A Resume Guide for Marketers

The strategies from our Write Your Way In Workshop inspired this expanded resource and is designed to help you rethink the way you write and present your resume. Instead of treating your resume as a list of tasks, this guide will help you build a document that shows your growth, your thinking, and your impact as a marketer.

Your resume should work for you before you ever walk into an interview. It should give people a clear sense of how you approach problems, how you collaborate, and how you make a measurable difference. Think of your resume as the first chapter of your professional story. When it is written with intention, it becomes one of your strongest tools in a crowded job market.

Think About What Your Resume Says Before You Speak

Most recruiters skim a resume in a few seconds. In those few seconds, they are not looking for everything you have ever done. They are looking for signals that you understand your craft and can deliver value. A strong resume makes those signals easy to find.

Ask yourself three simple questions as you begin writing.

• What should someone understand about you as a marketer?

• Where in your experience do you show strategic thinking or ownership?

• What evidence do you have that your work made a difference?

When you know what you want your resume to communicate, your writing becomes clearer and more honest. You stop trying to impress people with fancy language and start showing them who you actually are.

Break Down the Sections That Tell Your Story

Most resumes include the same core pieces, but not everyone uses them well. Your goal is to keep these sections simple, readable, and aligned with the jobs you want.

• Your contact information should be clean and professional.

• Your summary should be optional and short.

• Your experience should highlight impact, not tasks.

• Your skills should reflect what you actually use.

• Your tools should reflect what you can navigate comfortably.

A resume is not a memoir. It is not the place to explain every transition or list every responsibility. It is a curated overview of the parts of your experience that matter most.

Write Experience Bullets That Show Real Results

Experience bullets are the heart of your resume. They help people understand what you did, how you did it, and the outcome. The strongest bullets start with a clear action, add a bit of context, and end with a result or change that happened because of your work.

For example:

Supported social media content planning

becomes

Created weekly content that aligned with brand goals and helped maintain steady engagement across platforms.

Or

Helped plan events

becomes

Supported coordination and execution of campus events with more than 150 attendees.

These types of bullets show initiative and impact without overstating your role. They help recruiters understand how your work fits into a larger strategy.

Add Numbers Where They Help Tell the Story

Many marketers assume they cannot quantify their work unless they work on analytics teams. In reality, there are countless numbers already around you. You simply need to pay attention to them.

Think about engagement rates, content output, email open rates, click through improvements, event attendance, project turnaround time, team time saved, and audience growth. Numbers create clarity. They help transform a sentence that feels vague into a sentence that feels credible.

If you do not have exact numbers, estimates based on your normal workflow are acceptable. The goal is not perfection. The goal is to show that your work had weight.

Move Beyond Tasks and Show Impact

A task tells someone what you did. Impact tells someone why it mattered.

• Posting content is a task.

• Keeping engagement steady is impact.

• Reviewing email drafts is a task.

• Improving open rates through better subject lines is impact.

• Pulling analytics is a task.

• Sharing insights that shaped weekly content is impact.

When you write with impact in mind, your resume becomes more thoughtful and more strategic. You stop sounding like you are simply completing assignments and start sounding like someone who understands how marketing works.

Show Your Growth Through Your Responsibilities

Your resume should reflect how you have evolved. If you have taken on new responsibilities, managed projects, learned new tools, or tackled challenges that once felt intimidating, those moments deserve space on the page.

Growth is not always dramatic. Sometimes it is as simple as becoming the person your team trusts to deliver a certain type of work. Sometimes it is learning a new system that makes your team more efficient. These details show readiness for the next step.

Build a Skills Section That is Real and Useful

A strong skills section is not long. It is focused and practical. It reflects the abilities you use often and can speak to with confidence. Include skills that match the type of marketing work you want to do. Avoid listing every software program you have ever opened unless it is directly relevant.

Keep the list clean, readable, and aligned with your level.

Include Work That Happened Outside Your Full Time Role

Marketers gain experience in many ways. Freelance projects, volunteer work, personal portfolio projects, coursework, and certificate assignments all count when they demonstrate real skills. If the work helped you grow or produce tangible results, it belongs on your resume.

If you want to break into a new specialty, these types of projects can help bridge the gap between your current role and the roles you want.

Prepare Your Resume for ATS Without Losing Personality

Applicant Tracking Systems scan resumes before recruiters ever see them. A simple layout, clear language, clean fonts, and standard job titles increase your chances of getting through the system. Avoid long paragraphs, heavy graphics, unusual formatting, and large text blocks.

This does not mean your resume cannot reflect your personality. It simply means your design choices should not interfere with readability.

Keep Your Resume Updated as You Grow

One of the most helpful habits you can build is updating your resume regularly. Keep a running list of your wins. Save your metrics before you forget them. Create different versions of your resume for different types of roles. Make small updates every few months instead of waiting until you are in a rush.

Your resume should grow with you. It should reflect where you are now and where you are trying to go.

Do Not Forget Your Portfolio

Marketing is a proof based field. Your resume tells people what you did. Your portfolio shows them. Include content samples, campaign summaries, email examples, analytics screenshots, case studies, or anything that helps people understand your process.

Your portfolio does not need to be fancy. It only needs to be organized, accessible, and honest.

Your Resume Is Only the Beginning

Your resume is one of the first ways you tell your story as a marketer. When you write it with intention, it becomes a clear reflection of who you are and what you bring to the table. Your work matters. Your story matters. Your next opportunity needs the strengths you already have. A strong resume simply helps people see it sooner.

For marketers who want deeper guidance, worksheets, and the complete training experience, the full Write Your Way In presentation and replay are available inside the Black Women Marketers membership community.