Love the idea of becoming a digital marketing pro, or spent years building up your skills only to find it near impossible to secure a well-paying position? We'll work through some tried-and-tested strategies to ensure you're seen and heard, and show you how to connect with actual recruiters and agencies.
Regardless of the strength of your resume, we know that it can feel like wasted effort if you’ve uploaded thousands of applications or emailed limitless companies only to hear a resounding silence in response. In reality, the competition for digital marketing jobs can be fierce, and if you’ve only tried one approach, you need to do something different.
Our number one tip is, of course, to use the smart filtering tools to search for relevant jobs via our digital marketing job board (NB: be sure to match vacancies by location, skills, and relevance!). However, we’ve also shared some advice from our digital marketing experts about the best ways to get hired.
Filtering Through Digital Marketing Vacancies on Job Boards
Step one: Register. We're a specialist recruitment and hiring site focused solely on matching great digital marketing candidates with recruiters and agencies.
If you’re not uploading your CV and actively engaging in newly posted vacancies, it’s never going to be possible to land an amazing role that will be filled quickly by a more ambitious candidate.
Digital marketing, like so many sectors, is a niche, and even the highest-qualified candidates or most promising graduates simply won't be seen if they're only uploading CVs to generic job sites or hoping to be stumbled across by a recruiter.
You'll find tons of 'how to get a job' guides that'll talk about upgrading your skill set, aligning your capabilities with what recruiters are looking for, and developing a portfolio of example websites. In the real world, busy hirers and agencies aren't going to consider applicants who haven't been proactive in putting themselves forward for vacancies.
How to Use a Sector-Specific Digital Marketing Jobs Site
Presuming you already have a few baseline or transferable skills or consider yourself a strong applicant for a job in digital marketing, we recommend you look at boards that concentrate on the sector, rather than hoping a nationwide, mass-employment site is going to connect you with your dream role.
If you’re new to our digital marketing job board, it’s well worth understanding how it all works, how best to communicate with recruiters, and how to apply for roles that jump out at you!
Step-by-Step Job Filtering and Resume Uploads
There’s nothing complex about our digital marketing job board, and we help everyone from high-caliber recruits with niche specialisms to juniors and interns looking for their first-ever paid role.
Here’s what you’ll need to do to either narrow down your search or ensure agencies and recruiters will find your profile:
- Browse Jobs: You don’t need an exact position in mind to get looking. You can search by remote vacancies, hybrid roles, and in-office positions, and filter by any region, town, or state where you're happy to travel.
- Pick Job Functions: Do you have experience in strategy, technical SEO, or creatives? Filter by whichever skill you’re most accomplished in, and you’ll see the positions most applicable to what you’re looking for.
- Select a Date or Relevance: After a senior role, and want to get in front of the competition, or a junior looking for any digital marketing position that will help you grow your profile? Sort by the date the vacancy was posted, or its relevance to you, and you’ll have an immediate shortlist of the roles that match your search.
It’s also a great idea to upload your resume, even if this isn’t customized to any specific role, because recruiters are often looking to source talent.
All you need to do is fill in a few boxes with your name, current job title, and resume, and add a snapshot of your experience. While it’s still worthwhile filtering roles, there’s a decent prospect that a head-hunter or agency will get in touch with you – rather than the other way around!
Contacting Recruiters Directly to Enquire or Apply for Digital Marketing Jobs
We often hear from candidates who are reluctant to pitch themselves, and that’s understandable, especially for junior digital marketing interns who aren’t sure how to go about it or what the right approach is.
Our advice is to take all the time you need to read the vacancy or ad in detail, and to adjust your resume accordingly. That doesn’t just apply to managerial positions, because a huge proportion of the recruiters who advertise through our jobs board post exact requirements, which for entry-level roles might include:
- Superb linguistics, as a native speaker of the relevant language the company communicates in
- Knowledge of social media platforms and posting formats
- Minimum education requirements or proven abilities in a certain skill
- Desirable but non-essential skills, such as project management or team leadership
It’s a good idea to respond to a vacancy directly if you’re given the opportunity. The trick is to never send a resume without checking that it’s wholly relevant to what the company is asking for, and ticking off all the criteria they’ll need to see to consider you a candidate worth shortlisting.
Paying attention to detail is essential, and you should tailor your resume and verify whether the recruiter is asking for a covering letter, a reference, or a headshot for public-facing roles, to ensure you’re not cutting yourself out of the running before the first hurdle.
Improving the Value and Appeal of Your Skillset
While we’ve said that we’ll steer away from generalized advice about acquiring new skills or building out your resume with additional certifications, there’s no doubt that a lot of digital marketing job candidates do themselves a disservice by excluding abilities that are very relevant.
This isn’t necessarily about paying for more educational courses but about presenting yourself as a candidate who's in a great position to jump into the job the right way – without giving the impression that you’ll need more training than necessary. Here’s what that might look like:
- Showcasing the results you’ve achieved, whether in a past role, as a volunteer, as a student, or as a junior contributing to projects.
- Highlighting the skills you bring to the table, from the ability to communicate and delegate, to valuable team management capabilities.
- Removing fluff that recruiters aren’t interested in. You might have had great exam results in high school, but if you're applying for professional roles, you don't need to waste space in your resume listing these in bullet points – if the recruiter or agency hasn’t asked!
If you're unsure of what employers and agencies are looking for, we'd recommend our earlier guides on becoming a digital marketer without any current experience and starting a new career in digital marketing if you’re transitioning from another role or sector.
Networking to Ensure You’re a Known Potential Candidate
Finally, don't underestimate the art of networking, even if you’re a technical digital marketer who’s less keen on face-to-face interactions, or you’re planning on applying for remote or freelancer roles. If you're known, credible, and trusted, you’ll immediately score points with busy agencies and recruiters who put a lot of stock into recommendations!
A good proportion of vacancies arise naturally because someone moves on or retires. If you put out the feelers, make it clear you’re interested in a role, and make yourself available, you'll be in with a chance if a company or agency finds itself short-handed and looking for someone who can step in quickly.
Be proactive: upload a resume, keep it updated, and don't be shy about applying for roles where you may need some on-the-job training – proactivity and enthusiasm are key. If you're stuck in a rejection cycle, it’s important you take a few risks for some possibly huge rewards!
For more advice about landing your dream digital marketing job, or for access to our live vacancies, please browse our digital marketing job board, or upload your resume to hear from recruiters who want to work with you.