Is my CV okay? It’s probably the most common question I get as a marketing recruiter.
The answer? There is always room for improvement.
In a tight market, where some roles attract hundreds of applications, the biggest hurdle is getting from CV to first interview. At management and director levels, employers are often very specific about what they want.
Many applicants, at all levels, focus on the layout & format:
“Do I need to keep it to 2 pages”
“Should Education be at the start or the end”
“Do I include a profile section”
“Should I include a picture”
The truth is these things don’t matter as much as you think.
Here’s the biggest change I would encourage every marketer to make:
Your CV is not a job description. It’s a sales document. Too many experienced marketers undersell themselves by listing responsibilities instead of outcomes.
Instead of:
“Responsible for brand strategy and campaign delivery.”
Use:
“Led a brand repositioning that increased unprompted awareness by 15% and contributed to a 18% uplift in revenue within 12 months.”
A few principles I consistently see in CVs that convert to interviews:
1. Outcome over activity: What changed because you were there?
2. Commercial impact: How did your work affect revenue, brand, pipeline, growth, retention, market share?
3. Quantify your success – use numbers to show your commercial acumen and the impact of your work.
4. Scale and scope: Budget size, team leadership, geographic reach, transformation projects.
5. Clarity: Clean structure. No fluff. No jargon for the sake of it.
Whether it’s 2 pages, 3 pages has a pic (keep it professional!) or doesn’t, it will be your success and achievements that will make you stand out.
There’s no such thing as a “perfect” marketing CV. But there is a strategic one.
In marketing as in your CV, strategy is key!