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Running Head: ASSESSING A CAREER IN BUSINESS

My Future Career:

Vice President of Multinational Information Services

Ryuji Hachisuka

Salt Lake Community College

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In my future, I would like to become the vice president of a multinational marketing

information services company. According to the ​Electronic Journal of Academic and Special

Librarianship,​ a marketing career is defined as“working with markets to actualize potential

exchanges for the purpose of satisfying human needs and wants. It is the process of planning

and executing the conception, pricing, promotion and distribution of goods, services and

ideas to create exchanges with target groups that satisfy customer and organizational

objectives” (Kaur, 2007 n,d. Para. 4). Therefore, multinational marketing information

services provide services for the companies that needs some help, for example, I will give

some advice in terms of ideas, pricing, promotion, and distribution of goods for the client

companies.

In order to achieve my goals, ​Learn How to Become​, suggests that I “ Obtain a

Bachelor's Degree, Complete a marketing internship, Gain work experience, and Obtain a

graduate degree if needed” (Learn How to Become, 2018 n,d. Para. 5). Also, according to

Pim Kuyntjes, the vice president of a multinational marketing information services company

who I interviewed, after you get a job and start working, the most important thing for a

marketing job is to truly understand the company and show that you actually care about them.

Taking care of something as important as a company is really difficult, especially if you don’t

care about them. Therefore, he said that it was preferable to work with something you know

like.

The education pathway for a business career can vary in many different ways. In

terms of marketing, it’s kind of a big and open field of what is required in order to get a job.

It is said that you could even start with just a certification and can be highered on in a lower

level job of the company. However, if I want to go into a higher position such as a vice

president of a marketing company like Pim, I should have at least master’s or more. In Pim’s
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case, he has a PHD degree. A job as high as president or vice president of a company will

often higher a candidate with a degree as high as a PHD.

According to ​Payscale,​ the average salary for the Marketing Manager is about

$172,000-/year, However, it can range $116,000- to $235,000- (Payscale, 2018 n,d.).

However, in Pim’s case, according to ​Glassdoor​ approximately $230,570-/year (Glassdoor,

2018 n,d.).

The Vice President of a marketing company has a good outlook. It is looking towards

a positive future for the career.. According to Study.com, the job growth of a vice president

would be about 6% (Study.com, n,d.). This is considered an average growth for a company.

This is confirmed on the website of thebalancecareers.com. Their article, Things to Know

About Job Outlook, says that, ​“they describe an occupation's projected job outlook by saying

it will:​ ​grow about as fast as average (an increase of between 5% to 8%).” This is in reference

to how projected employment change over a 10 year period is described.

On February 15, I interviewed my family friend Pim Kuyntjes,vice president of a

small multinational marketing information services company based in Singapore. I asked Pim

the following questions about his career; ​Briefly describe your job duties. What are the

advantages of working at your job position? What are the limitations of working at your job

position? And the following is his answer:

“For the last 15 years I was the Vice President for the company in Singapore. I was

the head for the Singapore operations overseeing the business in Asia Pacific, India,

Australia, GCC.

We had build one of the more successful business units for J.D. Power. When I started I had

just 12 people, and when I left (end of last year) we had close to 100 people.
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Every year we had achieved our numbers and grown the business significantly and I had a

great and loyal team. That was also the reason why our Headquarter mostly left us alone.

In my 15 years with the company, the company went through 3 different stages.

First, In the first years it was privately held. This was great because it was more

entrepreneurial. We could do what we thought was best for the business and we felt a great

sense of comradery and team spirit. The President of the company trusted me to handle the

business and I was proud to show him the results.

Second, In 2006 the company was sold to McGraw Hill (later called S&P). This is a very

large and publicly listed company. This meant that our company became just a business unit

in the company. We became a small fish in a big pond. It also meant that we became

“corporatized”. Since McGraw is a publicly listed company it is very much focused on risk

and controls. That meant that our business became much more bureaucratic and compliance

focused and we had less freedom to run the business as we saw fit. While this was not ideal

(in my opinion) I was still able to drive the business in the right direction and keep the team

motivated. And we continued to deliver the numbers so it wasn’t that bad.

Third, In the end of 2016 McGraw Hill sold J.D. Power to a Private Equity company for an

enormous profit. The PE company is trying to “flip” the company. That means play some

financial games and sell the company again in a short period of time. I had been in this

situation for a year and had become very depressed because I believe that the company is

suffering very badly. The employees are not treated the way I believe is right and I have lost

faith in the management of the company. That is why I decided to step out. It is not worth

working for a company in which I no longer believe.”

Pim described the pros and cons of what it is like to be in his position. According to

him, he helped to build one of the more successful business units for his company. When he
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started, he had just 12 people, and now he has close to 100. ​His company was smaller and

privately held. This was great because it was more entrepreneurial. According to Pim, he

could “do what [he] thought was best for the business. [He] felt a great sense of comradery

and team spirit because [he] was able to play such a big part. One downside would be that the

company [was] very focused on risk and controls. The business is heading towards a more

bureaucratic and compliance focused direction. There will soon be less freedom to run the

business as [he] sees fit. (P. Kuyntjes , Vice President, Feb 15, 2018).

I think I will optimal to this kind of job. I think it’s because I like problem solving and

I think I am kind of good at it. In addition, I born in Malaysia, lived in Singapore, Japan, and

United States so, I have seen so many different country and lived their so I can understand

more various kind of people personality, national character and people’s needs. Also, I’m

able to speak three different language which, English, Japanese, and Chinese. I believe

language is very important and useful item for working with multiple countries. Pim is able to

speak two different language as well. Also, I care people in general and once I become friend

with people I usually can maintain the friendship long and peaceful. Also, I am defeated

person so I work hard.

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References

Electronic Journal of Academic and Special Librarianship 2007. Retrieved from

http://southernlibrarianship.icaap.org/content/v08n03/kaur_a01.html

Glassdoor 2018. Retrieved from

https://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/vice-president-marketing-salary-SRCH_KO0,24.

htm

Kuyntjes, P. (2018, Feb 15). Personal interview.

Learn How to Become 2018. Retrieved from

https://www.learnhowtobecome.org/finance-business-careers/marketing/

Payscale n.d. Retrieved from

https://www.payscale.com/research/US/Job=Vice_President_(VP)%2C_Marketing/Sa

lary

Study.com. n.d. Retrieved from

https://study.com/articles/director_of_marketing_vs_vp_of_marketing.html

The Balance Careers, 2018, Retrieved from

http://southernlibrarianship.icaap.org/content/v08n03/kaur_a01.html