The job title ''director'' performs the same duties and functions as a manager, and such a job can be found in any field because all businesses need a manager to run the office, department or institution, making sure employees are doing their work, doing it right, and all the work is getting done on schedule. The Oxford dictionary defines ''director'' as ''a person who is in charge of an activity, department, or organization.'' It also defines a director as ''a person who directs a film, play.'' Directors usually have lots of experience supervising others, and at least a Bachelors degree in business or a particular area of specialization. Some directors go back to school to get their MBA for a higher paying director job or similar managerial position. But you can find directors in all fields and in all levels—from art director and creative director in the creative field such as advertising and marketing, to colleges, finance, scientific careers, hospitals, business, engineering, banks, sales, media. Some directors don’t need any education and prefer to work their way up because they have natural leadership skills as well as they are good at managing and directing other people. These people usually learn better through hands-on experience and prefer to grow with the company. Other people prefer to use their college degree as well as an entry-level job to help them move faster up the ladder toward their desired position. And the lucky very few people, continue their education with an MBA, make the right connections, and get a high paying director job straight out of college.
After a minimum of five years of experience working in a department, company or an institution, a person can be promoted to a director job and earn between $62,250 and $118,143, depending on the company size, company location and the person’s educations, skills and experience. Required skills for director positions include strong communication, leadership, and people skills, market research knowledge, executing a marketing plan from beginning to completion, being professional and organized at all times, working well under pressure, and working long hours to meet deadlines. A director should also know math and statistics to analyze research data. Sometimes, in big cities, a minimum of ten years of experience is required to get a director job.
Basic Duties
The basic duties of a director include meeting with employees, attending business meetings to discuss marketing strategies and proposals, brainstorming new concepts, feedback on old projects and ideas, seeking out new clients and generating sales, meeting with clients to discuss current project, and directing the department to manage all the company accounts and all the employees in that department in order to successfully make appropriate business decisions accordingly. The director works directly with other managers of different departments inside the same company, including middle management, CEO, and president of the company, in order to discuss company and business goals, as well as discussing the employees working under them and how to better supervise them.
Career Path
There are many avenues that you can take in order to pursue a career as a director of a department. But it all depends on your personal and career interests, what you want to do with your life, where you want to go, and how you would like to get there. Do you want to go to college? If so, how much college are you willing to complete? BA? MBA? AA? No college at all? How about a certification instead? If you are not interested in education, you can still become a director with a lot of hard work, working an entry-level job in a department of a particular specialized area that you are most interested in and work your way up to a director position. Also, many students or recent college graduates get an internship in a department of their choice in order to observe the daily activities and duties of a specific director that they are most interested in becoming. Whether a person has a degree or not, that person should create a plan of action and diligently strive to achieve those objectives.
The job seeker should network with the people inside the company, as well as network with clients and other people that that person comes in contact with on a daily basis. Other good entry-level paid jobs to consider are marketing assistant, marketing associate, buyer, planner, and office clerk. It is all about being in the right place and at the right time, and the entry-level job that you choose might eventually enable you to move on to the desired director job elsewhere with the right connections that you make along the way. Still, there are people who want to continue with their education and get their MBA in order to get a higher paying director position. Education will usually help you reach your destination faster, especially if you are already working and gaining experience towards your goals. Without a degree, it might take you a longer time to reach your destination as well as you might need to work twice as hard to achieve your goals. But it is all up to the individual. Each person knows their limits, what that particular person can do, what that particular person can’t do, and what that particular person is willing to do in order to make his or her dreams come true.
