Digital Marketing Resume

Digital Marketing Resume Tips

Creating a digital marketing resume from scratch can be an arduous task. However, creating a resume that stands out in any competitive industry, especially digital marketing, is essential.

To capture the attention of potential employers and effectively utilise the time they take to skim through your resume, you need to know what to prioritise and be prudent about it.

In this guide, we will cover the essentials to include in your digital marketing resume (CV) that will significantly boost your hiring chances. If you’re looking to embark on a digital marketing career and want to find out what it entails and how you can get started, you’ll get a clearer picture reading this article.

Equinet’s Digital Marketing Career Resources can be your stepping stone into the career of digital marketing. Don’t forget to visit the page and read in-depth information about a career in digital marketing.

What Should You Include In Your Digital Marketing CV?

A digital marketing CV or resume should include the following elements in the following order:

Name and Photo

This is a given. Include your full name (not just your first name) and a professional profile photo (headshot) at the top of your resume. This is the first impression of transparency and professionalism that you want to convey.

Contact Information

Include your phone number, email address, and residential address. Employers need this information to contact you and gauge your proximity to the workplace. Be sure to avoid using unprofessional email addresses to maintain your professionalism.

Summary

Research shows that recruiters spend an average of 6-8 seconds reviewing a resume. Your professional summary is your one chance to hold their attention.

This section should not be mistaken as a cover letter. This is not a cover letter but a brief, impactful introduction.

The summary should describe how your skills and experience can benefit the company. Avoid being too long-winded or listing down all your skills and experience. There are other sections below where you can elaborate a lot further.

This section should summarise all the key points of your resume into a concise and convincing synopsis for recruiters to get a sense of who you are and if you are a fit for the role.

Here’s a good example:

Over 10 years of experience in senior management roles. Grew a digital marketing team from 1 to a headcount of 8 over a span of 3 years. Led the digital marketing transformation for a global brand, reduced the cost of customer acquisition by 30% and increased ROI by 250%. A well-rounded team player and T-shaped digital marketer with a creative background.

And a not-so-good example:

I am a self-motivated, independent worker who also works well in a team environment. Through my years of marketing experience, I have developed the skills required to effectively execute digital marketing strategies that generate positive ROI. In my free time, I like staying abreast of marketing trends, emerging technologies in digital marketing, and creating side projects to practise my marketing skills.

The difference between the first and second examples is that the former is straight to the point and focused on achievements, while the latter is long-winded and does not go into the details of the accomplishments.

If you are a fresh graduate, switching careers or have little to no experience in digital marketing, go for an objective summary instead. For example:

Passionate in the field of digital marketing. Successfully kicked off an experimental side project with a friend and generated over a hundred leads over the past 6 months. I believe my skill sets will be beneficial to the [industry of the company you are applying for]. Please see the attached digital marketing plan for [website of the company you are applying for].

Experience

This is the core of your digital marketing resume and should detail your work history. Be sure to use a consistent format for each entry.

Example format:

• Company
• Location
• Designation/Position Title
• Time period

Followed by segments including the following components across each point:

• Subheadings to segment each specialisation (if applicable)
• Action verb
• Project details
• Achievement/Results
• Accomplishments

Try to use specific examples to demonstrate your expertise and contributions. Repeat the above format for each company you have worked for.

Here’s a good example:

ABC Industries | Singapore | Apr 2015 – Nov 2019 (4 years 7 months)

• Led the Performance Marketing, Social Media Marketing, and Customer Experience teams to generate a digital revenue of $18M from Singapore, Taiwan, USA and Canada.

XYZ Corporation | Japan | Mar 2010 – Jan 2014 (3 years 10 months)

• Restructured the Digital Marketing Analytics team to set up the P&L tracking system that accounts for every digital dollar spent. The company was able to break even within 6 months and achieve profitability by the 7th month.

If you’re completely new to digital marketing and don’t have any experience to showcase, there are a couple of ways to break this barrier such as:

• Attending digital marketing certification courses
• Working on a digital marketing capstone project as part of the certification course requirements
• Working on side projects such as setting up a blog and optimising it for search engines

Getting a digital marketing internship at a digital agency or company

Education and Certifications

This section will include all your academic qualifications from primary to tertiary education (list the certification title, institution name, and dates):

• PSLE
• O-Levels
• A-Levels
• Diploma
• Specialist Diploma
• University Degree
• Masters
• PhD
• etc.

It would be advantageous to include any vocational courses or additional digital marketing certification you have undertaken since digital marketing has evolved rapidly and school curricula have been slow to adapt to the changes. It will also show recruiters you are proactive in lifelong learning and upgrading yourself. Here are some examples:

• Google Ads Search Certification
• Google Ads Display and Measurement Certification
• Facebook & Instagram Ads Certification
• Google Analytics Certification

Don’t hesitate to expand on the specific modules for each certification course as well. This will give recruiters a clearer idea of what was covered and assess its relevance to the business.

Language Proficiency

Indicate your language proficiency here. This is a sample format taken from JobStreet:

Language | Spoken | Written |

English     |     10     |      9      |

Proficiency level: 0 – Poor, 10 – Excellent

You may also want to attach articles or links to blog posts you have authored to back up your proficiency ratings.

Core Skills (Technical Skills)

Here, you will want to list all your competencies and technical skills you specialise in. Do not put generic skills or soft skills such as ‘self-motivated’ or ‘adaptability’. These skills should be related to digital marketing and marketing communications such as SEO, Google Ads, Facebook Pixel Implementation, Social Media Strategy, Digital Marketing Analytics, Public Relations, etc.

Also, don’t forget to include industry-relevant keywords or words that are commonly used in the industry. Many recruiters will search specific keywords in the resume database to effectively shortlist relevant resumes.

You can use keyword research tools such as Google Keyword Planner and Ubersuggest to generate keyword ideas and analyse the popularity or search volume of the keywords.

Interests

Include this section only if they are relevant to the industry you are applying for, which, in this case is digital marketing, or if they are interesting enough to start a conversation, e.g. virtual reality and augmented reality.

Interests that may benefit your role in digital marketing include creating websites, designing graphics, reading tech-related books and websites, watching marketing videos and video ads for inspiration, etc.

Mistakes to Avoid in a Digital Marketing Resume

If creating an impressive resume wasn’t already so difficult, making costly mistakes is relatively easy. It only takes a couple of grammatical errors and wrong choice of words for the recruiter to go “next, please”.

Not Going into the Details

It is easy to list down all your roles and responsibilities. But going into detail will separate you from other applicants and give you credibility.

For example, if you included Google Ads and Google Tag Manager as part of your skills, be sure to elaborate on the campaigns you implemented and the results achieved. For example:

Google Ads

• Set up a Google Ads account and managed a monthly budget of $20,000. Implemented everything from the keyword bids, creation of ad copies and dynamic display creatives, and landing pages. Achieved a 500% positive Return on Ad Spend and reduced CPA by 67%.

Google Tag Manager

• In charge of creating and managing all marketing tags, from event tracking to pixel implementation. Integrated Google Tag Manager with Google Analytics 4 and tracked user experience metrics such as scroll tracking and button clicks. As a result, the UX/UI team was able to conduct a series of A/B tests, which successfully increased conversion rate by 3.5X.

Not Including a Professional Profile Photo

This is an obvious one, but there are job seekers who use unprofessional or outdated images, which can deter potential employers.

A good professional profile photo is one where you dress professionally, e.g. in business attire and look sharp.

Not Making it Easy Enough to Scan Through

A recruiter scanning through dozens of resumes may put the long-winded ones at the back of the queue. If you don’t want to be among the last few, apply these best practices:

• Keep it to 2 pages at most. 1 page if you have less than 10 years of experience and 2 pages for more than 10 years.
  Include more subheadings and bucket your lists. For example, in your work experience section, you can segment your project details and accomplishments by subheadings e.g. “SEO”, “Social Media Marketing”, and “Email Marketing”.
• Use bold text, italicising, and underlines/border lines when defining sections
• Use appropriate font-size (10-12pt) and readable font families (e.g. Georgia, Arial, Helvetica, Times). Avoid overly cursive fonts such as Zapfino.

Not Proofreading Several Times Through

A CV full of grammatical errors gives off all the wrong signals. It makes the recruiter question whether the applicant bothered to have it proofread or whether literacy will be an issue at work. As a digital marketer, attention to detail and a high level of literacy are key assets.

Getting a third party to check through (preferably a subject matter expert in digital marketing) and validate your resume would be a good additional step as well.

Not Keeping Records of Your Achievements Throughout Your Career

Imagine going through 5 years of work and trying to sit down and recall the details in a 5-hour resume writing session. A lot of the details will probably have gotten lost in a sea of forgotten memories.

A viable solution would be to keep a master resume. One where you record all the details of your project history, campaign performance, and other details that you can reference when it is time to update your resume.

Trying Too Hard to Be Funny

Avoid injecting humour into your digital marketing resume unless your job requires you to entertain clients and make people laugh. Creativity is welcome, but humour can be subjective and potentially come off as unprofessional.

For example:

Source: https://www.behance.net/gallery/14086841/Infographic-Resume

Unless you are applying for a creative position, it is highly recommended to avoid fancy or entertaining resumes.

Additional Attachments to Submit Together with your Digital Marketing  Resume

To re-emphasise, you want your job application to stand out. Attaching these additional documents to submit together with your digital marketing resume will increase your chances of getting your dream digital marketing job:

• • Cover letter
  • Portfolio
  • LinkedIn Profile
  • Articles Authored

Cover Letter

A cover letter is a short document, usually one page, that expresses your interest in the job position you are applying for and why you are a good fit for the company. Unlike a templated resume, you need to customise a cover letter to the company and specific job position you are applying for.

The response rate for applications with a cover letter is better than sending only your resume to multiple job listings. It shows potential employers how serious you are about getting the job.

Check out an example of a cover letter here.

Portfolio

A digital marketing portfolio is a collection of work that epitomises your skill sets and knowledge in digital marketing. It may include one or more of the following materials:

• Websites and landing pages you have created or facilitated in the creation process
• Content you have made or were involved in the creation process
• Screenshots of digital advertising campaigns you implemented and the proven results
• Marketing automation workflows you have designed or have participated in the formulation process
• And many more

If you have never worked in a digital marketing role and don’t have a portfolio to show, a capstone project works especially well for entry-level positions such as Digital Marketing Interns and Digital Marketing Executives.

Tiffany Lim, who completed the previous Certified Digital Marketing Strategist Programme (now known as the Advanced Certificate in Digital Marketing) at Equinet Academy, submitted her CV along with her capstone project (a digital marketing strategic plan based on an actual company located in Singapore) attached. She received numerous scheduled interviews and was hired within a span of three weeks.

“Every recruiter who interviewed me inquired about the capstone project. It was evident the capstone was a key component that stood out in my job application.”

LinkedIn Profile

LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network and houses over 660 million professional online resumes. It is an incredible platform for employees to search for digital marketing jobs in Singapore via LinkedIn Jobs and for employers to find and recruit talent.

If you aren’t already on LinkedIn, head over there and start creating your professional online resume.

Articles Authored

These could be included within your portfolio or published across various platforms, including:

• • Free blogging platforms like WordPress, Blogger, and Wix
  • LinkedIn Pulse
  • Any publication websites that accept guest posts such as Singapore Business Review
  • Your company’s blog

Final Tips

Maintain a clear focus on your objectives when drafting your resume and put yourself in the perspective of the potential interviewer and employer. Are you looking to get hired for a generalist or specialist role (e.g. SEO Specialist, Social Media Manager, Digital Marketing Analyst)? If it is the latter, be sure to include more examples and focus on accomplishments in that specific specialisation. 

Put yourself in the perspective of the recruiter. If you were to interview yourself, what interview questions would you ask yourself to determine your credibility and give you the confidence to hire yourself?

We wish you the best of luck for your upcoming digital marketing interviews!