in the field, Meadows said, “I wanted to be successful, I wanted to prove that I could do the work. And so, I worked a lot of hours when I was in the industry just trying to prove myself.” Meadows said that having this resolve benefited her in some ways but also made having a personal life difficult.

As more women control more of consumer spending in the U.S., the opportunities for female marketers to make their way in the field also increases, said Whitten. This increase is because female marketers can relate to and put themselves into the mindsets of female consumers more easily.

“When you’re a female decision maker and all of the marketing content is written by someone who doesn’t understand you as well, it can make it difficult to get the right products to the right people,” said Whitten.

Whitten also said that the more casual workplace relationships that women have with one another allows them to be better marketers.

“I think that human and emotional element is really big right now, especially in an era where authenticity is everything,” she said. Women who can connect with those audiences possess this sort of emotional skill, which Whitten said, “has kind of been a lost art in the age of professionalism.”

To women looking to enter the marketing field, putting in the work, getting experience early, and setting yourself apart, is valuable, Meadows said. That first job should be “the hardest one you ever get,” because after getting that job and making those connections, meeting the right people becomes easier, she said.

Whitten advises female marketers to be willing to try new things, and to be unafraid of doing what you love.

“Go after what you want, and do what you need to do to hit your goals and be in the career that you want to be in.”