How to Write a Marketing Manager CV / Marketing Executive CV

The experience, skills, aptitudes, knowledge and personal characteristics of a marketing manager are many and varied, and needs to be related on a Marketing Manager CV.

Although the exact responsibilities vary according to job, employer and industry, marketing managers are usually responsible for establishing marketing strategies in order to meet organisational objectives.

The required combination of analytical and creative capabilities means that a Marketing Executive CV presents some particular challenges.

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Key Qualities Required on a Marketing Manager CV

Few senior marketing professionals relish predictability and most respond positively to new challenges. Income may be important, but reacting to change and creating an impact through new strategic moves is at least as important.

Marketing jobs require both energy and motivation, with the desire to nurture, develop and construct business from nothing or little. Listed below are the key qualities, skills and experience that you may need to list on your Marketing Manager CV.

Depending on the size of the organisation, these areas may well be divided up amongst a number of marketing managers working beneath a Marketing Director who makes executive decisions.

• Understanding of the local, regional, national and, in some instances, global marketplace, depending on the industry and employer.
• Ability to think strategically and set up actionable marketing recommendations that will have a positive impact upon the organisation's performance.
• Understanding of all aspects of marketing activity, including offerings, pricing, research and evaluation, planning, business development, market modelling and segmentation, brand development, customer relationship management, publicity and promotion, etc.
• Experience in interfacing with other managers within the organisation and, possibly, remote locations at executive level to provide expert insight and information.
• Experience in interfacing with external agencies, suppliers and service providers.
• Ability and training to use marketing tools and models and associated software.
• Verbal and written communications aptitudes, presenting proposals and reports, communicating within the organisation and marketplace through negotiation, promotion, etc.
• Understanding of all aspects of departmental management at the relevant level, including budget management, staff scheduling, etc.

Marketing Executive CV Profile

With so many variations in marketing jobs and management jobs, it is important to establish early on which particular areas your skills and experience are in, so they can be clearly stated on your Marketing Executive CV.

You need to establish your key management strengths, both as a marketing manager and a departmental manager who can function effectively in a large company.

In a new post, you will be making strategic decisions that affect the entire future of the company. Understandably, the recruiter wishes to minimise their risk when making their recruitment decision, so you must emphasise your integrity and judgement from the outset on your Marketing Manager CV.

A marketing manager needs to be a creative thinker and a realistic 'doer' who will employ funds wisely to secure future results.

Your Profile therefore needs to present a mixture of strong management and strategic marketing skills, with key areas of your past experience also highlighted.

This is in addition to your strong knowledge of the industry or service in which you would be involved.

Leadership qualities are as important as management abilities on a Marketing Executive CV. Usually, these amount to your personal attributes rather than 'hard' management skills. Be sure to say what your leadership strengths are.

For example a CV writer might write:

Results oriented Product Marketing Manager with outstanding track record gained through ten years' solid experience in the Beverages industry. Marketing, management and sales experience underpinned by outstanding organisation, communication, team building and problem solving skills. Oversees vendor and customer relationship management and co-ordinated all aspects of product launch including product development, promotions, sales, pricing, and packaging. Motivates employees to constantly exceed corporate goals with year on year increase in profits.

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Marketing Manager CV Achievements

In your Achievements section on your Marketing Manager CV, you need to include 5 to 6 strong accomplishments, supported with evidence of the results your work led to. This should be quantitative, such as how much profit was made, how much expenditure was saved, time factor reduced, business developed, people recruited, etc.

It is all very well knowing endless theories of marketing, but what the employer needs to see is evidence that your decisions propelled the business forward and engendered profit.

You face the challenge, when writing up your achievements, of demonstrating your inspired thinking but also the rationale for it and the hard research that supported your decisions.

It is not enough to say that you made a decision but that you were able to evaluate strong data that justified the decision.

This is where your Marketing Executive CV has to show how you minimise the employer's risk in taking you on.

Conversely, you need to show that you are fast working too. Recruiters do not want to employ somebody who is over cautious to the point where they fail to act.

If profitable results are to be secured, the employers would like them to arrive sooner rather than later.

For example a Marketing Manager CV could feature achievements that closely relate to:

• Responding to consumer research data, repositioned a beverage product aimed at the under 35s market, to support a 50% price increase, yielding a 70% increase in profit margins within two years.
• As part of extended promotional campaign, conceived a successful trade show promotion that attracted more than 20% of conference attendees and yielded 2% increase in contracts, reversing a slow down in new customers.
• Extensively researched and developed a new product definition that boosted sales by 30% in the 12 months following its introduction, despite competition from a newly introduced, high profile competitor product.
• Designed, implemented and analysed targeted e-mail campaigns to capitalise on an extensive database developed through earlier promotional campaigns, increasing sales on certain products by 125%.

Here are some ways in which you can further strengthen your achievements. When referring to a result gained, place it in context with the organisational goals that were also furthered. In a Marketing Manager CV, this will invariably be an increase in profits or sales.

Always mention the considerations that were involved (without going into too much detail) and which you had to evaluate. These may be negative factors, but that is as important as the positive aspects to the marketing environment.

Always be specific. When mentioning any skill set, narrow the focus to specify how you employed these skills.

For instance, if you have skills relating to website development and e-commerce, always highlight both the skills and the fact that you developed a website and gained a certain set of results, which are quantifiable.

As far as possible, make every entry under your Career History jobs an achievement as well.

Marketing Executive CV Qualifications

If you have a truly outstanding set of achievements to present on your Marketing Executive CV, then recruiters may well be interested in you, whether or not you have a string of qualifications.

Some employers are actually attracted to the maverick style of manager who has learned solely on the job, because it is a reflection of their own style and background.

However, these are in the minority and you would be unwise to depend upon this in a job search strategy, particularly if you lack decades of experience.

The majority of employers would expect to see strong marketing qualifications underpinning a solid performance for previous employers. Once again, this is their way of minimising risk - you may make bold decisions, but you know how to evaluate the information that leads to that point of decision.

It is therefore important that your Marketing Manager CV clearly presents your marketing qualifications and subsequent attendance on short courses. If you are a member of national associations for marketing professionals, then include details of your memberships too.

Selling Yourself on a Marketing Manager CV

Every CV is a marketing document and the document that you prepare should be nothing short of excellent. If you are unable to market yourself on your Marketing Manager CV to an employer, why would they believe you could market their interests?

Every word should be supporting the core message of your Marketing Executive CV: that the recruiter should invite you to interview because you are the best candidate for the job. There is strong competition for the best marketing jobs, so unless you produce an exemplary CV you will not get a look in, as other marketing candidates are likely to be highly skilled at selling themselves.

A confident tone is always important. It is important, though, that you do not sound overconfident, as this will mean you may be perceived as a risky candidate by the recruiter.

The language that you use should be strong and positive, adding impact to the statements you are making.

The marketing sector is full of 'buzzwords' and phrases, or industry-specific terminology.

It is advisable to use this in moderation - too much jargon can make your CV hard to read and it loses its 'personality' (which is, in fact, your personality).

There is a skill in using buzzwords effectively, so that they stand out in the early stages of the recruitment process (such as electronic scanning and searching) without being over used and detracting from the professionalism of your Marketing Manager CV.

So, amidst all the achievements, the figures and the buzzwords, you need to retain a sense of warmth.

Remember that recruiters will have a number of concerns, which may include any and all of the following:

1. Your ability to do the job.
2. Your willingness to do the job.
3. The likelihood of you fitting in.
4. Whether you can be managed or not.
5. Whether they can afford to pay you.

It is the third and fourth points that often get overlooked in the marketing manager's CV. You need to strike that fine balance between being a bold decision maker and being someone who can operate successfully within the existing organisation. The recruiter will decide much of this at the interview, but they still need to have an idea of this when reading your Marketing Executive CV, in order for you to reach the interview.

Whether you will fit in is something that will be influenced by whether the recruiter likes you or not. A CV full of marketing terminology will make you sound like an automaton, so be sure to include detail about your personal approach to work as well. Including some personal details in the form of interests, within a final section called Other Information, will do much to convey some sense of your personality too.

Pages you may want to view as a Marketing Manager / Executive:

• Do you need to improve your marketing manager CV? Our CV service can drastically increase the number of interviews you obtain.
• CV Examples
• Free CV Review
• Marketing Jobs
• Marketing CV
• Sales Manager CV
• Sales Jobs
• PR Jobs
• Events Manager Jobs
• Events Manager CV
• Executive CV
• Management CV