Applying for jobs is exciting but can also be stressful. Whether you are applying for entry-level jobs out of college or you are trying to enter a senior level role, there are several things you should include in a marketing resume.
Add a Pop of Color
Computers (ATS software) won’t care about your bit of color pop, but your resume is more likely to stand out from the sea of black and white resumes if a recruiter or hiring manager is skimming the papers or PDFs manually. I love to add a block of color at the top of my resume where my name and contact information goes, and I also use that same color in the company name and job titles throughout my resume. Blue is a great color because it evokes a sense of trust and professionalism.
Include Quantitative Data
Including quantitative metrics is easy for digital marketers since digital marketing makes it simple to collect and analyze marketing performance data. You can include how you improved a company’s social media metrics, such as the engagement rate, number of followers, rate of follower growth, or number of impressions. If you have worked in Google Analytics or other tools that allow you to analyze website data, include numbers such as growth in website traffic or a decrease in bounce rate.
For marketers without much digital experience, it may be more challenging to come up with quantitative data to highlight in your accomplishments. It was hard for me to quantify things when I was mostly involved with graphic design of marketing materials. In these cases, try to come up with some way to attach a number to the accomplishment. For instance, give the number of marketing brochures or marketing collateral you designed during your time at the company. If you don’t know the exact number, give an estimate and include a ‘+.’
Example:
• Designed 20+ marketing pieces using Adobe Indesign and incorporating strategic design, brand standards, and mix of product and stock imagery.
Other examples of numbers you could include:
- The number of people you surveyed if you were doing market research
- The results of a marketing campaign you were involved with, including your role in the campaign
- The number of marketing materials you took the initiative to redesign, making sure to include details on what specifically you improved
- The $ amount of big sales or number of credit card/loyalty account sign-ups if you worked in sales or retail
Tie Results Back to Business
When possible, link contributions back to the impact on the business. For instance, if you increased impressions on company social media accounts, include whether this helped bring in more leads or whether this increased brand awareness.
In particular, if you can tie any of your contributions back to a dollar figure, this is extremely valuable. If you switched to a different vendor that saved the company money, include the $ amount the company saves annually or monthly. If you contributed to a marketing campaign, include the number of leads or dollar figure of the sales that resulted from the campaign. If you improved an advertising campaign by tweaking design, copy, or the offer, include the engagement metric and the resulting impact on sales.
Marketing leaders want to see how you can help the company improve its bottom line. You must show why each of your contributions was important for the success of the business. Don’t assume that the hiring manager or their manager cares about whether you increased the number of impressions on social media.
Include the Names of Marketing Tools
If you are including a skills section on your resume, make sure to include the names of all marketing applications you have experience with, such as Adobe Indesign, Google Analytics, Microsoft Office, WordPress, etc. Recruiters and hiring managers are often looking for candidates with experience using the tools that the company uses. The less they have to train you on the better. Also include any major project management tools you have worked with, such as Adobe Workfront, as well as CRM tools like Salesforce.
If you aren’t including a skills section due to limited space on your resume, make sure to include the marketing tools when you are listing your accomplishments. The AI computer software that scans resumes will be able to pick these out and match them to the job description, helping your resume rank higher in the pile.
Include Keywords from the Job Description
As is true for all resumes, including keywords from the job description will help your resume rank higher in the software system and make it easy for the recruiter to see you have relevant experience.
If the job description calls for cross-functional collaboration, make sure to include a bullet somewhere on your resume that calls out “collaborated cross-functionally with…” or similar.
If the job description mentions market research, mention ‘market research,’ along with the specific tactics you used in the past.
If the job description requires creating a product roadmap, mention experience with managing products or projects (project roadmap), along with whether you helped launch anything new.
These tips for marketing resumes should be used in conjunction with standard resume tips, including proper punctuation and grammar, keeping bullets short and concise, and using active words (‘developed’) as opposed to passive verbs (‘responsible for…’).