A digital media professional oversees all content published digitally for a company. This means they need to be creative thinkers, who also possess technical skills.
Several skills are needed to be successful in digital media, including:
If you’re looking to snag a job as a digital marketing professional, you need to highlight the right skills on your resume. Hiring managers will be looking for people with high levels of creativity, ingenuity, and technical skills to implement their new ideas. Hiring managers might want to see you have previous experience in marketing, branding, or content creation. In today's day and age, lots of professionals have experience using online channels to promote a business. That’s why it’s important to highlight the skills and experiences that make you stand out on your resume for the best chance of getting the job. Keep reading to see some examples of resumes in digital media and our top tips on how to land a job in this competitive industry.
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The digital media specialist develops and optimizes a company’s digital media strategy, from the ground up. This means they are involved with the creation of digital media campaigns, the execution of such campaigns, and collecting data to understand how the campaigns are performing.
When looking for a digital media specialist, hiring managers will want a candidate with a degree in marketing, communications, or another closely related field. A masters degree is not required but may help you stand out. Hiring managers will want a candidate with previous experience in marketing and content creation. A candidate will be especially attractive if they’ve been involved in digital marketing, social media, or advertising previously. Digital media specialists are dynamic and creative team players who know how to create a vision for the company and execute it effectively.
Digital media specialists must be connoisseurs of all things online. If you have experience utilizing social media, online web development, or email marketing in previous roles it’s important to highlight these experiences on your resume. Be sure to include how you used each channel and what results you produced for the company.
The digital media specialist will have to work effectively with others all of the time. They may need to work cross-departmentally to execute projects, such as working with graphic designers to create visual content or working with copywriters to create engaging written content. A good digital media director will be able to effectively communicate their vision to these colleagues and work together to create campaigns. As such, it’s extremely important to highlight that you are an effective communicator and a team player on a digital media specialist resume.
The digital media manager is an important part of the digital marketing team. The digital media manager oversees digital content and marketing. In this role, the digital marketing manager may oversee junior content creators, making leadership skills very important. The digital media manager typically oversees what content is created, what online channels the content is shared on, SEO and website optimization, directing and analyzing paid search campaigns, and more.
Hiring managers will typically look for a candidate with a bachelor’s degree in marketing, communications, or another similar field. They will also like to see a candidate with several years of progressive digital marketing experience. Having previous experience as a digital marketing consultant, digital content creator, or marketing manager can help you land this role.
Digital media managers will need to understand how to use popular advertisement platforms, such as Google, effectively. Earning a Google AdWords certificate shows potential employers you understand how to use Google’s robust suite of advertising tools and services.
As a digital media manager, you’ll need to “call the shots” when it comes to your company’s online content. You will also need to know how to effectively lead junior staff to execute on projects. Leadership skills are extremely important to succeed in this role. As such, it’s important to highlight your leadership duties in previous roles. Showing how you effectively led a team in the past will make your resume stand out.
If you have great leadership and project management skills with a knack for digital content, a role as a digital media director may be a good fit for you. This role is typically involved in all of the high-level decision-making and planning in regard to a company’s digital content strategy.
A digital media director needs to be knowledgeable, creative, and an effective leader. Digital media directors are typically in charge of the entire digital media department. They make executive-level decisions about their department, which requires stellar management skills, administrative skills such as setting department budgets, and the ability to work cross-functionally with other managers.
For this role, hiring managers will look for a candidate with a bachelor's degree in marketing, communications, or a similar field. A master’s degree isn’t required but may help a candidate stand out. Hiring managers will look for candidates with several years of progressive experience in marketing or advertising. Usually, candidates for this role have at least 3-5 years of experience in the field.
The digital media director is responsible for effective management and collaboration within their department, but the need for teamwork skills doesn’t end there. Digital media directors need to build relationships with outside advertising agencies, media outlets, and PR firms to set up strategic media opportunities for the company. Candidates who have experience building effective relationships with third-party agencies, freelancers, and vendors should highlight this skill on their resume.
We spoke with hiring managers at companies like BuzzFeed, Vice Media, and Vox Media to gather their best tips for creating a digital media resume that will get you hired. These tips will help you showcase your skills and experience in a way that will catch the attention of hiring managers and recruiters in the digital media industry.
Make sure to include specific digital media skills that are relevant to the job you're applying for. This could include:
Don't just list the skills, but provide specific examples of how you've used them in previous roles or projects. For example:
A resume summary for digital media roles is an optional section that briefly highlights your relevant experience, skills, and career goals. While not required, it can be a helpful way to provide additional context about your background, especially if you are changing careers or have a lot of experience. However, avoid using an objective statement, as it is outdated and focuses on what you want rather than what you can offer an employer.
When writing your summary, tailor it to the specific digital media role you are targeting. Focus on your most relevant qualifications and achievements, and use keywords from the job description. Keep it concise and avoid repeating information that is already covered in other sections of your resume.
Your work experience section is the heart of your resume. It's where you show the impact you've made at previous companies, and tie that impact to the role you're applying for. Let's break down the key steps to make your work experience section shine for digital media roles.
Your education section is a crucial part of your digital media resume. It shows employers that you have the necessary knowledge and training to excel in your field. Here are some tips to help you craft a compelling education section that will catch the eye of hiring managers.
When writing a resume, you want to use action verbs to describe previous experiences, achievements, and skills. The action verb should come first, followed by the achievement you are trying to highlight. Digital media directors need strong creativity, great communication skills, and the ability to effectively implement digital tools. So, using words such as “implemented” or “directed” on your resume will be effective.
Below, you’ll find several examples of action verbs that relate to the core functions of the digital media director role. You should always use these verbs at the beginning of a bullet point and avoid overusing the same verb too many times.
For a full list of effective resume action verbs, visit Resume Action Verbs.
When applying for a digital marketing director role, you need to make sure your resume is tailored to the skills and traits hiring managers are looking for. To get past applicant tracking software, it’s vital that you use keywords and phrases for the role. To effectively do this, you can add a skills section to your resume where you detail each skill in a list form. Or you can weave these key skills into your previous job descriptions and how you utilized them. It may help to re-read the job posting and use some of the skills they list within your resume. If you need an idea of popular skills sought after for a digital media director role, check out the below.
You can include the above skills in a dedicated Skills section on your resume, or weave them in your experience. Here's how you might create your dedicated skills section:
This word cloud highlights the important keywords that appear on Digital Media job descriptions and resumes. The bigger the word, the more frequently it appears on job postings, and the more 'important' it is.
Thank you for the checklist! I realized I was making so many mistakes on my resume that I've now fixed. I'm much more confident in my resume now.
