So you’ve just graduated or want to make a career switch into digital marketing. You’re poised to get your foot in the door somewhere, especially considering that over 400,000 digital marketing jobs were posted over the last 12 months.
But how do you get an entry-level digital marketing job?
Your first job search can be daunting because you might feel like you don’t have the professional experience under your belt even to get an interview. While the search may be longer than you anticipate and tough work, many successfully get entry-level digital marketing roles at top companies and startups.
Below is a list of tips to help guide you through the process.
Table of Contents
1. Identify your transferable skills.
2. Pick a digital marketing career path.
3. Sharpen your digital marketing skills
4. Build your digital marketing portfolio
5. Consider freelancing
6. Submit your resume to a creative agency
7. Set up alerts for entry-level digital marketing roles and perfect your resume
8. Prepare for your first digital marketing interview
Ready to start your digital marketing job search?
8 Tips to get an entry-level digital marketing job
1. Be confident in the skills you already have.
As you peruse digital marketing job postings, you may be intimidated by the number of hard skills listed for a job. But remember, soft skills are equally if not more important, and you can always learn more technical skills by accessing an abundance of resources freely available online.
Even if you have not held a formal digital marketing role, you may have had marketing responsibilities in a past position or even done some marketing work for your own small business or side hustle. Think creatively about how you can repackage your past work history to make it relevant to an entry-level digital marketing opportunity.
Pathstream’s Vice President of Career Strategy, Amy Ahearn, says, “Many students we’ve worked with have been admin assistants or held office jobs where they managed a social media account, updated a company website, or coordinated with local advertisers. All of these experiences are relevant to a digital marketing job and should therefore be featured prominently on your resume. Think expansively about any work you have done that might be relevant to the new role you are pursuing. Perhaps you helped market an event at your children’s school or managed a social media account for a side business. These projects and experiences can be highlighted when you’re applying for your first digital marketing job.”
2. Pick a Digital Marketing career path.
Digital marketing is a broad term, and this field is made up of many different disciplines, each carrying its unique career path. This is exciting because you can choose from various options and specialize in areas such as email marketing, paid advertising, marketing analytics, or social media.
Matching your interests and skills to a discipline that will help you thrive in is essential. To get started, ask yourself:
- What do I like?
- What are my digital marketing skills and strengths?
- Am I creative or analytical?
- What are my career goals?
Suppose you are brand new to digital marketing. In that case, it can often help to pursue a generalist role – such as a digital marketing specialist position – to gain experience in many different types of marketing before deciding to specialize.
This is an ideal role for someone new to the industry because it allows you to work within many different marketing disciplines and learn from more seasoned colleagues. It will help you master new skills, identify your passions, and pinpoint the types of work you are less excited about in the long term. We recommend you strongly consider applying for or accepting this role because it will help accelerate your career growth.
4. Build your Digital Marketing portfolio
Resumes can only say so much about what you can do as a digital marketer. To complement your resume, consider building a portfolio before applying to jobs. It’s a great way to use the skills you picked up from your digital marketing program and shows that you can attract potential clients. It’s also an excellent resource to show off when trying to get an entry-level digital marketing job with little experience.
Use tools like Squarespace, Wix, Crevado, CarbonMade, or PortfolioBox to put together an online gallery of your work and include short descriptions that highlight the goals of your campaign, what channels you chose, and why, what assets you built, and the impact. Publishing your portfolio online improves your visibility and highlights your professionalism (even if you’re a rookie).
If you’re looking for inspiration, check out examples from Pathstream students Dorian Block, Angela Mason, and Kyndall Bennett.
If you want to learn how to build a digital marketing portfolio, check out our blog with tips and tricks!
5. Consider freelancing
When you work with Pathstream, our goal for you is to land a full-time job, but sometimes your search takes longer than expected. To build up your portfolio and gain some experience, you can pursue freelance marketing work.
How?
- Check out UpWork, Fiverr, Toptal, Behance, FlexJobs, and 99Designs – marketing gigs are posted there daily.
- Take a free course on Online Freelancing Essentials to gain some tips on establishing your profile.
- Know a small business owner? They always need help growing their customer base. Consider setting them up with Facebook Ads or helping them manage their social media.
We share our strategies for building a digital marketing freelance career here.
6. Submit your resume to a creative agency
Staffing agencies and creative agencies often source candidates for contract marketing work and permanent positions. Create a profile with these agencies so that they can refer you if they have a client in search of your skillset. Keep in mind that many of these agencies will often take a percentage of your salary in exchange for making the match, but this can often be worthwhile if it helps you get in the door. Agencies specializing in digital marketing positions include Artisan Talent, Mondo, Marketpro, Sparks Group, iCreatives and The Creative Group.
7. Set up alerts for entry-level digital marketing roles and perfect your resume
This step is often overlooked but makes your life easier! Set up alerts on job boards like, Indeed, LinkedIn, Glassdoor, and Wayup to notify you when a digital marketing job that meets your criteria is posted. You can also create a shortlist of companies you would like to work for and weekly schedule time on your calendar to monitor their job boards. If you want to make an extra good impression, connect with people who work there and set up an informational interview. Remember, most jobs are still filled through networking, so don’t be afraid to put yourself out there.
Watch Networking and Informational Interviews to learn more tips.
Once you’re confident a digital marketing job posting is what you’re looking for, edit your resume to highlight relevant experience aligned with the job requirements. Make sure you proofread your resume and ask someone to provide feedback.
As Pathstream’s Amy says, “Digital marketing requires attention to detail, so make sure your application materials embody the care and attention needed to do the job well.”
Here are some more resources to help you:
8. Prepare for your first digital marketing interview
Great job, you scored the interview. The first step is a 30-40 minute phone screen which consists of a conversation with a recruiter or hiring manager to get a sense of your background and potential fit for the role.
We put together a blog post with ten steps to help you impress the tougher hiring managers here. Be sure to check it out, but in the meantime, consider these tips below:
- Research the company to understand key facts about their business
- Review their social media accounts, and marketing campaigns, listen to their podcasts and read their blogs
- Check out their website
- Read their mission statement and understand their values– it defines their brand voice and identity.
- Learn how to tell your story.
Get ready to forge your career path in this booming industry! It’s projected to grow by 7% in just two years!
Ready to start your digital marketing job search?
We know getting an entry-level digital marketing job is going to take time. But, we want to help you speed up the process by sharing examples of digital marketing resumes that work.
Click here to download digital marketing resume examples.
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