Wondering how to land the ideal job in digital marketing? It all starts with crafting the perfect resume. Employers form their first impression based on this single document, making it essential to highlight your skills, experience, education, achievements, awards, and certifications.
With the perfect resume for digital marketing, you can showcase your creativity, adaptability, and technical skills– which are all qualities that are essential for thriving in this fast-paced and ever-evolving industry.
A well-structured resume can help you stand out from the crowd, showcasing your expertise and positioning you as a top candidate for your dream role. Now, let's dive into how to create a resume that captures attention and opens doors!
What is a Resume?
A resume is a formal summary of your skills, education, experience, and qualifications. The term “resume” comes from the French word “résume,” which means “to summarize.” Usually accompanied by a cover letter, these documents play a critical role in the job search process, helping employers evaluate your eligibility and qualifications for the position.
Employers use resumes to gain a deeper understanding of your skills, strengths, and experiences. Your resume serves as the first point of contact with the employer, setting the tone for essential next steps such as interviews and onboarding.
Why are resumes important?
As the first impression of your professionalism, here’s why resumes are key to finding your dream position:
They outline your skills and experience: A well-structured resume highlights your most important skills and experiences to potential employers.
They allow you to showcase your value: Your resume should not only list your skills and experience but also demonstrate how you can contribute to the company, using your achievements to illustrate your impact.
They align you with the position: A tailored resume matches your skills and accomplishments to the specific needs of the role.
Types of Resumes in Digital Marketing
In digital marketing, the type of resume you create should align with your skills, experience, and the role you’re applying for. Here are the common types of resumes:
Chronological Resume
A focus on your work experience in reverse-chronological order, preferably being for professionals with a consistent career path in digital marketing. It contains a strong emphasis on job titles, companies, and dates of employment. It highlights growth and progression throughout the industry and showcases long-term expertise.
Functional Resume
Rather than focusing on job history and experience, this type prioritizes skills and achievements, tailored for career changers, fresh graduates, or those with gaps within their work history. It emphasizes on groups' accomplishments under skill categories and strongly showcases transferable skills, looking past specific timelines.
Hybrid Resume
A combination of your skills and work experience, which is preferably for digital marketers with a mix of technical expertise and relevant work experience. It highlights skills listed following a chronological work history. This type of resume is beneficial for emphasizing technical and analytical skills along with career achievements.
Creative Resume
This type shows the visual appeal and unique design elements of a resume, mainly for roles where creativity and innovating are key. It includes infographics, color schemes, and portfolio links, showcasing creativity through the resume.
What to Include in your Digital Marketing Resume
As we said, a professional resume should showcase your qualifications, experience, and skills to capture the attention of recruiters and hiring managers. Here is a step by step of what your next digital marketing resume should consist of:
Contact Information
Employers need your contact information to schedule interviews and connect with you through specific platforms.
Name: Use a professional font and bold styling.
Phone number and email: Make sure these are up-to-date and professional.
LinkedIn Profile: Place your profile link, customized with your name.
Portfolio: Link to your portfolio or personal website to showcase campaigns, creative content or any type of work that was done to showcase your skills and experience.
Professional Summary
To give an overview of who you are, what you are looking for, and what you bring to the table, a professional summary must be included in your resume. Write a concise, impactful summary that is around 2-3 sentences that highlights your expertise and career achievements.
An example of this could be: “Data-driven digital marketer with 5+ years of experience in developing and delivering strategies. Proven expertise in SEO, PPC, and social media advertising, with a strong record of increasing ROI by 30% across multiple campaigns.”
Key Skills
Showcasing what skills you have is key to a perfect resume, especially within the field of digital marketing. Focus on digital marketing-specific skills and tools relevant to the job using bullet points for clarity:
Core skills: SEO, PPC, Social Media Strategy, Content Creation, Analytics, and Email Marketing.
Soft skills: Communication, Creativity, Analytical thinking, Adaptability, Collaboration, Empathy, and Problem-solving.
Tools: SEMrush, Hootsuite, HubSpot, Google Ads, Facebook Ads Manager, and Google Analytics.
Other skills: A/B Testing, CRO, CRM Platforms, Data Visualization, and UX Optimization.
Professional Experience
This is the important part. List your work experience in reverse chronological order, focusing on achievements over responsibilities to show what you are capable of. An example could look like this:
Job Title - Company Name
Month/Year
Managed social media accounts with a following of 150,000+, increasing engagement rates by 35%.
Developed and executed content strategies that boosted organic search traffic by 50% within six months.
Led a PPC campaign, driving a 40% increase in conversions and reducing CPC by 25%.
Education
Including your highest degree and relevant certifications is essential, as education demonstrates hands-on experience and learning. However if you did study Marketing, it is still essential to mention your degree.
Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing, (University Name), (Year)
Certifications: Facebook Blueprint, Google Ads Certification, HubSpot Marketing Certification, Meta (Facebook) Ads Blueprint Certification.
Additional Sections
To showcase more on your capabilities, one could add an additional section that is primarily optional, where you can include:
Languages: Indicating proficiency (e.g., Spanish - Fluent, French - Intermediate, English- Beginner)
Volunteer Work: Highlight marketing projects or related roles/responsibilities that you have experience in, voluntarily.
Interests: Showcase your interests like blogging or podcasting, or anything that is relevant to marketing.
Projects: Demonstrate significant freelance or personal projects that have had impact. (e.g: Managing a Nonprofit campaign which included creating a social media strategy for an NGO, increasing donations by 50%)
Tips for Success
Other than the basics, there are a few more recommendations to make your resume stand out in comparison to many applicants.
Tailor for the job: Customize your resume at every opportunity and application, using the keywords from the job description.
Design Matters: Use a clear and professional template with clean sections.
Be Metric-Driven: Keep focus on quantifiable achievements (e.g., reduced costs, increased conversions).
Show Your Creativity: Add links to your portfolio, blog, or any other examples of your work.
The general tips for a successful resume are to firstly, customize your resume for each role by emphasizing the skills and experience listed in the job description. Optimize and use keywords from the job posting, like, for example, ATS (Applicant Tracking Systems) to show key understanding of the company’s language. Focus on the results by using metrics and actionable verbs to highlight your impact and what you bring to the table, which is the most important part of the resume.
Are you ready to land your dream job in digital marketing? Start by crafting the perfect resume that showcases your skills, achievements, and expertise. Explore Ironhack’s blogs on the vast field of digital marketing and how you can leverage that to your advantage in gaining any position in digital marketing!
