So, you’ve been working as a marketing specialist for a while and think you’ve had enough of filtering incoming marketing leads. You have enough experience to get promoted to a managing role. And there are a lot of roles that you can get promoted to:
- Public Relations Manager;
- Brand Manager;
- Product Marketing Manager;
- Director of Marketing Communications;
- Chief Marketing Officer.
A new role will surely boost your income. Your $35,000 to $55,000 per year salary can grow all the way up to $150,000. Of course, you’re going to get new responsibilities, but that’s what you want, after all. As soon as you become an expert in a certain field, it doesn’t look that exciting to you anymore. And the only other way of getting new challenges, aside from changing your career path, is to get promoted to a different role.
Whether you’re looking for an internal promotion or targeting a position in a different company, you need to update and refine your resume. After all, it’s one of the best ways to show that you are ready for the next step in your career. And while you can entrust crafting it to the guys from resume services, there are things that only you can put there. But you’ll have to apply more effort to stand out from other candidates out there.
Ready to take on the challenge? If so, check out the five steps on your way to a promotion-winning resume.
Contents
Emphasize Essential Skills
Most likely, you have acquired a lot of necessary skills throughout your career. And surely, you’ve changed several jobs throughout your life. But don’t forget that you’re targeting a specific position. Most of us worked as waiters, dog sitters, or bartenders during our college years. But skills acquired during that time are insufficient for the position of, let’s say, brand manager.
For this position, except for having strong communication skills, you should think out of the box and be adaptable and proactive. You have to be not only up to date with trends but also forecast them. The second language, though, may come in handy, as you will have to research and translate findings. So, make sure that you highlight the skills necessary for your prospective position in your resume.
List Your Achievements
You probably have something to brag about when describing every job during your career. It seems logical to mention it as part of your work experience. However, it is better to create a separate list of only relevant achievements in your resume.
The most important aspect of listing your accomplishments is to highlight your ability to succeed in the career path. Show that you go beyond your standard responsibilities to reach the necessary goal. For instance, you can add your most successful marketing campaigns to the list.
Avoid Vague and Passive Phrasing
An ideal team player and a detail-oriented multitasker. Has strong communication skills and solid experience in marketing campaigns. Does that sound familiar? Would you put something like that on your resume? If you’re thinking about it, you shouldn’t, as there are several problems with it. Firstly, this sentence is filled with passive language — something that doesn’t look good on the resume at all.
The second issue with those sentences is that both “ideal team player” and “detail-oriented multitasker” sound vague. You need to avoid statements that immediately make the reader ask for the evidence. If you put it like “Marketing Specialist with 5+ years of experience, who created and coordinated successful marketing campaigns for…”, your self-presentation becomes much more effective.
Format Your Resume Creatively
You can try out different designs and add graphs and stats to your resume. Yes, if you are applying for a managing position, the resume should be more or less reserved. You can read more about it here. But you shouldn’t be afraid of using modern design. After all, it’s a marketing position, and you are building your own brand. So, market yourself properly.
You can use the color strategically or highlight your accomplishments in a bulleted list. Why not add some endorsement quotes? Put everything into columns or text boxes. You can even use vertical text. After all, a resume should be eye-catching, and there are so many tools to make it stand out.
Keep It Short
Another important thing about your resume is to keep it short. While expanding on your past work experiences is welcomed, turning your resume into a short story is going overboard. Besides, you are tailoring it for your promotion; thus, you need to focus on things that are essential to the desired position.
Don’t dedicate too much space to your education if it’s not related to the position. Be as concise as possible about transferable skills. Do emphasize your level of expertise and the experiences that display you as a perfect candidate. But still, keep your resume succinct.
You Know What to Do Internally
The mentioned points are suitable for both internal promotions and seeking career advancement outside your current company. Yet, if the former is your goal, you already know how to tailor your resume properly. You are working in the company, and thus, you know its culture. There are a few things to mind, however.
Firstly, avoid exaggerating your progress and skills, as everyone is acquainted with your job. Secondly, do not take more credit than you can claim from the results of teamwork. Thus, instead of “achieved…”, put it as “collaboratively accomplished…”.
Finally, when tailoring a resume, internally or not, keep the balance. Don’t try too hard to impress the prospective employer. Using proper formatting and phrasing can make your resume stand out, but, after all, it’s your level of expertise and past accomplishments that can get you promoted.
