Vincent,
Just as there are many different flavors of scientists, so goes for marketers. During your interview process, it will prudent to probe what exact type of marketing skills they are looking for. On one hand, this will help you identify how well you fit the position, and on the other, this will demonstrate that you have a conversational understanding of what marketers do and will position you well in front of your interviewers.
It’s common to speak of upstream vs. downstream marketing. Downstream marketers are expected to have a sales orientation as they are working with today’s customers to generate today’s revenue from today’s products. Solid oral and written communication skills are required and it’s not uncommon for scientists possessing these skills to be considered for such roles. In upstream marketing, you are more responsible for setting long-term strategy, analyzing markets, and shaping your company’s R&D priorities.
See more details here:
http://upstreammarketing.com/home/definition/It’s not uncommon for a technical company to search for degreed scientists to fill these roles as some level of technical depth is required for each. I suspect in this case that your opportunity is for a downstream role, but you should verify that during the interview process. Upstream marketers generally carry more business experience so I think it’s more common for entry-level scientists to land in downstream roles.
A third flavor is marketing communications, which gets directly involved in public relations, branding, and advertising. This is also a downstream role, but is more responsible for supporting the sales function rather than being directly involved in the sales process. Probably the least likely place for an advance degreed scientist to land, but it does happen.
One final caveat – in a small company, an individual marketer may be expected to wear all three hats at once. This is great experience to get early in your career, but will be a heavy workload.
During the interview process, you will likely be asked “where do you want to be in 5 years”, so I recommend thinking through these roles and deciding which will be of most interest to you. If you’d like to get involved in strategy and leadership, then starting in a downstream role, proving yourself, then moving upstream is a great vision to lay out during your interviews.
Keep us posted as I'd love to hear how this works out for you.
Dustin