How To Get Your Marketing Resume Noticed

That's not a valid work email account. Please enter your work email (e.g. you@yourcompany.com)
Please enter your work email
(e.g. you@yourcompany.com)

A red key on a modern computer laptop keyboard with words Sell Y Marketing can be a good field to get into. It offers both creativity and good compensation with the possibility to work in lots of different fields. The trick, though, is getting noticed when you submit your resume.

Here are some good things you can do, as well as some bad things. Maybe it’s best to take a look at the bad things you can do first.

A Mashable article written by Mike Volpe, the chief marketing officer of HubSpot, offers some great advice about doing it all wrong. There is basic advice, like making sure you spell check your resume and making sure your telephone number isn’t the only number on your resume.

As Volpe points out, “Marketing is no longer arts and crafts — you need to be measurable and efficient to succeed. As a result, if your resume doesn’t include a single quantifiable metric to show your accomplishments, you’re likely not going to be a good fit on a marketing team today.”

He also points to the need to be a good communicator. Business “babble,” as he puts it, doesn’t belong in a field where you are communicating to consumers. He says, “No one wants to read about how you ‘leverage responsibilities to meaningfully impact the organization’s directional strategy.'” What does that even mean?

There is also some good advice about social media. Sure, it’s not directly a part of your resume, but it is an important part of any job search. One tip he mentions is using a professional photograph on your LinkedIn profile. Heck, I’m guilty of that. I don’t have a selfie, which he says to avoid, but my photo, while taken by a professional, is of me sitting in a car.

Your resume claiming you’re a digital marketing wiz needs to be backed up online. As Volpe says, “You don’t have to be popular like Michael Jordan or Michael Jackson, but you should be present enough on the web that I can easily find your LinkedIn profile, content you have created, your Twitter account, or your personal web page just by typing your name into Google.”

OK, so what can you do right on your resume to get noticed? BlueSkyResumes.com has some advice to share.

“You wouldn’t create an advertisement or a website without a clear strategy in mind, and the same applies to your resume. Once you have identified your audience, defined their needs, and developed your value proposition, you have some strategic decisions to make,” the site says, adding that these questions need to be answered:

  • How will you best structure your resume to communicate your value?
  • What keywords need to be in there?
  • How can you give real-world examples of your value proposition in action?
  • What is the best layout and design to reinforce your message?

Also, the site says, keep this thought in mind: less is more. “Don’t try to say too much! You can’t possible tell the whole story of your career in this one document and you shouldn’t try. Be concise and focused. You know your audience, you know what’s important to them and you know what you have to offer. Say just enough to convey that and not a word more.”

On a related note, never send a generic cover letter. Media Jobs Daily, a mediabistro.com blog points out, “Per a piece in today’s New York Post, HR executive in the media industry Gregory Giangrande writes: ‘It doesn’t take much sleuthing to find names of executives running different departments. Try to find someone in your network who is connected to someone at the company, and see if you can get a referral.’ Here’s the thing: companies love referrals. Love, love, love them. Even if you don’t know a connection that well, a connection is still a connection and it’s better than nothing.

 

By Keith Griffin