The marketing profession leads in many career directions: community and media relations, in-house or agency positions, website or proposal writing, digital or print communications, and so on. However, there are a few common denominators to all of these potential career paths for marketing professionals. Your resume should focus on:
- Your unique value. For example, have you experienced success in market research or social media or analytics or crisis control or writing speeches for executives? Find a niche, look for companies who want to fill that niche, and focus your resume on your successes in that aspect of the marketing profession.
- Communication skills. Marketing professionals must be able to communicate, whether in person, online, or in print—that is a basic skill every marketing professional is assumed to have. Therefore, your resume must highlight the value your communication skills brought to a company. For example, “Improved community satisfaction scores 12% by initiating a social media campaign focused on employee volunteers.”
- Project management skills. Most marketing professionals are assigned projects that they are responsible for fulfilling with or without a team. Highlight the specifics of the project as well as the difference your skills made: “Drove 60% increase in search traffic and 40% decrease in bounce rate by leading 15-member team who revamped entire website in just five months.”
- The impression your resume makes. This is particularly important because you are a marketing professional who is marketing If your resume is filled with typos or format inconsistencies or if your unique value and skills are hidden, you have already failed as a candidate.
As a marketing professional, you may feel you know everything about selling yourself and your skills. However, resumes are a special case. A resume that is filled with unique tables and charts might show off your communication skills, but it will never make it through the Applicant Tracking System (ATS). A resume that oversells (and it is possible to do that) might cause hiring managers and recruiters to doubt your honesty. Simply using too many words, especially adjectives and adverbs, might undermine your message.
To make sure your resume has found the perfect balance, please contact Robin’s Resumes® today.