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Example Marketing Director Resume - Browse more resume templates and build a stand-out resume
You’ve handled multi-million dollar accounts, scaled marketing teams, developed successful strategies, you’ve got it all.
But your marketing director resume isn’t getting you past the headhunters and CMOs.
What are you doing wrong?
The answer might be in the word that keeps showing up “you”.
Marketing yourself is great, it’s a huge part of what you need to do to grow in your career. But in our experience, too many senior marketers lose touch with the importance of their audience when it comes time to apply for a marketing director role.
You’ll need to create a bespoke document for each company, and our marketing director resume samples will provide everything you need to stand out, nab interviews, and seal deals.
Here’s what you’ll learn here:
✔ Which key mistakes hurt most marketing director resumes (and how they differ between agency and in-house marketing directors)
✔ How to write an effective resume objective or summary
✔ How to frame your work experience to have more impact
✔ Which skills will really make you stand out from the competition
✔ How to effectively use certifications
Marketing director resume examples
Digital Marketing Director resume example
Creative Marketing Director resume example
Hotel Marketing Director resume example
How to write a Marketing Director resume?
We’ve seen high level marketers like you make the same mistake time and time again.
You’ve got years of experience and want to show it off, so you fill a few pages with all of your experiences, skills, education, etc.
While it’s true that a longer resume is normal for someone applying for a marketing director position, this often leads to too much unnecessary fluff and vague language.
As an experienced director, headhunters should already know what you’re capable. At its most basic, we recommend the following:
- A reverse-chronological layout because a marketing director resume should center around work experience and not skills.
- Large section headings and generous white space allow headhunters to spot information easily.
- Providing actual data (e.g. statistics, numbers) showcases your level of expertise and shows hiring professionals what you can bring to their company.
- Detailing the projects you’ve overseen (including team sizes, budgets, and results).
Marketing director resume sections to consider
- Header with certification(s)
- Professional summary
- Experience
- Education/
- Soft/Technical Skills (includingcertifications)
- Most proud of
Start with an eye-grabbing header
You might have a great reputation and head hunters are after you, but it’s still crucial that hiring professionals read your resume. Not only does a perfectly-phrased resume header grab the right attention, but it also immediately shows them that you’ve got the relevant skills.
A resume header should include:
- Name, location, and contact info
- Degree(s) and Certification(s)
- Link to social profiles, portfolio or a personal blog
Marketing Director Resume Sample - Header
How to write a marketing director professional summary or objective
Putting thought into your marketing director resume summary shows headhunters that you’ve paid attention and know how to sell yourself. This is crucial, seeing as how sales are a major part of your career!
Your summary or objective should also make it clear whether your experience has been largely in-house or with agencies. This is the most crucial dividing line amongst marketing director resumes as the skills required to succeed in each of those will differ (more on that later).
How to write a marketing director objective
In just 1-2 sentences, outline your career and highlight your most impressive wins. Be sure that it objectively showcases what you’ll bring to the company.
In the above example, the applicant balances between their experience and what the job advertisement requires.
As you can see, the writer doesn’t use any concrete data to showcase their experience, accomplishments, or what benefits they’ll bring to the company.
Writing a resume summary
If you’re an experienced marketing director, limiting your resume summary to 5 or 6 sentences can feel like a Herculean task. Look at the job advertisement and model your paragraph around it. Remember: HR will be looking for ways that you’ll build their brand while fitting into their professional atmosphere.
As you can see, the above applicant built out the summary section. They included more information regarding interpersonal, or “soft” skills, and how their personality helped them achieve their goals.
While this is a decent objective section, the writer doesn’t tell the hiring professional anything about their personality. Give HR representatives the opportunity to picture you working at their company.
How should you include work experience?
People don’t just expect you to provide results – they rely on you to boost revenue and direct an entire marketing team. Your work experience should therefore describe your previous positions and what makes you so successful leading others.
You definitely don’t need to mention every single duty or responsibility you’ve been tasked with.
Before you start writing, review the job advertisement. Are there key phrases that stand out?
We recommend the following:
- List your most recent position, working backward.
- Choose between 3 and 5 bullet points which describe your responsibilities and any achievements. Use numbers wherever possible.
- Consider using a “Greatest Achievement” subsection to showcase what you’re proudest of.
In the above table, there simply isn’t enough data to prove that you were successful in your endeavors. Hiring professionals are looking for solid data to back up your claims – be sure to prove your success with facts and figures whenever possible.
Does a marketing director resume need an education section?
Because a marketing director needs to work their way up the ladder, it’s unlikely that you’ve just graduated from college. While it’s important to include some basic information about your highest degree, it’s not necessary to say much more than that.
Under your education section, include the following information:
- Degree type,
- Major (minors, if applicable)
- University/college
- Year of graduation
How should you decide which skills to include and emphasize?
According to CareerBuilder, a whopping 77% of employers believe thatsoft skills are just as important as technical skills. That’s particularly true considering, as a marketing director, much of your hiring revolves around your history of positive leadership.
Ultimately, while technical understanding is important, you’re going to be expected to lead first and foremost.
Focus on showing leadership and management skills. But don’t simply state that you have them, provide examples to back them up.
15 soft skills for your marketing director resume
- Interpersonal skills
- Motivation
- Growth mindset
- Communication
- Time management
- Self-awareness
- Dependability
- Creative thinking
- Negotiation
- Client funnel
- Leadership
- Storytelling
- Flexibility
- Persistence
- Public speaking
That’s not to say that technical skills aren’t important. Consider giving more thought to the following:
12 hard skills for your marketing director resume
- CRO, A/B testing, etc.
- UX design
- Data analysis (e.g. interpretation, analyzation)
- Social media management
- Online marketing apps (e.g. Google Analytics, Hootsuite)
- Content creation
- Design software (e.g. Photoshop, Canva)
- Event promotion
- Automation software
- CMS (e.g Monday, Asana)
- SEO
- Language skills (e.g. bilinguality)
Of course, if you’re looking to work as a marketing director for a marketing agency, your skill set will be a bit different.
3 core skills agency marketing directors should emphasize
- Client management
- Sales
- Autonomy (you’re not likely to report to a CMO)
Of course, there are other skills you can consider including. Lisa Schneider suggests mentioning knowledge of consumer protection and privacy laws:
How to include your certifications on your resume
Certifications may sound low-priority but are, in fact, extremely important to headhunters. These can quickly reveal how seriously you’ve taken your role as marketing director.
You might have a plethora of certifications and qualifications, but only add those that provide actual value to your portfolio, like digital marketing certifications or team-leader training.
Say that you’re sending your resume to a sports betting giant. Take the time to research and tailor your resume around their needs. Have you completed specific certification courses that translate into this field?
Consider certifications beyond basic marketing (those skills should be clear in your experience). Business, project management, or even scrum certifications can help round out the skills you demonstrate elsewhere.
Focus on the attributes that set you apart from every other applicant – be concise but descriptive:
- Detail the program name, date, and location (if applicable)
- Include programs in reverse-chronological order
The top 5 certifications for marketing directors
How to write the best marketing director resume
It comes down to these simple tips:
- Make sure you create a bespoke resume aimed at showing how you can solve the pain points of the people in charge of hiring you (treat it like a marketing problem).
- Use your header to establish credibility earl on.
- Make sure your resume is well designed, balanced, and easy to read.
- Use a resume summary of objective to make a brief but powerful case for why you’re the best candidate using specific numbers to demonstrate your impact.
- Emphasize your skills based on whether you’re applying to work at an agency or in-house.
- Focus on showing you have leadership and management skills by providing specific examples and metrics
