As a job seeker in the marketing field, you know the importance of crafting your brand and winning over hiring managers at the first interaction. And, as a marketer, you already know how to persuade people to take a certain action.
Now it’s time to take those marketing skills and apply them to crafting your brand and writing the killer resume. A resume that highlights your marketing prowess and emphasizes accomplishments rather than just listing off past positions, will ensure you stand out from the others.
While every candidate will have a slightly different formula they use to create an amazing resume, we’ve put together a few tips that can help you as you work towards a job in the marketing field.
Format Matters
One of the most critical elements in resume crafting is the format. You want a hiring manager or headhunter to be able to quickly scan your resume and pull out the most important information first. If your resume is well-formatted, the rest of the information will naturally fall into place. So, what makes a good layout? You’ll want to review some samples and perhaps experiment a bit, but one common format for recent grads is:
- Summary (optional)
- Education
- Skills
- Certifications
- Work Experience
A summary is a good way to explain why you want the position and why you’re qualified - almost like a mini 2 sentence cover letter. Education also goes right at the top, especially if you’re a recent grad and your newly earned degree is one of the highlights of your career so far. You’ll want to put skills and certifications right at the top too, since again, you might not have too much work experience.
**side note** What are some of the most important skills and certifications to have as a entry-level marketer breaking into the field? Find out here.
Your Resume Should Match the Job
In the marketing world, there are many different paths you could find yourself following. Some common entry level jobs include: Social Media Specialist, Digital Marketing Specialist, Marketing Analyst, and Copywriter. (Here’s a list of the 15 most common entry-level marketing jobs.)
Obviously, each of these jobs would require a different resume. Spend some time looking over examples of resumes for jobs that interest you. Here’s 10 resume samples geared specifically toward various marketing roles.
Don’t just overload your resume with keywords you find in the job description. Rather, tailor the ordering and messaging of your resume copy to emphasize some things over others. For example, in a role that stresses the use of Google Analytics, list your skills in that area further toward the top. Or for past positions list your analytics reporting success instead of other accomplishments.
Work Experience
For many, this is one of the most challenging sections of the resume to write. After all, you want to show a potential hiring manager that you have what it takes to fill a position. At the same time, you don’t want to look like you are bragging. Employers want to see how you produced results in previous positions. Focus this section of the resume on presenting highlights from your time at other organizations.
Don’t just rehash your job description. Use every word to emphasize action and results. Use active, not passive tense. Avoid buzzwords, flowery language, and frills. Focus on results and explain how you achieved them.
Here’s a few examples of rewriting your bullet points to focus on results:
“Worked with online marketing tools” to “Launched Google Adwords campaign to increase revenue approximately $2,000 in the first two quarters.”
“Managed customer mailing list” to “Compiled and maintained mailing list of 1,000 potential customers using marketing automation.”
“Worked with co-workers to create blog series” to “Collaborated with a team of editors to write a series of 12 blog posts for an inbound marketing campaign that generated 25 new leads.”
Make it Fun
One of the best things about creating a resume for a marketing-related position is that you can make it a bit more creative. Don’t be afraid to let your personality show. After all, in many cases personality and uniqueness is what the hiring manager is looking for in a candidate. At the same time, don’t go crazy! Keep the resume simple and streamlined enough that all of the essential information is easily accessible and readable.
As a marketer some of your tasks might involve designing web pages or creating visuals for social media. What better way to show off your design skills than through your resume? Choose an interesting color scheme or combine multiple fonts to really wow the hiring manager.
Check out a few creative resumes and templates from Hubspot.
Keep Improving
Your resume should never be “good enough.” It’s always a work in progress. Spend some time learning more about the resume process AND evolving your skills as a marketer. As you increase your skills, don’t forget to update that resume. Even when you do land a new job, continue to update your resume since you never know when another opportunity will arise.
With this information, and some effort on your part, you should be well on your way to creating a resume that will land you that interview for the dream marketing job!
Want more tips on how to get on the path to nailing your first marketing job? Download the free eBook “Nailing the Job Hunt” today!
