How to Write a Marketing Resume Hiring Managers Will Notice [Free 2023 Templates + Samples]

As we collectively enter into yet one more 12 months of an unsure employment panorama, having a stand-out advertising resume will solely strengthen your place within the job market.

It is ironic, however many entrepreneurs have a tough time promoting themselves. Turning the highlight inward is troublesome, however this can be a ability all entrepreneurs have to excellent in the event that they wish to develop of their careers.

On this article, we’ll present you each new-aged and tried-and-true strategies for constructing the right resume. You may discover resume templates and examples which have labored for our crew right here at HubSpot and folk in profitable careers at different firms.

Qualities of a Nice Advertising and marketing Resume

• Neatly formatted structure
• Effectively-written descriptions
• Correct dates, areas, and titles
• Applicable length-to-experience ratio
• Freed from grammatical errors and typos
• Submitted in PDF format

A fantastic advertising resume needs to be well-written, neatly formatted, and have an acceptable length-to-experience ratio. It ought to include particulars of your employment and schooling in addition to your distinctive worth proposition. Relying on the corporate and the job, you may also add expertise, certifications, and different sections to your advertising resume.

How lengthy ought to my advertising resume be?

Whereas there’s a lot debate about whether or not a resume needs to be one or two pages lengthy, it actually depends upon how a lot expertise you might have. When you’ve got underneath 5 years of expertise, one web page ought to work advantageous. Even if in case you have a number of jobs or have labored at totally different firms, it’s best to be capable to consolidate the marketing-specific expertise onto a web page and omit any roles that aren’t transferable.

When you method six or extra years of promoting expertise, it is alright to have a resume of two pages. Past eight years of promoting expertise, you are probably aiming for a management function or a posh unbiased contributor function the place a wealth of expertise each inside and outdoors of promoting is efficacious. On this case, use your greatest judgment to find out the size of your resume as it might be longer than two pages.

To determine how lengthy your resume needs to be, think about the next:

• Are all the bullet factors on my resume related to the job description?
• Does my abstract paragraph (if relevant) talk actionable expertise?
• Might my abstract be shorter and talk the identical data?
• Is there any redundant data on my resume?
• Can I take away any bullet factors and point out this data in a canopy letter?
• Can I take away any bullet factors and point out this data in an interview?

With the following tips in thoughts, let’s begin crafting your advertising resume.

How one can Write a Advertising and marketing Resume

Should you’re a marketer whose resume might use a refresh, don’t fret. With only a few assets and a few actionable suggestions from hiring managers themselves, we’ll show you how to create a very spectacular advertising resume that is certain to face out to recruiters.

1. Begin with a advertising resume template.

To make issues simple and enhance your effectiveness, do not begin from scratch. Resume templates provide you with a beginning place for structure and formatting in addition to inspiration for what to incorporate.

Featured Useful resource: 12 Free Resume Templates

Obtain 12 free designed, formatted, and customizable resume templates here. Check out them, after which use the recommendation beneath to customise your resume and make it rise above the remaining within the stack.

Alternatively, there are resume builder tools on the market that may assist as nicely.

2. Know your audience.

You’d by no means begin a advertising marketing campaign with out understanding who you wish to attain, proper? That’s as a result of as soon as you already know your audience, it is simpler for the opposite choices to fall into place.

The identical logic applies to your resume. If you already know who will learn it and what’s necessary to them, you’ll be able to form your message accordingly. To do that, you must take into consideration the kind of job and firm you are hoping to work for.

Ask your self questions like:

• Is the job purely inbound advertising, or will it require outbound work?
• Will you be a specialist or a generalist?
• Who’s the employer — an company with a buzzing digital advertising crew in place already, or a small firm seeking to leverage the ability of social media to develop their gross sales? Or perhaps it is a advertising division inside a big and established company?

As soon as you have outlined what’s most necessary to the corporate and job you are making use of for, you’ll be able to fastidiously goal your resume to them. You may know what expertise or traits to focus on, what key phrases to make use of, and which elements of your background might be most fascinating to the hiring supervisor. (For clues about which expertise totally different advertising roles sometimes require,read this blog post on marketing job descriptions. You may borrow phrasing from these in your personal resume.)

3. Outline your distinctive worth proposition.

You have got a novel mix of expertise, traits, and experiences that make you totally different from each marketer. To create a very efficient resume, you must outline precisely what this distinctive mix is — we’ll name thisyour value proposition.

To develop your personal worth proposition, take into consideration what separates you from different entrepreneurs. Is it your in-depth data of promoting analytics? Your capability to put in writing irresistible headlines? Maybe it is your expertise for creating compelling movies? Or perhaps you might have a powerful report of utilizing social media to drive gross sales development? No matter it’s, you should use it to set your resume other than the gang.

To a big extent, your worth proposition depends upon the kind of positions and corporations you are concentrating on. Massive and small firms typically search for fully totally different ability units, as do firms in several industries. In order you consider what makes you uniquely precious, and the way that aligns with the roles you are making use of to.

4. Describe influence, not options.

One of many oldest copywriting tips within the ebook isFAB(options, benefits, advantages).

By promoting advantages over options, you are higher capable of resonate together with your viewers since you’re really portray an image of what life might be like with the services or products.

The identical goes in your resume.

Whenwriting your resume copy, summarizing your expertise, or formulating your goal, do not merely depend on what you have finished. As an alternative of making an inventory of duties (options) underneath every function, define your accomplishments (advantages). These present a clearer image of who they’re hiring in the event that they select you.

For instance, as an alternative of “Monitored website positioning campaigns,” the next makes a a lot stronger assertion: “Elevated natural visitors by 56% in a single quarter.”

Consequently, the hiring supervisor is challenged to surprise, “What would life seem like if we benefited from this influence?”

5. Decide your messaging technique.

It’s essential to find out your messaging technique — earlier than you write a single phrase of your resume. That is what you do while you’re working a advertising marketing campaign, is not it? Listed here are among the issues to consider:

• What’s the greatest construction in your resume with a view to spotlight your worth proposition?
• Which key phrases will your splendid employer be in search of?
• How are you going to give real-world examples of your worth proposition in motion? (Take into consideration campaigns you have run, social media successes, concepts you developed, and so on.)
• What’s the greatest structure and design to bolster your message?

All these choices needs to be made earlier than you begin writing, and they need to all be made together with your audience in thoughts. That approach you’ll be able to ensure that when potential employers learn your resume, it can instantly ring a bell.

6. Do not overcomplicate issues.

Identical to the advertising adage says, “A confused thoughts says no.”

The easiest way to convey an concept is… merely. Even when the subject is complicated.

With this in thoughts, think about what message you wish to ship and hold the copy clear and concise to assist it.

Use the structure of your resume to assist on this endeavor, and do not be afraid to trim any pointless bits.

7. Make sure that your resume will get seen.

Should you do not have already got a connection on the firm you are making use of to, you may almost certainly want to use by way of an applicant monitoring system. This course of is what makes it so crucial to add it in a format that permits all recipients to learn it as meant, like a PDF. That approach, not one of the authentic formatting or spacing is misplaced in translation, making it actually troublesome to learn from a recruiter’s perspective. Though they’re going to nonetheless have entry to your resume, complicated formatting may distract them from the content material.

When you ship in your resume, the pc service will scan it for related key phrases which were programmed prematurely by the recruiter. Then, the system will advocate you or go, relying on what number of key phrases and phrases are included in your resume that match what the recruiter’s in search of.

Don’t fret: Even when your resume is handed, it does not imply your resume will not ever get seen by an actual human. Nevertheless it’s greatest to not depend on that. As an alternative, take into consideration which key phrases the recruiter might be in search of by making a notice of all the expertise you might have which are related to the job description. Then use these key phrases in your resume earlier than you submit it.

The key phrases you embody is likely to be the names of the social media websites you employ, analytics orCRM methods you already know, and software program packages or SaaS methods you’re accustomed to. Ensure you’ve included these phrases as seamlessly as attainable all through your resume (the place related), and add any outliers on the very backside underneath a “Technical Expertise” or “Digital Advertising and marketing Expertise” part.

Certain, computer systems could also be used within the preliminary screening course of, but it surely’s people — with actual emotions, pet peeves, hobbies, relationships, experiences, and backgrounds — who’re in the end studying and evaluating our resumes.

They’re additionally those who get irritated after we do not put our employment report in chronological order; who simply do not feel like studying paragraph-long job descriptions; and who get excited while you went to the identical faculty as them. So to get a way of what actually issues on a advertising resume, I requested some hiring consultants what they really care about once they scan resumes, and this is the within scoop on the information they shared with me. (By the way in which, do not miss out on what they mentioned aboutcover letterson the finish.)

1. Maintain it transient.

Restrict your resumes to at least one web page if you happen to can. It takes hiring managerssix secondsto resolve whether or not they like your resume or not. In the event that they do, they’re going to hold studying. If they do not… nicely, it is on to the following. So, likelihood is, they will not even get to web page two.

In some circumstances, bleeding onto one other web page is OK, particularly if in case you have numerous actually related expertise. But when you need to do this, simply do not exceed two pages. Bear in mind, recruiters can all the time have a look at your LinkedIn profile for the complete story. (As a result ofyou’ve completed your profile on LinkedIn, right?)

2. Use easy formatting.

Formatting speaks to the way in which candidates accumulate their ideas and set up their concepts. As HubSpot’s VP of Gross sales Productiveness and EnablementAndrew Quinnexplains it, “A candidate’s resume is their advert to me. How are they structuring this advert so I get a transparent image of what they’re able to?”

There is a advantageous line, although. It’s important to strike a steadiness between making your resume stand out and protecting the formatting constant.

Under is an instance resume with nice formatting that is simple to learn. Should you just like the format and wish to use it as your personal, you’ll find it amongst ourfree downloadable resume templates here.

Should you’re a inventive, you is likely to be asking, “What about graphic-heavy resumes?” Here is the overall consensus on infographic resumes: Do not make an infographic resume. Each hiring supervisor I spoke with suggested sticking to the basic resume kind as an alternative of infographics or different codecs.

Merely put, infographics are laborious to grasp. Creativity is inspired when making use of for design roles, however use your portfolio to let that ability shine. Plus, you may have much more wiggle room to point out off your skills exterior of a static medium like a PDF model of your resume.

Under is an instance of a inventive format that is nonetheless simple to learn and perceive. It was made utilizing the Apple desktop appiWork Pages, which could be exported as a PDF so none of that stunning formatting will get tousled in translation.

3. Take note of the standard of your writing.

Hiring managers throw away resumes with spelling errors — however writing high quality goes past simply easy spelling errors. Writing and presenting knowledge in significant methods is a crucial ability for any place, from running a blog to engineering.

Are the small print you need hiring managers to learn about you simple to devour? Do you employ concise sentences to convey your efficiency and accomplishments? Are your verb tenses constant (aside from present positions)? Is your language overflowing with buzzwords, or does it sound pure? Are you ensuring to make use of first-person with out utilizing “I” or “my”? (See #11 in this blog postto grasp why that is not okay.)

“Formatting, spelling, syntax, and construction are all proof of consideration to element,” Quinn advised me. “That is necessary for any job, however particularly if you happen to’re making use of to a job the place consideration to element issues.” Should you’re making use of for a writing place, that is much more necessary.

4. Embody your location.

In terms of location, hiring managers wish to know if you happen to’ll have to relocate. Should you already reside close to the corporate’s workplace, nice! Should you would wish to relocate, then there are extra choices each you and the hiring crew might want to suppose by way of. Hiring managers cannot legally ask you straight the place you reside — however omitting your location could elevate eyebrows. Even P.O. bins may very well be regarding.

Should you do have to relocate, it’s best to nonetheless embody your present, out-of-town metropolis and state in your resume, however be ready to reply relocation standing questions in an interview. If the corporate would not provide relocation packages or distant choices, will you be capable to afford to take the job and transfer anyway?

If not, you are higher off making use of for roles in your space, roles that point out relocation help on the applying, or roles which are remote-friendly.

5. Spotlight your schooling deliberately.

Which is extra necessary: The place you went to highschool, or what you studied?

It depends upon the job you’re making use of for and the extent of the function inside the firm.

Generally, your diploma ought to make sense for the function. Hiring managers are in search of the tie-in; what’s related about what a candidate’s finished at school. That does not imply solely advertising majors can apply to advertising jobs — advertising groups may rent somebody who got here out of inventive research like liberal arts, graphic design, or writing. An engineering crew, alternatively, most likely will not rent somebody with out a pc science diploma.

It additionally depends upon how profitable you had been on the faculty you attended. Whereas there are some hiring managers who solely give interviews to graduates of top-tier faculties, most say it helps to go to a top-tier faculty, but it surely’s actually not a deal-breaker if you happen to went to a much less common faculty or a group faculty. A group faculty graduate with a 4.0 GPA may very well be extra enticing than an Ivy League graduate with a 2.0.

Talking of GPA — when to take it off your resume is subjective. In case your GPA was beneath a 3.0, think about eradicating it altogether. If it is greater than that, Quinn says, “The benchmark is 5 to seven years after commencement, which is when candidates are likely to have a stable observe report of employment. Should you did nicely at school however had lackluster job prospects following commencement due to, say, a nasty economic system, you may undoubtedly go away it on longer.”

It goes each methods, he defined: “Should you had nice jobs and accomplishments following commencement however didn’t have a great GPA, think about eradicating your GPA earlier.”

Three to 5 years after faculty or graduate faculty commencement, you’ll be able to transfer your “Training” part to the underside of your resume — until you related with somebody by way of an alumni community or if you already know an government there who additionally went to your faculty.

The identical factor applies if you have not accomplished your diploma.Basha Coleman, Historic Optimization Advertising and marketing Supervisor at HubSpot provides, “Not each job requires a level today. Related work expertise and transferable expertise are simply as precious. Give attention to highlighting your expertise so the hiring crew can see your experience.”

Wish to take your advertising schooling to the following stage and make your resume much more interesting to potential employers? Change into an authorized inbound advertising skilled with HubSpot’s freemarketing certification.

6. Be in line with firm names and job titles.

Hiring managers will have a look at the place you have labored earlier than (do they acknowledge the corporate names or know anybody who works there?) and your titles at these firms.

“Should you’re making use of for a gross sales place at a software program firm like HubSpot, we’re in search of expertise promoting software program,”David Fernandez, former Recruiting Crew Lead at HubSpot, advised me. “Should you’re making use of for a companies place, we’re in search of customer-facing expertise.”

Sure, individuals tweak their titles at earlier firms to extra intently match the positions they’re making use of for. Should you do that, your “new” title needs to be shut sufficient to what you actually did that if somebody had been to name and verify a reference, they would not be dumbfounded. Possibly “Clerk to the Surgical Ready Room” turns into “Buyer Service Clerk.” Additionally, be sure that to vary your titles on LinkedIn, too — hiring managers will verify for consistency on LinkedIn, Fernandez mentioned.

7. Embody sufficient bullet factors in every part.

Every place you have had needs to be accompanied by not more than 5 to 6 bullet factors. Bear in mind, these hiring managers are scanning your resumes actually shortly, so that you wish to make it simple for them to seek out and digest the related data by consolidating a very powerful factors and placing them first. Paragraphs are an enormous no-no.

Fortunately, you’re employed in a career the place every part could be measured and analyzed, which suggests it is comparatively simple to inform a powerful story of success. Take into consideration all of the methods your work could be quantified by way of laborious knowledge after which fill your resume with action-packed bullet factors that convey the worth you have added.

Give attention to accomplishments first earlier than duties and duties. Should you had a senior administration function, embody the variety of individuals you managed. Should you constructed a program from the bottom up, name that out.

Additionally, embody targets and metrics that hiring managers can use to match you towards different candidates, and ensure these metrics make sense so you do not confuse the hiring supervisor. Run the metrics by a member of the family. I am severe. In the event that they make sense to them, then they’re all set. If not, you then weren’t clear sufficient and you must tweak the language.

Examples is likely to be growing social media engagement, enhancing website positioning ROI, driving elevated internet visitors, decreasing bounce charges, boosting touchdown web page conversions, and so on. After getting an inventory of your outcomes, select the perfect 4 or 5 and switch these into bullet factors like these:

• Drove 37% enchancment in e-newsletter clickthrough charges by rewriting gross sales copy.
• Grew ecommerce gross sales 23% in simply 6 months by redesigning and A/B testing all touchdown pages.

8. Remember so as to add your dates of employment.

Job hopping is not the pink flag it as soon as was. Today, switching jobs will not be solely mandatory for profession development but it surely’s typically cited as one of many quickest methods to develop financially, too.

So do not be afraid to listing a number of back-to-back stints at totally different firms in a brief time frame. So long as you have included your achievements in every function, you are golden.

Should you took longer than six months off of labor, clarify the hole in your resume. If it is one thing like instructing or the Peace Corps which you can describe like a job, then you’ll be able to insert it into your resume simply as you’ll every other place:

If it is one thing like touring overseas or taking break day for household or private causes, you’ll be able to merely add it in italics of parenthesis. You can additionally listing this era as a “sabbatical”. Hiring managers simply wish to see a rational clarification — that you simply had been doing one thing productive together with your time.

9. Think about including pursuits and hobbies.

Character is one thing hiring groups are consistently looking out for within the candidates they interview and rent. Though character is definitely picked up on in particular person, it is not unattainable to get an impression of an individual’s character from their resume.

To showcase character in a one-way doc, Editor in Chief of LinkedIn’s Advertising and marketing Options Weblog,Tequia Burt, encourages candidates to be assured of their capability to do the work they’re making use of for. She provides, “Take delight in what you do. Do not deal with how others will understand you. Present them the way you understand your self.”

Burt continues, “Be actual. Be your self. Be the perfect at what you do and let that shine by way of in your resume.” The proper approach to do that is by sharing pursuits and hobbies.

10. Let your persona and character shine.

Whether or not it’s best to embody pursuits and hobbies in your resume depends upon the corporate tradition and the job. Should you’re making use of for a inventive function, hobbies like images and portray may very well be fascinating to an employer. Should you’re hiring for an accounting function, then a interest like skydiving would not be good to incorporate — hiring managers may categorize you as a risk-taker, and do they actually desire a risk-taker managing their cash?

“Take into consideration the conclusions somebody might draw out of your hobbies relative to the function you are hiring for,” Quinn advises. “Do they improve or detract from the picture you are attempting to convey? If you already know the tradition embraces distinctive people which have a broad background and set of pursuits, then it may very well be helpful data. However conservative organizations most likely do not care what you do in your free time — in truth, they may interpret exterior hobbies as distractions.”

Firms with cultures like HubSpot’s need their workers to have some persona and put money into exterior pursuits. So if you happen to’re making use of to hitch that form of tradition, an “Pursuits” or “Hobbies” part may gain advantage you.

Earlier than together with or omitting this part in your resume, achieve some intelligence concerning the firm’s atmosphere and tradition. (And take a look atHubSpot’s culture codeif you have not already.)

Outdated Resume Practices

As soon as you have created your resume, it’s best to double verify it for errors, errors, readability, or inaccuracies. Use this guidelines to make sure your resume presents you and your expertise in the perfect gentle to advertising recruiters and hiring managers.

1. Utilizing private statements and targets.

In reality, we advocate skipping these altogether. Frankly, they’re irrelevant. I’ve spoken with HubSpot recruiters about quite a few occasions the place candidates put the title of one other native firm on there — big mistake.

As an alternative, change it with a “Expertise” or “Key Expertise” part on the high of your resume, in column format, that highlights the highest six to 9 expertise relevant to the function you’re making use of for. You should definitely change these expertise for every job and use the job description as a suggestion.

Do not plagiarize the job description by any means, however you’ll be able to pull out key phrases. For instance, within the instance beneath, one of many listed expertise is “Deep understanding of the buyer lifecycle.” That is as a result of the job description requested for precisely that: a deep understanding of the buyer lifecycle and buyer journey.

Professional Tip: Though it’s best to go away this part off your resume, it’s best to have one thing within the ‘Abstract’ part of yourLinkedIn profile. Focus this part on particular expertise and achievements. It is a good place to place a hyperlink to your portfolio, weblog, SlideShare shows, or examples of labor you have created like open-source code.

Use that area to speak about particular achievements from earlier roles, awards you have received, or initiatives you have labored on. The knowledge and expertise on right here needs to be relevant to the place you’re headed in your profession, not irrelevant previous expertise. (Once I first heard this tip, I instantly took “emergency medication” off of mine.)

2. Sending an editable file.

It is a large no-no for any trade, however particularly advertising. Sending an editable resume file carries many dangers:

• It might lose its formatting, making it troublesome to learn.
• It might unintentionally be edited or have content material deleted.
• It requires the recruiter to make a couple of additional clicks to open and obtain the file.

As an alternative, submit your resume as a PDF anytime somebody asks to see it or while you’re making use of for a job. Your resume is your skilled repute on paper, so make certain you are the one one who can change it.

3. Submitting a canopy letter.

Cowl letters fluctuate in significance, relying on the trade or firm to which you might be making use of. Many firms that require you to put in writing a canopy letter will learn it, however they’re going to focus principally in your resume.

With this in thoughts, it is best apply to draft a canopy letter simply in case. And also you need not create one from scratch for every function. Basha Coleman suggests creating a canopy letter template. “This may be the bottom of your cowl letter, but it surely nonetheless provides you sufficient room to customise. That approach, you do not really feel as overwhelmed while you notice the job description requires a canopy letter.”

Here is the duvet letter template she created as a brand new marketer making use of to roles in her first few years after faculty:

Advertising and marketing Resume Examples

It may be laborious to visualise your expertise on a clean resume template. These advertising resume examples had been sourced from professionals with varied years of expertise and advertising disciplines. Check out how every of them format their expertise for the job and be aware of the information we share about how one can implement them in your resume.

1. Natalie Gullatt

Natalie Gullatt has greater than 5 years of expertise on her one-page resume—fairly a feat for formidable entrepreneurs. She’s capable of convey all of her experience concisely as a result of she takes a extra conventional method together with her resume structure, abandoning fancy frills in favor of hard-hitting copy. She expertly conveys her advertising influence with metrics (e.g. “lower[d] prices by 61%” and “generated a $746k income pipeline”) in order that anybody contemplating her for the function can ask themselves: “What if she might do this for us too?”

Make it your personal:Use a easy resume format, 10-12pt font dimension for the physique copy, and use actionable statements with quantitative wins.

2. Andrea Fitzgerald

On this model of her resume, Andrea Fitzgerald makes use of her web page area successfully to show three years of expertise with listed gadgets on the left and descriptions on the appropriate. This makes the remainder of the resume simpler to skim. It is a plus, as hiring managers can shortly discover the knowledge they should determine if she’s a great match for the function.

She additionally summarizes her achievements in bite-sized sentences which makes them simple to seek out and talk about if she makes it to an interview spherical.

Make it your personal: Section your resume into two vertical columns. Use coloration to tell apart between roles, firms, and timeframes to offer this structure a visible hierarchy.

3. Jess Johnson

Jess Johnson utilized to HubSpot with this resume, tailor-made to the job and firm branding. By taking this distinctive method, her aim was to face out from different candidates. Whereas her resume wasn’t the one think about her touchdown the job, I think about it gained a little bit of consideration. In any case, a hiring supervisor is in search of candidates they’ll image within the place.

Make it your personal: Customise your resume template with the emblem and coloration scheme of the corporate you are making use of to that can assist you stand out.

4. Sarah Casdorph

There’s an previous saying on the market for protecting resumes to at least one web page, however for entrepreneurs with in depth expertise, the one web page is not all the time attainable with out compromising readability and design. On the similar time, something on the second web page is vulnerable to being ignored.

Sarah Casdorph solves for this, placing high expertise on the entrance web page and pulling out “notable impacts” for every place. Not solely is her two-pager simply navigable, however there is a clear path of accomplishment.

Make it your personal:When you’ve got 6+ years of expertise or are making use of to a management function, go in-depth about your associated expertise (even when it means utilizing two pages).

It is Simply Like Advertising and marketing

As a marketer, you might have a expertise for communication and a stable understanding of what makes individuals purchase. The excellent news is that by making use of this data to your personal resume, you’ll be able to simply stand out from the gang.

Editor’s notice: This publish was initially printed in July 2018 and has been up to date for comprehensiveness.