With how important presentation is in marketing, your marketing manager resume needs to be close to perfect to impress recruiters. After all, if you can’t “sell” yourself, how can they trust you to sell anything else?
While that may be pressuring to consider, writing a job-landing marketing manager resume doesn’t have to be as hard as you think!
Just follow our step by step guide to writing a flawless marketing manager resume, including:
- Marketing Manager Resume Example (Better Than 9 Out of 10 Examples)
- Step-by-Step Guide to Write Your Marketing Manager Resume
- 25 Most In-Demand Skills to Put on Your Marketing Manager Resume
To start us off, let’s take a look at a well-written marketing manager resume example:
Marketing Manager Resume Example
There are several components that make this a great example to follow, including:
- Effective resume summary. It is short, highlights the applicant’s experience, and shows recruiters they’re a relevant applicant.
- Reverse chronological format. This format draws the recruiter’s attention to your most recent and relevant work, making their job much easier. Not to mention, it’s the most popular one worldwide.
- The right contact details. All of the necessary contact details are listed, including the candidate’s LinkedIn URL link, which makes the resume even more professional.
- Relevant Marketing skills. The applicant has included hard and soft skills that are relevant and desirable for the position they are applying to.
- Additional sections that add value. This marketing manager applicant has added certificates, interests, and languages sections that complement his resume.
- Short education section. There is only one item listed in this section, the applicant’s University along with relevant details.
- Focus on achievements over responsibilities. The work experience section focuses on the candidate’s achievements, which show to recruiters exactly how they can excel in the role.
- Optimal resume length. The resume fits perfectly on one page, the optimal length of a resume.
How To Build Your Marketing Manager Resume in 8 Easy Steps
We’ve shown you what the finished product should look like.
Now let’s go through the steps you need to follow to get you on your way to writing the perfect marketing manager resume!
#1. Choose the Format & Fix the Layout
The design and layout of your resume are extremely important. While this is true for everyone, it’s especially true for a marketing manager. This is your chance to show off your marketing skills even before the recruiter reads your resume.
To start off, you should choose a format. Here are the three most popular ones:
- Reverse-chronological. True to its name, this one lists your skills and work experience in reverse-chronological order, with your most recent job at the top.
- Functional. This skills-based format puts most of the focus on the skills section of your resume. It is the least popular format and is best for applicants who don’t have much experience to put on their resume.
- Combination. This is a hybrid format of the reverse chronological and functional formats. It showcases both your skills and work experience.
While all of these are great in their own way, we recommend you stick with the reverse-chronological format. This is the most popular format among both applicants and hiring managers, and with good reason:
- It is quick and easy to skim.
- It draws attention to your most recent and relevant position.
- Recruiters worldwide know it and prefer it over other formats.
Here’s what it looks like:
After you’ve decided on the format, you can start work on the structure and layout of your marketing manager resume.
Here are some of the basic layout rules you should keep in mind:
- Choose the right font. It’s best to go for something both catchy and professional. We recommend Ubuntu, Roboto, and Overpass. And never use Comic Sans.
- Use the right line spacing.
- Keep the style consistent. Make sure the style choices you make, such as font and spacing, stay consistent throughout your resume.
- Use bullet points. The use of bullet points makes your resume much more reader-friendly than big blocks of text.
- Keep your resume the right length. Keep in mind that recruiters have to go through hundreds of resumes daily, so you don’t want to make yours too long. The ideal length for a resume is 1 page with 475 to 600 words.
Want To Avoid The Hassle? Pick One of Our Tried-and-Tested Templates
Writing a resume using tools like Word or Google Docs can be a painstaking process. Formatting can be a nightmare and there are limited design options.
You might spend hours carefully adjusting the layout, for example, only to have to start the process all over again when it ends up spilling over to the next page.
What if we told you that you can avoid the hassle altogether by using one of our resume templates to write a perfectly tailored marketing manager resume. These templates are designed by a team of professionals, which means they are:
- Easy for recruiters to read
- Easy to scan using Applicant Tracking Systems
- Aesthetically pleasing and eye-catching
Take a look at how our templates compare to the traditional black-and-white resumes:
#2. Add Your Contact Details
One section that is sometimes overlooked is the contact information section. Although there isn’t as much to it as some of the other sections, it is no less important.
After all, why put in so much effort to write a spot-on marketing manager resume if you have a typo in your email and the recruiter can’t even call you in for an interview?
This is why the most important thing to watch out for in this section is typos. Not only will recruiters be unable to call you in for an interview, but they will probably be put off by the mistakes. In fact, 77% of recruiters reject applications just because of bad spelling or grammar.
Aside from that, the section is pretty straightforward. Just make sure you include the following details:
- Full name
- Title
- Phone number
- Social profiles such as LinkedIn
- Location
Here is an example of a marketing manager resume contact section done right:
Example:
Thomas MurphyDigital Marketing Manager570-604-9305thomas.murphy@email.comScranton, Pennsylvania
#3. Impress Recruiters With Your Resume Summary
Just like format and layout, your marketing manager resume summary is a good way to capture recruiters’ attention and show them you’re a relevant applicant.
This can make a world of difference, considering that 40% of recruiters spend less than a minute reviewing resumes. This means you want to give as much meaningful information as you can in those 2-3 sentences that make up your resume summary.
A great marketing manager resume summary will include:
- Your years of experience and professional title.
- Your top skills and 1-2 accomplishments.
In all, your resume summary should give the hiring manager a good idea of who you are, where you are in your career, and what they can expect from you if they decide to hire you.
Here is a good example of what your summary should look like:
Marketing Manager Resume Summary
- Digital Marketing Manager with 7+ years of experience leading digital marketing research and analysis. Taken charge of redesigning and upkeeping various company websites and social media accounts.
#4. Showcase Your Professional Achievements
Your work experience is one of, if not the most important part of your marketing manager resume. Thus, you want to make sure it’s well structured and focuses on your achievements.
To format your work experience, make sure you:
- Start by your current/most recent position and go backward in time from there.
- Add your title, the company name, the location of your workplace, and the years you worked there.
- Add 3-5 achievements and responsibilities under each work entry (with fewer bullet points for older positions).
Formatting your work experience section the right way is barely enough to help you stand out.
Actually, did you know that 34% of hiring managers will pass right over your application if they don’t see any measurable achievements?
That’s why we highly recommend that you prioritize your achievements over your responsibilities in your work experience section.
As a marketing manager, recruiters want to see your achievements to get a sense of what you can bring to the team if they hire you.
For example, you can mention how many new business partners you brought in to the previous company you worked for, or by how much you managed to increase sales of a product.
That doesn’t mean, of course, removing your responsibilities altogether and coming up with made-up achievements.
But if you do have 2 important achievements to list for your previous job position, make sure they come before your responsibilities.
And, to really drive the point home, make your achievements as quantifiable as possible. Think about it, “decreased customer turnover by 25% in three months by redesigning the webpage UX” sounds way more convincing than “increased customer satisfaction.”
Here is an example of a well-written achievement in a work entry:
Correct Example:
- Redesigned the webpage UX, decreasing customer turnover by 25% within a period of two months.
And here’s a not-so convincing example:
Incorrect Example:
- Responsible for improving customer experience.
#5. Include a Short Education Section
Including information about your educational background is a must on a marketing manager's resume. Hiring managers want to know that you have the right training and knowledge to do the job right.
That being said, education doesn’t require as much attention as the skills and work experience sections. All you really need to include in this section are details about your university such as your degree, the name and location, and years of attendance.
Here’s a good example:
MBA in Marketing
Melbourne Business School, Melbourne
08/2013 - 05/2017
#6. List Industry-Related Skills
Including key skills can boost your resume by as much as 59%, making it one of the most crucial sections of your marketing manager resume. They can basically show recruiters what they’re getting as part of the package if they hire you.
That being said, key skills don’t mean listing every single one of your skills. The optimal number of skills you should include in your resume is around 15 to 20, including both hard and soft skills.
To filter them out, what you can do is make sure they are directly related to the position you’re applying for! Sure, knowing the names of all 206 bones in the human body is impressive, but it has nothing to do with marketing.
25 Skills to Put On Your Marketing Manager Resume
Hard Skills
- SEO
- Social Media Advertising
- Google Ads
- Google Analytics
- Email Marketing
- Hubspot Marketing
- Facebook for Business
- Microsoft Office
- Pricing Optimization
- HTML
- Content Marketing
- Quantitative and Qualitative Research
- Intercom
- Writing advertising copy
- Writing Press Releases
Soft Skills
- Written and Verbal Communication
- Creativity
- Detail Oriented
- Listening
- Leadership
- Influencing others
- Presentation skills
- Public speaking
- Resiliency
- Stress Management
#7. Make Use of These Additional Sections
While the job experience and skills sections are arguably the most important and should take up the most space on your marketing management resume, there are some additional sections that can be quite valuable if you have space left.
- Languages: This can be super relevant to marketing, as networking and international collaboration are a big part of your job. Feel free to add any language you’re proficient in, especially if you know the company you’re applying to has branches or partners in those countries.
- Awards & Certificates: You can take this opportunity to show off any accolades you have received for your work, or certificates you’ve acquired.
- Hobbies & Interests: Though this section doesn’t seem so important, it can be a great way to show your personality and demonstrate how well-rounded and worldly you are – great traits to have in marketing.
Take a look at how these sections should look like on your marketing manager resume:
Example:
Languages:- English - Native
- Spanish - Native
- French - Full professional proficiency
- Chinese - Full professional proficiency
Awards & Certificates- Creative Media Awards, 2019
- Online Influence Awards, 2016: for PR & Comms
Hobbies & Interests:- Running a Youtube channel
- Writing film reviews
- Pop-culture trivia
#8. Attach a Cover Letter to Your Resume
The final touch that can really set your marketing manager resume apart is a cover letter that’s just as well-written as your resume.
Not only do recruiters expect you to attach a cover letter to your resume, but they also might not even consider your application without one.
So take the opportunity to write a great cover letter that will really let hiring managers know who you are and why they should hire you.
Here is the basic cover letter structure you should follow:
- Header - Make sure this section includes your full and correct contact details, as well as the name and contact information of the hiring professional it is addressed.
- Greeting - It’s always best to greet the recruiter by their name, as it will show you went the extra mile to research the company and the people doing the hiring. The recruiter will usually be the head of the department you are applying to and you can almost always find their name listed on the company website.
- Opening paragraph - This section of your cover letter should be very attention-grabbing. Impress the hiring professional with some of your biggest achievements.
- The second paragraph - This is where you convince the recruiter that you’re the perfect candidate for the job. Let them know what skills or experience you bring to the table and why you’re more qualified than the other applicants.
- Third paragraph - Here you can mention why you’ll fit in well with the company. This will show recruiters that you did your research and also tell them you’ll be a pleasure to work with.
- Closing - The closing of your cover letter is extremely important. This is the last thing the recruiter will read and will probably be what stays with them the longest. You want to make sure you leave a strong impression so they won’t easily forget you and your best chance to do that is by adding a memorable call to action.
Key Takeaways
With that, you’re ready to write a flawless marketing manager resume! Set yourself apart from other candidates and make a lasting impression on hiring managers by following our 8 simple tips:
- Format your resume. Presentation is super important in marketing so make sure to design and format it with care.
- Add the correct contact. Make sure you don’t make any mistakes when entering your contact details.
- Write an effective summary. Give recruiters a quick overview of who you are and what skills and experience you bring to the table.
- Focus on measurable achievements. Let recruiters know how effective you are at your job by giving them the facts and figures.
- Include your educational background. Add information about the university you attended and what degree you received.
- Add relevant skills. Show recruiters why they should hire you by listing skills relevant to marketing.
- Use additional sections to add value. Use additional sections such as language, social media, or interests to complement your skills and experiences.
- Include a cover letter. Let the hiring manager know exactly who you are, why you’re perfect for the job, and how you’ll benefit their company.
