Select a guide below:

We have worked with hundreds of digital marketers to optimize their job search and find the best possible job. With each success, we’ve realized that the job search is a winnable game. So, we wanted to share our data-backed steps with you. 

If you are interested in the added benefit of mentoring and coaching from industry experts, join Pathrise.

If you are looking to break into digital marketing, you need to make sure your resume features all of the right skills and impresses the recruiter. If you are not studying marketing in a school or bootcamp setting (or even if you are and you want extra learning opportunities), there are a lot of tools that you can use online. 

Resource

Bootcamp

Bootcamp

With free and paid resources, ClickMinded has courses on a variety of digital marketing topics, tools, and trends.

General Assembly is a bootcamp with marketing courses that students can take online or on campus.

Udacity is most well known for their nanodegree programs, which they offer in a variety of topics. They also have introductory and advanced courses. 

Bootcamp

Resource

Resource

Students can enroll in digital marketing specializations at Coursera to earn a certificate that can be added to their resume and LinkedIn.

The Udemy digital marketing master class comes with lifetime access to the curriculum so students can review updates after they finish the course.

Skillshare has thousands of online videos that students can watch to learn new skills in digital marketing.

For more options, we’ve compiled a list with an overview of each of these platforms, or you can click through for more in-depth information.

Once you have the skills down, you need to create a resume that is strong enough to pass the recruiters' 6 seconds first glance. When you are writing the content of your resume, it is important to keep these tips in mind: 

Impact is Key

The impact of the work you did in each role and project should be highlighted.

Always Quantify

Quantifying your results is one of the best ways to showcase your achievements.

Provide Context

Including context to your statements increases recruiter interest.

To put this into perspective, here are some examples of revisions of resume experience bullet points or project descriptions in order to improve their strength:

Conduct market research, analyzing 60+ seed-stage startups and building valuation models to optimize opportunity identification process by 20%

Researched competitors for modeling purposes

Worked with team to bring Slack to more college campuses

Collaborated with fellow interns and then led campaign ideation for college-specific Slack integration, accomplishing goal of bringing Slack to 30 colleges

We’ve written a marketing resume guide that you can review to ensure you are hitting the right points as well as a guide to optimizing your LinkedIn for success in your job search.

Finally, marketing online profiles are not complete without a robust portfolio. The goal of the portfolio is to give recruiters and hiring managers more insight into the work you have done. It also provides important visuals to connect with the statements on your resume and LinkedIn. Your portfolio should be easy to read and understand with an inviting homepage and informative interior pages for each project.

Follow this checklist to optimize your portfolio

1. Who you are

2. Your skills

3. Projects / experiences where you showcase how you use those skills

4. Resume or link to resume

Checklist: Outline of a strong portfolio page

1. Setup & context

2. The challenge & problem

      i. High level goals

3. Your role

      i. The team

4. Process

      i. How did you work on this campaign, task, problem?

5. Launch, impact, results

      i. Final outputs

      ii. Results

      iii. Next steps

You can find a job more quickly if you narrow down your search and only apply for positions that are right for you. Start by asking yourself a few questions to get a sense of what you like before you dive into the job boards.

We ranked and rated even more product design job boards that you can use based on your preferences.

When you apply for jobs online, you need to add something extra to ensure results. A compelling cold email to a recruiter or hiring manager after each application can triple your response rate. So, how do you make that happen?

Hi [name],

I hope you’re doing well! My name is [your name] and I’m reaching out because I recently applied for the [position] position I saw on [platform] and noticed you are a [role] at [company].

While I am not sure if you are the right person to contact, I wanted to reach out to you specifically because I was interested in the work you are doing, specifically [something from their LinkedIn or something the company is working on]. I am a skilled digital marketer with strong copywriting chops and I believe I would hit the ground running and be a great fit for your team.

I would appreciate the opportunity to learn more about you and the company. Would you be free for a 15-minute call, either at [timeframe 1] or [timeframe 2]? In advance, I have attached my resume for your review. I really appreciate your consideration and look forward to hearing from you.

All the best,

[Your name]

Check out our guide to cold emailing, which includes even more tips on how to find recruiters' and hiring managers' emails.

Preparing the right way for technical interviews can double your interview scores. But how do you know what to practice and how do you know that you are doing it correctly?

Know what's out there

We compiled a list of 70+ marketing questions from real tech companies.

Use these tips as you prepare for technical interviews

Always start with clarifying questions

Sometimes, interviewers ask questions that are intentionally vague. So, it’s important for you to double check that you are on the same page. Take 15-30 seconds after they ask the question to make some points clear. For example:

1. “Who is the target audience?”

2. “Have you done a similar campaign in the past?”

Know how to get help

AKA – getting a hint. Some interviewers don't like  the actual word, “hint,” so a better approach is to say something like, “my assumptions are X and Y, I’m thinking of doing Z. But I’m struggling with solving [specific problem].” You can also ask collaborative questions like,

1. I was wondering if you had any thoughts.

2. Do you think I’m going down the right direction?

3. Do you think my assumptions are incorrect?

Success in behavioral interviews requires a good understanding of yourself and also the company. Beyond the classic strategy of taking a look at Glassdoor, there are a few key pages that you should review on the company website to prepare.

Learn important info about the company mission, history, the solutions that they are using to accomplish their mission, and their goals for the future on the About page. When you are preparing your elevator pitch, include how you fit into their mission as your conclusion.

This is a great place to find information about the qualities that go into successful candidates at this company. Once you know what they want, you can add those elements to your answers and show them that you are a strong candidate.

Sometimes these pages are called "Culture" or "Life at Company Name", like Life at Stripe. This is where you can learn the company values. Then, you should tailor your responses to match their values so they know you fit in with the culture. Some companies, like Amazon and Netflix, will even ask you specifically about the values, so it is extremely important that you are informed.

We compiled data on 200+ tech companies that you can review as you prepare for your interviews, including not only the information above, but also interview questions and insider knowledge on interview processes for companies like:

After you have researched the company, spend time personalizing your responses to common behavioral interview questions to ensure the culture fit.

This gets the ball rolling and lets the recruiter know what type of positions are a good fit.

Introduce yourself, your major, and your graduation year. If you are more experienced, start with a general description of your area of expertise.

Talk about the past work that you have done in previous positions, internships or even volunteer or extracurricular organizations and activities.

This is the critical part of your pitch. It shows the breadth of work that you've been able to accomplish.

If you don’t have much experience, or if you have especially impressive personal work, projects can impress the recruiter. It shows you are passionate beyond the role.

Optionally, supplement your elevator pitch be mentioning 1 or 2 personal or professional projects. Side hustles will show initiative and capability.

End with a preview of your response to “why this company” by adding how you fit with their mission.

This lets you end in a strong way and connects you to the company. It makes them understand that you're interested in this job for more than just the paycheck.

Prepare for your behavioral interviews with the same vigor as your technical interviews. Practice the types of questions you will be asked by writing down responses and saying them out loud to yourself in a mirror or to a friend. The goal is to sound polished, but not rehearsed or memorized. Here are some examples of popular questions from tech companies:

For more questions from real tech companies, check out our list of 45+ behavioral interview questions.

With negotiation, the best advice is to stay quiet throughout the process. Never mention a number or even a range. If you do, you might end up stuck. If you are faced with gotcha questions, try deflecting with these responses:

“You know, I haven’t fully considered that yet, I’m just really excited about this company right now and am really focused on these and other interviews.”

“I'd really like to do some research before I answer that. I want some more information on the average salaries for these roles and the cost of living in the city.”

The average compensation for digital marketing roles is:

When you do finally receive an offer, make sure you thank them and politely get off the phone as soon as possible. We suggest negotiating over email because you can take your time. Check out these examples of collaborative statements as well as an annotated negotiation email template in our guide.

With the above steps and resources, alongside 1-on-1 support from their mentor and coach, job-seekers in Pathrise see great results. There's a ton more information and tactics that you can utilize to succeed as a job-seeker today, and our fellows benefit a lot from them.