Feeling stuck in my first marketing job, should I quit without another plan?
I’m a 25F who graduated last year with a fairly broad degree. If you told me two years ago I’d be working in marketing, I honestly would’ve laughed. During my studies, I thought I’d go into HR or something more aligned with being an introvert.
But during my internship, I was offered a PR/Marcom role and I actually enjoyed it. I’m not really into editing or content creation, but I liked being involved in coordination, planning, and marketing activities. So after graduating, I accepted a job as a Junior Marketing Executive in my city. It was near my parents house, hence commuting and cost of living was not an issue.
However, things turned out quite differently from what I expected.
The company is an older business but is now being run by a new director who also has his own startup. When I interviewed, I thought I was joining the marketing team for the main company, but most of my work is actually for his startup instead.
The pay is below RM2.1K, and I work 6 days a week (Saturday half day). I also realized I’m the only person handling marketing. I expected a team, but it’s just me under the director.
My responsibilities are quite overwhelming — I have to plan events, create campaigns, find brand collaborations, handle offline marketing, do community engagement, and sometimes even help with decorations and basic design work. The startup is also in a sports-related field, which I wasn’t familiar with before, so I’m constantly learning on the job.
I do have a videographer helping with content, but he’s a freelancer and might leave soon too. Lately, I’ve been feeling very drained, and I don’t enjoy marketing as much as I thought I would.
My boss is not harsh — in fact, he’s quite understanding. But I feel like there are still high expectations, and I’m often confused about what exactly I should prioritize.
I’ve also been wondering — do I need proper training? Do I need to be under someone more experienced in marketing? My boss is here, but he’s more of a higher-up who oversees the whole business rather than someone who guides my day-to-day marketing work.
For the past 3 months, I’ve been applying to other jobs and going for interviews, but I haven’t had any success yet. The job market feels really tough right now. I think they all hesitated too when they saw my 2 months notice period.
Now I’m at a point where I’m wondering:
Should I quit without having another job lined up, or should I just keep pushing while still looking?
Would really appreciate any honest advice or perspectives.