4 Tips to Build a Winning Digital Marketing Resume as a Student Apprentice

The first and most important skill any digital marketing professional needs is the ability to sell themselves. After all, if you can’t successfully market yourself, why would a business trust you to market anything for them?

Your resume is the most critical sales pitch you’ll make in your professional life. Here’s how to nail it:

1. Keep Your Resume Design SIMPLE

I can’t stress this point enough. The KISS method is as essential in digital marketing as it is in show business: keep it simple, student!

• One Page Limit — Hiring managers spend only a six seconds scanning your resume, so keep it short and to the point.
• Do NOT get crazy creative with the visual layout— Infographic resumes are complete overkill and can be very hard to follow. If you are a writer or a graphic designer, there’s plenty of room to get creative in your portfolio.
• Stay classic — be concise and use bulletpoints. No paragraphs! Let your skills and experience do the talking.
• EDITING IS EVERYTHING — Read your resume and check it for spelling and grammar. Then, do it again. Then have someone else do it. Then do it again three more times. Resumes with poor grammar and spelling errors fly straight to the trash bin.

2. Tailor Your Sales Pitch to Your Audience

Any good sales person understands that knowing your customer and tailoring your approach to their values and their needs can make or break a pitch.

• Get to know your audience — Do some background research on the company. Find out their values and their mission in the world.
• Read and reread the job listing — You need to know who they are, what matters to them and exactly what they are looking for.
• It’s not about you — It may be YOUR resume but it’s not about what you want. It’s about what they need and the benefit you bring to them. You should be researching each company you submit your resume to and tailoring it accordingly every single time. Nothing about you is generic so why would you produce a generic resume?

3. Show Off Your In-demand Skills With Numbers

As a GenM Apprentice, you have access to online courses in social media marketing, content marketing, email marketing, paid advertising, analytics and more. These are some of the most sought after skills in the business.

You also gain valuable work experience in putting them to use. Your resume is your opportunity to really show off what you’ve learned.

• Skip the objective statement and highlight key skills instead —Like I said, selling is not about what you want. It’s about the benefit provided to the customer. First and foremost, hiring managers are looking for a particular skill set, once you’ve done your research and studied the job listing, list the skills you have that match their needs right at the top of your resume.
• Show off your training — List your education, any pertinent academic accomplishments and relevant marketing certifications. This includes your GenM M-Certification!
• Tell your success stories through data — It’s not enough to say you have skills. You have to prove you can use them, and use them well. It’s all about numbers and metrics.
• If you were a manager, how many people did you lead?
• If you were in charge of a social media page, what was the growth in followers and engagement while you were at the helm?
• If you did email marketing, what were your click through rates?
• You need to demonstrate to the hiring manager you have experience producing quantifiable, measurable results.

4. Let Your Value Proposition Shine Through

Okay, so this is the part that is about you. Anyone who has seen The Princess Diaries knows that what makes you different, makes you beautiful. In this case, what you need to communicate is what makes you uniquely valuable to your potential employer.

What is it about you that is going to make you stand out and potentially do this job better than the stack of other candidates the hiring manager is sorting through?

What is unique about your background that gives you a special insight or a special connection to the company mission? What skills or characteristics separate you from the average, entry-level digital marketer?

• Are you an exceptional storyteller?
• Are you an intuitive online listener who can anticipate changes in customer needs and expectations?
• Are you a specialist in tailoring custom solutions to different audiences and customers?
• Are you passionate about a particular niche your potential employer is engaged in?
• Have you achieved impressive results growing a brand, growing a community, increasing profits or raising money?

Communicating your individual value proposition through a resume that is simple, clear and tailored to the company’s needs is the difference between telling the hiring manager you’re qualified for the role, and showing them what will make you uniquely amazing in it.

To get started building a resume that will launch your digital marketing career, create your GenM profile today.