You’ve heard the saying that the hardest part is getting started. When it’s time to write your digital marketing resume or create a cover letter, staring at a blank page is undoubtedly the worst and most intimidating part of the process.
To help alleviate this stress, we’ve researched what hiring managers want to see on digital marketing resumes. Now we’re sharing our findings with you so you can build a resume with confidence.
These digital marketing resume samples have helped digital marketers get interviews at companies like Slack and Stripe, so they’re a great place to get inspiration for your own resume. No matter what digital marketing role you’re striving for, use our writing tips and templates to help you land more interviews (and get the job) in 2024!
Your digital marketing resume serves as your first impression to employers, which means you want it to be formatted correctly for prospective employers. Correct resume formatting ensures your digital marketing resume is readable, logical, and professional.
The most popular formats for resumes are the reverse-chronological, functional, and combination/hybrid formats.
It’s difficult to know which format to choose when writing your resume. If you’re unsure which to choose, it’s best to use the reverse-chronological format because it’s easy to read with a logical flow. Plus, it’s the unofficial standard for resumes, so employers (and the ATS) know how to scan it quickly.
You already know the importance of marketing, so when it comes to your resume header, this is where you should display relevant information prominently. It should be located at the top of your digital marketing resume.
The font you use for your name should be larger than that of the rest of the resume, and you should also include the job title (slightly smaller than your name) of the role you’re seeking.
Underneath your title and name, you need to put your contact information, starting with your email address. Avoid using the email you created in high school—if the only handle you have is [email protected], it takes just a few minutes for a tech-savvy individual such as yourself to set up a new Gmail account with a professional handle.
After your email, add your phone number in case employers wish to contact you directly. Then it’s up to you whether you list your location (just your city and state) and social media links. Your location may be important to alert employers to your availability for an in-person interview, but you can leave it out if you’re out of state.
If you have a LinkedIn profile or other professional websites, list the URLs in your contact header. This is a good way to showcase your skills and experience to employers. (Plus, many employers require your LinkedIn profile on your application.)
When you’re applying for a digital marketing position, it’s important to know about applicant tracking systems, also known as the ATS. Employers use the ATS to scan resumes and filter through potential candidates. If your resume isn’t formatted correctly or lacks keywords, it will be filtered out, and you won’t be considered for the position.
If you’re using a Google Docs resume template or a Word resume template, consider certain formatting elements to beat the ATS:
Though you’re a pro when it comes to marketing, it’s daunting to try and market yourself with only a single page. Building a resume is never going to be easy, but it can be a lot easier when you take it section by section with a resume maker.
A resume objective is a short statement explaining what you’re looking for in a job and what you can offer. A resume summary is a longer, more detailed explanation of your aggregated skills, experience, and accomplishments.
You won’t need to use either one for your digital marketing resume most of the time. For an objective or summary to work, it must be specific. Skip this section altogether if you can’t commit to customizing your objective/summary to each job for which you apply.
Think you might want to include an objective or summary anyway? Here’s when you should consider using an objective:
And here’s when a summary might be the key to winning the day:
Analytically-minded digital marketing graduate with a 12-week internship experience in social media management, analytics implementation, email acquisition, and web analytics. Eager to develop my skills under expert leadership within a team setting, where I can contribute to paid search and social media campaigns for Ritchie Bros.
This objective clearly states the company and the specific role the job candidate is seeking, pulling keywords, such as “paid search” and “social media campaigns” from the marketing job description. The job seeker demonstrates why they’re a good fit for this role by beginning with appropriate background information and skills.
Seasoned and goal-oriented digital marketer with 12 years of experience managing and executing successful marketing campaigns across multiple channels, including online, offline, and mobile. I have a proven track record of increasing website traffic and conversions by more than 25% through SEO/SEM, social media, email marketing, and content strategy. Looking forward to joining a tech startup like Steadily, where I can accelerate the growth of the company through a decade-plus of experience and mentorship of junior digital marketers.
This summary highlights 12 years of experience in digital marketing and explains why the candidate is suited for the job with quantifiable metrics aggregated across total work history. The summary also includes keywords like conversions and SEO from the job description.
When writing the bullet points for your work history, think about relevant experience. Three to four job experiences are the sweet spot, but if you have fewer than two, we have some tricks that will improve your digital marketing resume. If you’ve had many jobs, keep them handy on a master resume, but don’t list every position; just include the most relevant ones that fit the job description.
Writing your work experience bullet points
When writing work experience in a bulleted list, active verbs are the best way to describe your expertise and show your work in action. As a digital marketer, the following active verbs could serve you well:
Avoid using passive language like “was responsible for.” Similarly, personal pronouns (I, me, my) are space wasters.
The following three work experience bullet points are a solid start but still lacking:
To be fair, these bullet points have some solid information we can leverage, but they’re still too vague. They fail to demonstrate how your duties gave way to achievement.
With active language, role specifics, and quantifiable metrics, these become much stronger bullet points:
Does every bullet point need some sort of metric or quantifier? No. However, it should be a goal to shoot for.
Let’s dive further into metrics. Metrics are important because they allow the reader to determine your effectiveness in your role and if you met expectations. These numbers must demonstrate how you impacted the company directly or indirectly.
So, when listing work history, include metrics that support your experience. Aim to have metrics in 60 percent or more of your bullet points, so you’ll be ahead of your competition. Metrics can be derived from several areas:
For example, your job experience bullet points could look something like tho which you apply. If you’d rather not take the time to tailor it to each position, you’re better off leaving this section out.
There are two kinds of skills to include on your resume: hard and soft skills.
Hard skills are technical abilities specific to the job, like A/B testing or Google Analytics. Soft skills are more general traits that employers appreciate across most jobs, like teamwork or communication. While soft skills are important, your digital marketing resume should contain mostly hard skills.
These are ordinary hard and soft skills used in digital marketing, but there are many more for which an employer may be looking. Pay close attention to the keywords listed in the marketing job description, then use that to tailor your skills section with six to ten relevant keywords.
At minimum, you’ll need a bachelor’s degree to begin your career in digital marketing. This means you can skip listing your high school diploma if you’ve got a degree. If you have a master’s degree, include your bachelor’s as well and list them in reverse-chronological order.
Especially once you’ve gotten some years under your belt, you don’t need to include anything fancy. Just list the basics:
If you want to show off further training, you can add a dedicated certifications section. Certifications don’t take the place of a degree, but some employers may request certain certs from you. There’s a world of certifications available for you to pursue through Google, Coursera, Facebook, YouTube, and many more.
Certs range in experience level, price, and requirements. If you do have a cert(s) or plan to pursue one, this sort of thing is simple to include. You can briefly list it in the sidebar or at the bottom of your resume.
Most resumes don’t include projects, but sometimes they can be helpful to give the recruiter more information about you, especially if you’re short on previous job experience.
If you’re including projects on your digital marketing resume, treat projects as you would your work experience section by listing three to six bullet points under each. Like your work experience bullet points, your project bullet points will demonstrate your role in the project and the positive outcomes. Metrics are encouraged here, too.
Projects could range from anything to developing a social media campaign for a small business or tinkering with a personal blog and optimizing SEO performance.
Adding an interests and hobbies section isn’t the same as a projects section. Consider including this section if the job description references the importance of a good company cultural fit or if they seem pretty casual. Even if the company is casual, it’s not okay to list any ol’ thing. Binge-watching Netflix and napping on the weekends are not the kinds of things you want to advertise to potential employers (but hey, we understand the importance of a good nap).
Instead, opt for interests and hobbies for which you can intelligently demonstrate relevance to the job if asked during an interview.
For example, as a digital marketer, experimenting with French cuisine demonstrates that you’re a self-starter who is creative and doesn’t mind trying new things. As another example, playing rugby throughout college shows that you’re well-rounded and can balance your time well.
If you’ve made it this far, you’re nearly there, just hang in there for this critical piece of advice. Tailor your digital marketing resume to each job you apply for.
Tailoring your resume is easier than you think. You only need to slightly adjust the following sections:
We’ve discussed the importance of reading the job description carefully and including the keywords mentioned. Don’t do a copy/paste job, and be honest about your abilities. Include keywords strategically to show your employer that you have the skills and experience needed.
Lastly, don’t let your resume fall into anyone’s hands until it’s perfectly polished and error-free. Let your resume rest overnight before you return for a final look. For best results, check your resume multiple times and even better, have a friend or trusted colleague look it over, too!
At last, you made it! Maybe you still have to finishing writing your resume, but we’re confident that your resume will be better with these tried and tested tips.
There you have it! With these tips, you’re one step closer to landing your dream digital marketing job. Now, you can become a professional resume builder and work on your digital marketing cover letter, so you can get more interviews.
