Hi so I work in marketing. I want to develop my skills so I can grow my career. I had an unconventional start because I taught myself digital marketing for my own business, did it well for years, and then when the business got shut down during Covid and never recovered, I took a 12 month break for mat leave in 2022, reassessed what I wanted from life, and started with an employer in my first official marketing job for someone else earlier this year.
I'm not in an entry-level role but I feel very under-employed and like I could move up into the next step (which is the lowest level of marketing management) at this point without breaking a sweat. My output is a lot more than my predecessor; she was full time, I work 3 days a week. I can do this job in my sleep and spend a lot of time at work teaching myself random new things to do with marketing that aren't part of my job, because I've got nothing better to do.
According to CIM, at this point, I could go for level 4 or 6 in marketing or digital marketing. I'm not sure if it's worth doing either course. Do employers take CIM seriously and how can it advance my skillset and career?
I ultimately want to move into senior marketing management roles. My very out-there goal is £60k+ by age 40 and £100k by 45 (I'm on £33k at age 36). Also, to date, all my experience is digital marketing, although my core copywriting, photography and image editing skills are also excellent, and I can also throw together a basic website or film/edit/publicise a decent (not outstanding) promotional video when needed. But I feel worried I'd limit myself if I went for the digital route with the CIM qualifications and that this wouldn't lead to the sort of roles/money I want to go for.
Does anyone have any advice please either on CIM or forging a successful career trajectory without it?