My marketing team is in the process of hiring a new team member for a media relations specialist role. If you are interested in applying, you can find the details here: http://www.nomacorc.com/careers/ I thought I’d share my perspective on how to apply for a marketing job. Other hiring managers or marketing professionals may offer very different advice but my purpose is to share with the up and coming community of marketing professionals a little bit of wisdom from the other side of the desk.
Send your resume as a PDF and name your PDF with your full name. You want to be easily found and identified and I don’t know who RFP.pdf or #Er43.pdf is. Be a human being and use your name. Resume of Jeffrey Slater.pdf
What are you good at? Your resume should answer one simple question, what can you do for me? What are the skills that you possess that my company can use if we hire you? So please put a section on your resume that says, I exceed in these five areas: excellent writing skills for media, solid understand of how to do media outreach, skilled at filming testimonials, experience at managing events or trained on WordPress. Help me understand your skills, not just where you worked in the past. And sum it up – make it easy for me to find. Remember, your resume might be one of one hundred I am scanning.
Respond to the Job Description: I’m sorry to break it to you but one size does not fit all. Write your resume for me, for the job I advertised not for all generic marketing jobs. Tailor your cover note and the resume to fit the position – particularly if you feel like it’s a position you are very interested in. Don’t be lazy and cut and paste. Help me want to know more. (Hint: This is what marketing is about so show you get it by following the hints in the job description).
Get to the obvious: If the job is in North Carolina and you live out of state, tell me if you are willing to relocate. Don’t be shy, tell the truth about your situation. For example, if you said that you would consider relocating if the job was offered to you, I will take you at your word. But if you aren’t willing to relocate, don’t waste my time or yours if it clearly states the job can’t be done virtually outside of our office.
Be creative – this is a marketing job: Don’t be afraid to show off your marketing chops. If you are a great writer send me a link to your personal blog. If you also draw or do a film, send me somewhere where I can see your work. Show, don’t just tell me about your skills. Attach copies of the work you have done for other companies or industries that you managed.
Show extra initiative: Demonstrate to me that you understand that you can go that extra mile. Find some innovative way to do something extra or special that helps me notice you. Again, this is a marketing position not one in finance. You have permission to be different and, I’m looking for how you break through the clutter of the other one hundred resumes I will receive.
Follow directions: If the application process says to send your resume to a certain person with a cover note, then please do that. But, don’t use every opportunity to also learn more about the people who work at the company. Maybe you can find their personal blogs and follow them. Maybe you can connect with them through LinkedIn or a group you have in common. Again, follow the directions but it is also okay to go beyond those rules too.
Provide reference quotes: I am surprised more resumes don’t come with a short section of reference quotes. Pick a sentence from three people who know you and have written letters of reference. Quote them in your resumes as third-party credibility about your character (not about your work). “Jill is a hard-working woman who is dedicated to her job.” “Jack is a natural leader whose skills will take him far.”
Come prepared: I will not spend 2 minutes with a candidate who is unprepared and hasn’t done some homework on our company. My advice I give my daughter and her friends are to come with 20 questions based on what you have read on the website. Be curious. Be prepared. Be inquisitive. Show you’re really interested in what we do. Lazy won’t cut it on the job so start on the right foot. Of course you won’t understand the marketing strategy but the interview process is the best time to show what it would be like if you worked on our team.
Good luck if you are searching for a job. You might find it helpful to sign up for several marketing blogs that can share alternative ideas to mine on applying for a marketing job. Sign up for my blog if you’d like more tips on creative and counter-intuitive approaches to a marketing job search. I’m giving away a free eBook on marketing called Unraveling The Mysteries of Marketing.
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This resource guide may be helpful too for marketing executives.
https://novoresume.com/career-
