How one Pathstream student used the Facebook Digital Marketing Program to transition from a dental hygiene career to a marketing specialist role for one of the world’s largest food brands.

Amanda de Boer had been a dental hygienist for over 10 years. She excelled in her job but yearned for a change—ideally, a career with a remote, flexible work environment. Her search led her to the Digital Marketing program offered through Pathstream, which promised an accelerated pathway to a new career.

A Swift career transition

Amanda’s plans quickly came to fruition. Just a month after graduating from the program, she landed two freelance marketing roles with local companies.

“I started off in a different career field, and the fact that I was able to have interest from two different companies immediately after finishing and have job opportunities pop up has been really exciting,” Amanda says.

Connecting through coursework

Amanda found her first job opportunity directly from a course project. A classmate, Jenny Melick, the founder of a local cosmetics company called Roses and Azalea, needed help designing Facebook Ads for her rapidly growing clean beauty business. Their collaboration during the class project was so successful that Jenny offered Amanda a job a month after the program ended. Amanda took over the business’s social media, email marketing, and blog writing.

“We kept testing things out and adding more and more responsibilities,” she said. By hiring Amanda, Jenny could focus on expanding other parts of the business. “She had confidence in handing things over to me because she knew exactly what I learned in the courses,” Amanda says.

Expanding her portfolio

In addition to her role at Roses and Azalea, Amanda was hired to support content marketing for a local law firm. During her interviews with the firm, she highlighted the new skills and projects she completed as part of the Facebook Digital Marketing program. This comprehensive portfolio helped her secure the job.

After freelancing for a few months, Amanda built a portfolio of digital marketing projects she was proud of and began applying for jobs. In December 2020, she was hired as a Marketing Specialist at Compass Group, the world’s largest contract food service company. In this role, she assists with business marketing, advertising, and promotional activities.

“The VP of Compass Group that I talked to loved my non-traditional path and that I wasn’t a cookie-cutter candidate,” Amanda says, “I never could have gotten to this point without the Pathstream program. It was a complete career switch for me. I wanted to rebrand myself. After ten years of dentistry work, your neck and back start to hurt! I knew I didn’t want to do that forever. I’ve been really pleased that in the time of COVID I’ve been able to have a whole career change and get my foot in the door at three different companies. I wouldn’t have been able to do that without Pathstream.”

Pivot careers at your current company

Changing career paths can be daunting, but with Pathstream’s help, you can acquire the digital skills needed to launch a marketing career at your current organization or elsewhere. Our career coaches provide the guidance you need to advance in your organization, negotiate your salary, and more. Get started today with Pathstream and transform your career just like Amanda did.