The Big Switch: Transferring to a New Department at Search Influence

August 3rd, 2017 by Search Influence Alumni

Transferring to a different department at a job is not uncommon and, for many, it is seen as an excellent career opportunity. Making a choice to work on another team provides an employee with new training, skill sets, responsibilities, and can help give a broader understanding of a company as a whole. In fact, research has shown that this type of career development can help employers retain their most productive employees given their broad knowledge and understanding of the company.

Influencers Expanding Their Horizons in the Workplace

Here at Search Influence, several employees—including myself—have made the switch when the opportunity arose. Check out these employees’ department moves to see what it’s been like for them to get used to a new team, environment, and job responsibilities.

Employees at Search Influence sitting on a couch

Jared Jones

Former Position: Senior Internet Marketing Associate (Technical) – 1 year-7 months

Job Responsibilities: My job responsibilities weren’t necessarily confined to a rigid container but instead a malleable collection of duties in relation to helping to improve a client’s search visibility from managing their directory presence, implementing blogs, writing image optimizations, completing competitive research, completing comprehensive site audits, scheduling social media posts, and much more.

Current Position: Web Developer – 4 months

Job Responsibilities: Implementation and styling of various types of content directly on a client’s site.

What do you like about your current department?

Though the description sounds more focused, there is actually still a very wide variety of work due to the difference in CMSs, client-requested content, and the increased technical aspects required to perform day to day job duties. There’s also a nice feeling of instant gratification when you see some nice changes go live (correctly) on your first try.

What has been a new challenge of the department switch?

The most challenging thing about being a web developer is that there is a lot less rigidity in the daily work flow. There are some tasks that may seem relatively straightforward, but there can always be multiple solutions based on a wide array of existing (and even non-existing) conditions of client’s site.

Rosie Nolan

Former Position: Editorial Internet Marketing Associate – 6 months

Job Responsibilities: Writing, editing, and optimizing web content for clients ranging from social media posts to press releases, ad copy, and blogs.

Current Position: Digital Advertising Coordinator – 4 months

Job Responsibilities: Writing and implementing ad copy for Google paid search clients, monitoring and adjusting paid search client budgets, performing ad campaign research to deliver ads to achieve qualified leads, and promoting Facebook advertising.

What do you like about your current department?

I enjoy that this position allows for a lot of client-facing tasks, which really helps me to see the product of my work in a tangible way.

What has been a new challenge of the department switch?

There are a lot more numbers involved here, which was a little difficult to get used to at first!

Ariel Kizer

Former Position: Editorial Internet Marketing Associate – 5 months

Job Responsibilities: Writing and editing content for clients including blogs, articles, social media post, website content, BuzzFeed articles, press releases, and ad copy.

Current Position: Sales Executive – 4 months

Job Responsibilities: Reaching out to a variety of inbound and outbound leads to promote and sell Search Influence’s services through phone calls, presentations, and proposals.

What do you like about your current department?

The sales department is very supportive of one another and is always willing to give constructive feedback, tips, and kudos.

What has been a new challenge of the department switch?

Switching from a non-client facing position to a client facing position has been a new challenge. Learning how to discuss digital marketing without using internal jargon has given me a deeper understanding of our services as well as how we can help potential clients grow their business.

Cory Agular

Former Position: Editorial Internet Marketing Associate – 6 months

Job Responsibilities: Responsible for editing and writing website content, social media posts, press releases, blog posts, business descriptions, amongst other things.

Current Position: Technical Internet Marketing Associate – 1 year-11 months

Job Responsibilities: Managing, editing, optimizing Google My Business, overseeing AWR, and managing Sendible. Schedule blog posts and social media posts. Also, performing SEO audits on client’s site as well as a plethora of backlink analysis, acquisition, and clean up.

What do you like about your current department?

It has given me the opportunity to learn more technical aspects of site design and how all of the processes we do interact with search engines. I’ve also learned a lot about social media management and strategies that are effective for our clients.

What has been a new challenge of the department switch?

Getting up to speed with all the new work processes was basically like starting all over, and although it felt like it took awhile, it was definitely the right move for me.

Employees working in an open concept office - Search Influence

Making a Long-Term Impact

It’s evident that making a career move such as a department change can be both challenging and rewarding. Employees making this switch can guarantee that they’ll be able to add new skills to their professional toolbox. Transferring to a different job within a company is seen as a motivator for development and makes a lasting impression on a company.

Interested in joining the Search Influence team? We’re always looking for driven professionals! Check out our careers page.