Learn how to craft a compelling digital marketer resume that lands you the job you desire. Discover the best resume format to use, how to optimize your resume for application tracking tools, and what key skills and experiences to highlight.
Key Insights
- There are three basic types of resume: functional, chronological, and combination. For those new to the field of digital marketing, a functional resume that highlights skills and training is recommended.
- Many companies use application tracking systems (ATS) to filter resumes. It's crucial to include relevant keywords from the job description to increase your ATS score.
- A well-designed resume should be easy to read and well-structured. It's recommended to use H1 for your name, H2 for section titles like work history, education, and skills, and H3 for subheadings within sections.
- Customize your resume for each job application. Setting up a modular resume system can help you create a specifically tailored document to fit each job description.
- It's important to list both hard skills (abilities learned through training) and soft skills (personality traits) on your resume. Some commonly included skills in digital marketing jobs include copywriting, pay-per-click advertising, communication skills, and organizational skills.
- Feedback from a trusted mentor or teacher can be invaluable when putting together a resume. Noble Desktop offers job search mentorship and resume feedback to students enrolled in their digital marketing and social media marketing certificate programs.
Your resume tells your employment story, so it is important to use the correct format, to present the information in a logical way, and to proofread for errors. Keep the sections of your resume brief; you can elaborate in an accompanying cover letter. Many companies use application tracking tools, so it is important to pay attention to keywords in the job description and tailor your resume to the job. Be sure to include relevant experience and skills on your Digital Marketer resume, but do not ever lie!
What to Put on a Digital Marketer Resume
Your resume is the story of your employment journey from the beginning to this point in time. Your first decision when preparing your resume will be what format to use. If you have some digital marketing work experience, use a chronological resume. This means that you start with your present job and list your employment moving back through time to your first job as a Digital Marketer. If you are just starting out in your career and are looking for your first Digital Marketer job, use the functional resume format. This style focuses on skills and training rather than job experience
Start at the Beginning
Start your resume with your name and contact information. You might also include a photo, if you want. You will also need an overview section, which can be a summary of the resume or a statement of your objective. It’s a good idea to write the introduction last. It summarizes what is in the document and that will be easier after you write the rest of it.
Summary Portion
If you have worked as a Digital Marketer already and are looking to move up the career ladder, use a summary resume introduction. This provides an overview of the jobs you have had so far and includes a statement about what makes you the best choice for this Digital Marketer job. It should highlight your accomplishments and use quantitative examples such as a percentage of how much you increased website traffic or how many social media followers you attracted to your company account.
Objective Section
If this would be your first or second digital marketing job, use an objective style of introduction. Focus on any experience you have with digital marketing such as a personal blog or social media accounts or volunteer work you have done, and explain briefly why you are a good choice for the job.
Education and Work History
If you have been working as a Digital Marketer for a while, focus on job experience before education, but if you are applying for your first Digital Marketer job, start with your education. If you belonged to a student marketing group or completed an internship include that and volunteer projects you may have done. If you are still in school, start with your course of study, the name of the school, and when you expect to graduate or finish your certificate.
If you are currently working as a Digital Marketer, start with your work history. Focus especially on jobs that gave you experience relevant to the position you are currently applying for. Include any degrees or certificates you have earned with the name of the school, where it is located, your major or area of study, and date of completion or graduation. Don’t forget to list any honors or awards that you received.
Digital Marketing Skills
This section will describe the hard and soft skills you have developed in digital marketing. Hard skills are abilities that you have learned through training. This includes different digital marketing tools you have used like Google Analytics, SEMRush, and Tableau. Soft skills are personality traits like enjoying using technology or good communication skills that make you a good choice for this job.
Be honest here. If you are experienced at a skill like website audits, and SEO is one of the skills listed in the job description, definitely include it. Go back to the job advertisement, look for the skills listed there, and include the skills you possess. If you are only a bit familiar with a skill, list it but point that out.
When you list skills, pay attention to the job description in the advertisement. Many companies use resume-searching software to look for keywords as a way to filter through resumes. Here are some digital marketing skills that are commonly included in job advertisements:
Hard Skills
- Copywriting and Copy Editing
- Pay-Per-Click Advertising
- Search Engine Optimization
- Email Marketing
- Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)
- Analytical Tools
- Marketing Automation
Soft Skills
- Communication Skills
- Analytical Skills
- Organizational Skills
- Creativity
- Time Management
- Collaboration Skills
Extra Sections
Companies get thousands of resumes for every job, so to make your digital marketing resume stand out from the others, consider adding some extra sections to your resume. Many companies today focus on personality and whether or not applicants will fit into the company culture. You can put this information into these extra sections, but make it relevant to digital marketing. Some possibilities are:
- Publications
- Certifications and Licenses
- Awards
- Volunteer Work
- Foreign Languages you speak
- Hobbies and Interests
References
Resumes often have a references section. This is a list of names and contact information for people who know you well enough to answer questions about you. When putting together a reference list, consider what kind of references would be best for the situation and what the person is likely to say about you. References don’t have to give you a glowing review, but they shouldn’t be negative, either.
When you are putting together your list, contact references and get their permission. Make sure their contact information is up to date, and send your references a thank-you email if you get an interview.
Here are some ideas of who to include as references:
- Work-related references - current and past co-workers, supervisors, employers, or mentors. Anyone who worked with you and can speak to your job performance, skills, and experience will work.
- Character references - people who have known you for several years and can speak to your character. Character references are usually friends, family, and sometimes clergy.
- Academic references - teachers, classmates, counselors, and administrators can be academic references. They can describe what you were like as a student and how you performed.
6 Digital Marketer Resume Tips
Here are some ideas specific to resumes for Digital Marketer jobs:
Create a Functional Resume
There are three basic types of resume: functional, chronological, and combination. The functional resume highlights your skills and is the best option for people who are new to a field. The chronological resume is organized according to time. People usually start with their most recent job and go back to the beginning from there. This works well for people with a long work history. The combination resume is a hybrid of the other two. It is good for people with a long work history who want to highlight some skills. Perhaps they want to specialize in a different area.
Understand ATS
Applicant tracking systems (ATS) search resumes for keywords and come up with a score. Resumes scoring above a set level go on to HR and the others are discarded. The chosen keywords will appear in the job description, so read it carefully. Make a list of keywords and write them exactly as they appear in the ad. The ATS is an algorithm and that is how they work.
Easy-to-Read Design
Don’t make employers work to decipher your resume. Choose a legible font, like Arial or Open Sans. If you like a bit more formal look, go with a serif font like Georgia. Pay attention to white space. Break your resume into sections and add spaces between them to make the organization more obvious and give your resume a clean look. Use headings and subheadings to make it easy to scan. Web accessibility guidelines recommend using H1 for your name; H2 for section titles like work history, education, and skills; H3 for subheadings within sections; and so on.
Pay Attention to Your Social Media Accounts
Before you start applying for jobs and sending out resumes, go through your social media accounts and remove anything that might raise eyebrows. Vacation photos are fine unless you were visibly intoxicated. Remove anything obviously political. Those can count against you in a job search. It’s not fair, but it’s life.
Customize Your Resume for Each Job
It is important to create a resume that is specific for each job. Setting up a modular resume system can help with that. Create each section separately and then plug them in with the appropriate keywords from the job advertisement. You could create a folder labeled skills with files for each skill. When you put your resume together, choose the relevant skills for each resume. A modular system allows you to create a specifically tailored document to fit the job description.
Get Feedback
Feedback from a trusted teacher or mentor can really help when you are putting together a resume. Noble Desktop offers 1-on-1 job search mentorship and resume feedback to students enrolled in the Digital Marketing and Social Media Marketing Certificate Programs. These professionals have applied for many jobs and hired Digital Marketers and they can give you an idea of how your resume looks.
Learn the Skills to Become a Digital Marketer at Noble Desktop
Noble Desktop offers many digital marketing courses that teach skills to help you switch to a career in digital marketing. Small class sizes and expert instructors help you learn digital marketing in in-person or live online classes. Plus, you can take a course over again for free at any time during the following year.
Noble Desktop offers many bootcamps in digital marketing like Facebook Marketing, email marketing, Social Media Content Marketing: Blogs & Twitter, and Video Marketing: TikTok & YouTube. You can also choose the Digital Marketing Certificate or a Social Media Marketing Certificate course. Other Noble Desktop resources that can help prepare for a career in digital marketing include the digital marketing blog with valuable articles about social media marketing, SEO, and other essential tools for digital marketers.
Related Digital Marketer Resources
How to Learn Digital Marketing
Master digital marketing with hands-on training. Digital marketing refers to marketing a service or product through online platforms such as social media, search engine websites, blogs, and email.
- Digital Marketing Certificate at Noble Desktop: live, instructor-led course available in NYC or live online
- Find Digital Marketing Classes Near You: Search & compare dozens of available courses in-person
- Attend a digital marketing class live online (remote/virtual training) from anywhere
- Find & compare the best online digital marketing classes (on-demand) from the top providers and platforms
- Train your staff with corporate and onsite digital marketing training