Marketing encompasses a wide range of roles, and you'll need to demonstrate these specific, required skills succinctly in order to make your CV stand out to a potential employer.
Join the UK's number-one graduate careers network
Becoming a Bright Network member is free and easy - sign up to get exclusive access to jobs, events, networking opportunities, advice and more
1. The Cover Letter
As you’ve got to prove you can market yourself with a concise, targeted and achievement-driven CV, make sure you use your cover letter wisely. The cover letter is a vehicle to draw attention to specific areas and to demonstrate your research – what you know about the company and its clients, or what you like about its previous marketing campaigns for example.
It can be helpful to think of yourself as a product, and use taglines to grab the reader’s attention and entice them into your story.
2. Key Marketing Categories
In your CV you need to make sure that you cover all the key categories related to marketing and branding by showcasing examples and relevant experience. These key areas and subsequent skills are:
- Direct marketing and response need a high degree of numeracy and analysis
- Campaign and planning management requires exceptional organisational skills
- Communications disciplines require you to be articulate and have empathy with customers
- Creative marketing you’ll need to show your eye for design, the ability to come up with fresh ideas and how you might create a brand
Ensure you pick out examples under each of these categories to make sure your CV is as thorough as possible. Employers like to see results so don’t be afraid to include statistics within your task descriptions.
3. Highlight transferable skills
Many marketing skills are transferable. You may have just had a Saturday job as a student in a local bar but the tasks you may have undertaken here could be relevant to your dream career. For instance, you may have been involved with organising and publicising a quiz night or had responsibility for balancing the till at the end of the night.
All of these are relevant skills that you will need in a marketing role. Don’t overlook any sort of menial task – really think about how this influences the company you’re working for and how it helped to keep the business running.
Learn the skills you need to work in marketing and PR.
4. Understand digital
Any sort of marketing role will certainly require an element of digital marketing. You need to gain an understanding of technologies to communicate better with clients and colleagues – and most importantly you'll need to know what's technically achievable without necessarily knowing how to do it yourself.
Even if you haven’t been involved with a job yet which uses digital media, it’s important you can show that you’ve immersed yourself in digital marketing in your spare time. Include a link on your CV which leads to a blog; this will really show your ideas and enthusiasm. It’s here where you could analyse campaigns and strategies, or provide tips – particularly on new technologies.
5. Be innovative!
Using an innovative approach such as an infographic CV can work, depending on the culture of the organisation. A quirky agency or brand may appreciate a quirky application but it may not work with larger corporations who have a more rigid structure for hiring employees.
An infographic CV is fun and packs a lot of information in an easy-to-read, eye-catching format. It can also show your eye for design and more importantly it demonstrates that you’re willing to try something different.
Read 7 top tips to create the perfect CV.
Now you know how to create a top-notch CV...
Get your marketing or PR career started with browsing graduate jobs in Marketing and PR.