How To Get A Marketing Job In 2021

Whether you’re new to the field or a recent graduate, it can be overwhelming trying to land your first marketing job. With Covid-19 forcing many businesses to go digital, marketing is experiencing a high demand for professionals. This means it’s never been a better time to be entering the industry. The field is challenging and highly competitive, but offers many rewards and growth for those with talent and the drive to succeed. However, one of the biggest mistakes that recent grads or career shifters make is heading straight to LinkedIn or another job board and blindly blasting out dozens of applications.

While this article is going to offer you tips and show you the steps you can take to land a job in marketing, it’s not going to be easy. Applying for a new job in a highly competitive field, especially with minimal to no experience, is a full time job in and of itself. I entered the work-force with an education, internship and minimal experience under my belt before starting out as a Marketing Coordinator for a local full-service digital agency. Within less than a year, I was the Marketing Manager at a local sports and events venue. None of that started without many failed interviews, ignored applications and rejection emails. I am grateful for the lessons all of those things taught me, but I definitely would have saved myself a lot of time, and stress had someone given me the tips I’m about to share. Consider the advice mentioned below when applying for jobs, and watch yourself rise above the rest in the stack of resumes that many employers receive. 

1. Revamp Your Resume And Portfolio

It's quite ironic, but despite knowing how to sell products and services extremely well, so many marketers have a hard time selling themselves to employers. It can often be uncomfortable to shine the spotlight on one’s self, but creating a resume that stands out is a skill all marketers need to perfect if they want to reach their career goals. It’s also impossible to think that in such a competitive and creative industry, any marketer can get by without building and updating their portfolio any chance they get.

A great marketing resume should be professionally written and well formatted, while keeping it one page in length. It should also define skills and contain details of employment and education. Depending on the company and the job, interests and hobbies can also be included.

These free resume templates from Hubspot feature sample copy for 10 of the most popular marketing positions.

2. Understand The Different Types Of Marketing And Figure Out Where Your Skills And Career Plan Fit

 One of the biggest misconceptions people have about marketing is that they don’t realize how diverse the industry is.

There are many different areas of marketing you can specialize in, such as:

  • Website Design
  • Website Development
  • User Experience Design (UX Design)
  • Graphic Design
  • Branding
  • Social Media Management
  • Social Media Advertising
  • Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
  • Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
  • Email Marketing
  • Content Marketing
  • Video Editing
  • Photography


The list goes on and on! All of these areas require different skill sets, education and processes needed to succeed. Picking an area to specialize in may seem overwhelming at first, but it’s actually great because that means there is something for everyone in the digital space. (One thing to note, I do advise that you have a general understanding of how all areas of marketing co-exist, as you likely will end up wearing multiple hats in your entry level position.) 


If you’re visually creative, you can go into Graphic, UX design or video creation. If you love writing, content marketing is one of the fastest growing fields right now. If you’re all about analyzing data, pay-per-click platforms like Google Adwords or Facebook Ads let you get specific data about your target audience and site traffic. If you’re interested in content creation, representing brands or working with them, social media management might be right for you.

The question is, where do you begin?


In my experience, the best place to start is building foundational knowledge with courses and resources that break down the basics of the marketing ecosystem.

3. Get Your Online Marketing Certifications

One of the most amazing things about the web today is how many resources are right at our fingertips. There are free courses full of amazing information on every single facet of the digital marketing ecosystem, all you need to do is sign up.

To help save you time, here are four “hubs” for marketing courses that will help you learn pretty much everything you need to know:

4. Decide Which Sector You Want To Work In: Agency vs Corporate

When it comes to marketing, there are two overarching fields: corporate and agency. The first decision you need to make is which field you want to be a part of. How does work vary between the two and what are the pros and cons? At first glance, they might look quite similar, but there are a ton of important differences worth mentioning.

Corporate Marketing

One of the main differences is that if you work 'in-house' you will know the ins and outs of the company, be devoted to that company and give its clients and products the attention they demand. You tend to work across a broad range of projects but within one sector so your skills will become very specialized.

Agency Marketing

In an agency, you may find yourself working across a whole range of projects across different industries. As your agency has been employed by another business or individual though, you will be at the beck and call of your clients and you will be expected to create and implement solutions and campaigns to their deadlines. It's unlikely that you'll have the final say over the campaign and depending on the deadlines imposed; the hours tend to be longer within agencies. That said, you'll be exposed to lots of different campaigns and budgets which is valuable experience as you find your feet.

The biggest differences I noticed personally when working agency and corporate was the work/life balance and the pace. I found agency life to be ever-changing, many diverse projects at once, fast-paced and long hours. Corporate is more structured, the workload is consistent and work hours are typically shorter.

At the start of a marketing career, it is easier to move between the two sides; however, once your career is more established, many companies on both the corporate and agency-side are reluctant to employ marketers from the other side of the divide as they function quite differently. That being said, it's not impossible but it pays to decide early on in your career to ensure you make the best choice for yourself.

5. Optimize Your Linkedin Presence

Per the Jobvite Recruiter Nation Survey, 87 percent of recruiters use LinkedIn as part of their candidate search. As a professional or student, it's the popular place to network and look for job opportunities.

On CBS This Morning, LinkedIn's CEO noted the following three tips to maximize the potential of your LinkedIn profile:

  • Keep your profile up to date
  • Be comprehensive about current skills and objectives
  • Highlight your recent experience


The most exciting people to hire are the people who are the most excited about what they do. So, make sure your LinkedIn profile shows your enthusiasm. Join and participate in groups related to your field of expertise. Use your status line to announce stuff you’re doing related to your field. Share interesting articles or news. Connect with the leaders in your industry.

6. Take Advantage Of Your Connections And Networking Opportunities

Networking is the best way to find a marketing job because:

  • People conduct business primarily with people they know and like
  • Resumes and cover letters alone are often too impersonal to convince employers to hire you
  • Job listings tend to draw piles of applicants, which puts you in intense competition with many others. Networking makes you a recommended member of a much smaller pool
  • The job you want may not be advertised at all. Networking leads to information and job leads, often before a formal job description is created or a job announced

7. Volunteer To Get Your Foot In The Door

Volunteering is one of the best possible ways to get your foot in the door of a company you are interested in working for. A volunteer opportunity can put you in a position to meet your potential employer, while learning new skills in the process. These skills are often transferrable to the positions you are eligible for. Not only that, volunteer experience doubles as professional experience. As someone seeking employment, opportunities like this are paramount for standing out in a stack of resumes. Be sure to add tasks you completed and things you learned to your resume so each hiring manager is aware of what you now bring to the table.

To sum it up, volunteering allows you to:

  • Gain work experience
  • Build your network
  • Develop transferrable skills
  • Develop confidence
  • Explore your interests

8. Freelance To Gain Experience

Sometimes the process of finding your dream job takes longer than you'd like. ... Freelance work helps you develop your skills, earn a living and gain valuable experience, so your time between jobs is anything but wasted.

Here are some websites you can use to find freelance work online:

9. Proactively Apply For Marketing Jobs But Not For Every Job You See

When choosing your next employer, it’s easy to get stuck on making a good impression. In doing so, you lose sight of what matters most to you and your future. The next time you are researching new job opportunities or are preparing for an upcoming interview, remember it's on the company to sell itself to you as it is you to them.

Oftentimes it’s not until after you’ve accepted the position that you check an employer’s reviews via sites like Glassdoor. On the contrary, if you only look at one site such as Glassdoor, you are failing to grasp the complete employer/employee picture. 


Chances are you wouldn’t make a big purchase without considering multiple reviews. So why would you invest years of your life in a company without taking the time to get an objective opinion.

10. Tailor Your Resume And Cover Letter To Each Company You’re Applying To

Do NOT make the common mistake of sending the same resume and cover letter to each company you’re applying for. Although it can become a huge amount of work tailoring each resume, it is blatantly obvious to a hiring manager when you are firing out resumes to any company or business available.

11. Optimize Your Resume For AI Powered Recruiting Software For Said Job Description

If you think the first obstacle to getting a job interview is a recruiter’s judgment, you’re not seeing the whole picture. 99% of Fortune 500 companies and a growing number of small and mid-sized businesses filter resumes through an applicant tracking system (ATS) before someone takes a look. Applicant tracking systems keep all these resumes in one place, helping recruiters and hiring managers stay organized.

If you’re a job seeker, the best way to ensure you have the correct search terms and a high enough match rate to land at the top of the list is to study the job description and include the top keywords in your resume. Traditionally, this was a manual, time-consuming process. Nowadays, job seekers can automate the process with Jobscan.

12. Get To Know The Companies You Want To Work For And Reach Out To The People Within Them

After optimizing your LinkedIn presence, it's important to do research to learn who works at that company to see if you will be a good fit. When applying for jobs, you will send hundreds if not thousands of applications. With that said, it becomes natural to adapt the mindset of working for any employer that will hire you. But to find an employment opportunity that is sustainable, it's important that it is a good fit for you too. Research as much as you can on the company, it's employees, and it's work culture. The most valuable piece of information you can find is your interviewer or hiring manager. If you can do this, make sure you research their background. You never know what piece of information you could find that will help separate you from other candidates. In addition, reaching out to them will help you stand out. Reach out on LinkedIn and include a message with your request (this will help you stand out in a pile of LinkedIn requests).

As you start implementing some of these tips in this article, Keep in mind that getting a marketing job is in a lot of ways just like getting any other job! You'll need to put in the work, prepare well, and make yourself stand out! Unlike with other roles, you can think of that process—telling your story and proving you’re the best candidate for the job—as one more way you’re preparing for a career in marketing. Entering the world of marketing is all about marketing yourself. Looking for more guidance on getting a career in marketing? Don't hesitate to reach out! We love helping other aspiring young marketing professionals to thrive in the field!

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