3 billion. 

That’s the number of users who’ll be on social media by 2021. That’s almost half the world’s current population. 

Don’t believe us? Check it out:

Credits: Smartinsights

As a marketer, what does it mean for you? You can tell the industry is going to be well and thriving for as far as you can see, but is it going to be a similar jolly ride for you as a jobseeker

Thousands of marketing professionals spend more than 60 seconds on 60SecondMarketer, but a recruiter only spends 6 seconds on your resume

Learning new marketing techniques & tips is one thing and talking about them effectively in your resume is another. In this guide, I’ll be helping you with the latter.

Without wasting much time, let’s dive in and discuss the 5 tips on how to make a killer digital marketing resume:

Knowing how to structure your resume matters

The correct structure of your Digital Marketing resume could do wonders for you. Placing all the well-crafted sections in the right place is key. 

For example:

  • The header should contain your name. Not “Resume” or “CV”. 
  • Education should come after the professional experience section – assuming you have the relevant work-ex. If you have a fresh certification/degree relevant to digital marketing, and your work-ex is dotted with roles not related to your target profile, you can switch the order.  
  • The summary statement should be placed right below the profile title. 

Long story short, the structure of your digital marketing resume matters. 

Knowing what sections to put and how to prioritize them in your resume can help enhance the readability of your resume – which is extremely crucial for you because your proficiency becomes meaningless if the recruiter does not even bother to read your resume!

So while you craft your digital marketing resume, make sure that you organize information under relevant sections such as:

  • Header
  • Personal Information
  • Profile Title
  • Summary 
  • Key Skills
  • Professional Experience
  • Education

Following this basic step will see to it that your resume is correctly articulated. It also saves you from this evil we call an ill-organized resume.

Prioritizing your most recent work experience is important

Recruiters don’t care about your past experience as much as they do about your most recent work experience. What matters is the present – or as close to present as you can be. 

Prioritizing your most recent work experience helps you showcase your current skills & abilities, and that’s what matters to a recruiter because they are concerned about the skill-sets that you possess in the current time-line. 

They don’t care about your skills dating back to 5 years ago as they are not a reflection of your current abilities. 

Thus, it is important that you prioritize your current experience over previous roles.

A great way to ensure this is to follow the reverse-chronological order. In this format, the Professional Experience, Education and Certifications sections are written in reverse chronology. Details of the most recent experience, education, and certifications are written first, dating back to the oldest one.

Go for action-oriented accomplishment statements in your work-ex instead of paragraphs. Take a look at the sample below for a digital marketing resume. It uses the reverse chronological order for structuring the resume. 

Communicating your digital marketing skills 

Let’s say that your skills in  digital marketing are unmatched. You are adept at the latest digital marketing tricks and these skills have fetched your company visible results. 

While you’ll be able to articulate your skills in the professional experience section, it’s not enough.

Like we mentioned in the beginning of this article, recruiters tend to spend just 6 seconds on evaluating your resume.

They might or might not evaluate your professional experience with detailed precision, which means they might not even get to the point where they get the chance to identify your skills.

So as a skilled digital marketer, talking about your skills in your resume and taking that extra step to make it visible is  extremely important.  

So here’s what you can do. 

  • Analyze your resume and identify the skills that showcase your competence in digital marketing. 
  • List them down under the “Key Skills” section of your resume.
  • If you have technical expertise, list them under the “Technical Skills” subheading within the same section. . 
  • Only include the skills that you can substantiate in front of the recruiter.  

Here’s an example of what the skills section of your Digital Marketing Resume should look like:

Your resume should be ATS-friendly 

Technology paved the way for jobs to be just one click away from potential applicants. 

However, it opened the ground to players from all walks of life that led to putting up some barriers to get to the ideal candidate. Of course, we are talking about ATS. ATS stands for applicant tracking system, a software for screening job applicants. 

Making your resume stand out is not adequate – you need to beat the bots as well. 

Check the points below to end up with a digital marketing resume complying with ATS requirements:

  1. Relevance is key. Don’t stuff your resume with information that will not help with your job application.
  2. Use keywords in your resume. Keywords may be in the form of particular skill sets, educational qualifications, or work experience requirements. All you have to do is scan the job description and look for keywords. If these keywords match the skill-sets you possess, replicating them in your resume will work wonders as the ATS explicitly looks for these keywords. 
  3. Do not repeat information to fill the blank space in your resume. Write only unique and to-the-point information.
  4. Go for standard section headings to make it easier for the ATS to parse your resume. That means there’s no need to go for “My Story” when it’s actually “Professional Experience”.  
  5. Only go for charts, images, etc. if they can be selected. If they are added as an image, they won’t be parsed by an ATS.

How to list Certifications & Projects

The importance of listing certifications and projects in your resume is important.

Digital Marketing is a skill set that can be cultivated on the job. 

There are lots of instances where people begin their career in a company as a content writer or a sales professional, but end up as a digital marketer.

You don’t actually need to be certified in digital marketing to be a digital marketer. 

But being certified in the art will always win you some brownie points.

For example, in most cases a Certified Digital Marketer will exercise some degree of advantage over someone who is not certified, but works as a digital marketer for a company.

Alongside this, illustrating the details of the projects you were part of in the organizations you have worked with is also something that will help boost your shortlist chances.

So if you have done a relevant certification in digital marketing, make it a point to mention this in your resume. Follow the below format to write your certifications. 

FORMAT: Certification | Institution | Time Period

Modules (if relevant to the target profile)

E.g. Content Marketing Certification | 60 Second Marketer | Mar ‘16 – Dec ‘16

  • Content Promotion |  Outreach | Website & UX Designing  

Including the course modules showcases that you have an understanding of such expertise and help you beat ATS as well. 

Additionally, if you have done a relevant project – doesn’t matter if it’s professional or academic –  make sure that the details of the projects you have led or were part of finds a home in your resume too. Here’s how you can reflect such projects in your digital marketing resume:

Key Takeaways

To sum up:

  • How you organize your resume matters: Structure your resume into relevant sections, and keep your target profile in mind when you’re trying to decide the correct order for the same.
  • Prioritize your most recent work experience, internship, and education details. Use the reverse-chronological format to achieve this.
  • Your skills should be effectively reflected in your resume: Separate your core skills from your technical skills.
  • Your resume should be ATS compliant: Follow the instructions we have mentioned to give your resume a higher chance at getting shortlisted.
  • Certifications and projects make an impact: You should always mention them in your digital marketing resume.

Got any more queries around your digital marketing resume? Feel free to drop a comment below!

About the Author: On a quest to help professionals across the globe land their dream jobs, Aditya lives and breathes Hiration — an AI-powered online resume builder and platform to help job-seekers find their way in the treacherous job market — where he’s the unofficial CPO (Chief Problem-solving Officer). He likes to code away his days and nights when he’s not busy disrupting the career space.