7 tips for writing your marketing CV

So, you're looking for a new marketing job and have decided it's time to dust off your CV and start thinking about how to progress your career. What next?

Apart from calling Ambition and setting up a meeting to ‘get the feelers’ out there, the next step will be finding some time to sit down and write up your latest career history.

Job hunting or not, you will feel prepared and it is a great way to evaluate your experience and help you assess if you are where you want to be in your career.

So how do you make your CV stand out from the crowd?

Tailor your CV

Your CV should be a working document, being updated and adapted to suit the given audience you're targeting.

If you are currently in a full mix role but want to move into a purely marketing position, then the firms reviewing your CV will be more interested in your previous marketing experience.

Prioritise your bullet points to demonstrate your marketing responsibilities first and ensure your achievements are demonstrating your wins in marketing.

Include detail

Top level summaries of your responsibilities aren’t enough - 'Managing events’ is nowhere near as impactful, or interesting, as writing ‘Delivered a series of 3 events in 3 international locations for a total of 180 delegates. Included full budget management, organisation and follow up, including associated PR and campaign lead up with online interviews with keynote speakers and research report. Resulted in 3 new instructions and 6 new leads.’

The same goes for ‘bids coordination’ or ‘delivering communications for the firm’.

Give context to your role 

Explain the company and the sector or division you work in and give the hiring manager an idea of the hierarchy.

An executive where you are the sole person in the team is very different from being in a team of 10 people.

It is also important to highlight the scope you cover, is your role international, UK or London home counties?

Be honest

The content should accurately describe, in detail all of the key responsibilities of your current role.

Tailoring your CV is critical to making sure your experience is relevant for the role but falsifying experience is non-negotiable.

This goes for not being accurate with how you describe your responsibilities, e.g. assisting on bid coordination is very different from managing the entire bids process.

Address gaps

Don’t ignore them because the hiring manager certainly won’t. Anything longer than 3 months will need some explanation.

I meet a number of people who are prioritising permanent jobs in their search, therefore they don’t think there is any value in writing about freelance projects. In actual fact, these short-term projects look great on your CV, so make sure to include them.

Been travelling? Great! It shows interests beyond your career, so include this too.

Create a portfolio

Portfolios aren’t just for designers, a portfolio is a fantastic way to showcase your work.

I have seen some excellent examples of people’s work in portfolios that showcase bids, campaigns, event collateral, apps, merchandise for events, etc.

This can be a very powerful way to bring your work to life and a great talking point in the interview. The proof is in the pudding after all.

Talk to a specialist recruiter

Speaking to someone who understands your sector, specialism and career path is invaluable in helping you write a successful CV.

There is some excellent information online and definitely seek advice where you can, but I am always disappointed when someone has told me they have paid someone to write their CV.

A specialist recruiter will be able to give you tailored, relevant advice to your sector which will help when getting your experience down on paper.