This comprehensive guide will help solve all your confusions, answer all your questions and even give you some bonus tips so that your resume beats the ATS, impresses the hiring manager and gets you all the interview calls that you have your fingers crossed for!
So let's dive right in!
Where to begin?
Research
Job Market
The job market research is important to understand what the industry and sector is going through. The prospect of job availability and what sort of employers exists. Moreover, the job market research can be done offline and online. The offline mode is something everyone is familiar with, it is the offline networking where you physically approach the people and talk to them. Since you are an aspiring brand manager and you might have made some contacts along the way before applying for this position you can talk to some of your past colleagues or associates and people of the industry to understand what is the scope of a brand manager, what sort of companies are hiring them and do you need to increase the skill sets you have. There will arise several questions once you start doing the research.
Second mode is the online mode where you go onto professional social media websites such as LinkedIn etc. to seek your role and sector and industry. There are many jobs for a Brand manager, there are several industries and verticals that require a brand manager and even if you are shifting your industry your skills will not go to waste hence you shall research on what industry is more suitable to your skill set an ambitions.
Job Description
While you are researching about the job market and what industry you want to venture into, you will definitely come across variations of job descriptions. We understand that you will already know what will entail the role of a Brand manager although, you shall in depth go into the job descriptions for the companies that may be on your prospective list.
Job descriptions will be very straight forward, so you need to look at a few points within them. Starting with if the CTC - cost to company is mentioned and if there is any break up of the same. We understand that the CTC will be a very important factor of applying to a company hence we have kept it as a priority. Secondly, what your day to day responsibilities will look like, are the inline with what the industries are putting up in the job descriptions are they similar to its peers. Those kinds of comparisons need to be made to understand for your own personal choice. You shall also look at what are the requirements from the company's side. What they are looking for in their talent and does it align with your skill set.
Considering all these elements you can create a matrix of your own and learn what all the job descriptions are stating.
Self-Assessment
Self- assessment is no test, if you are wondering about it. We do apologize if we scared you there for a bit! Self- assessment is simply doing an introspection and noting down all what you have done professionally which can be used in your resume and cover letter. You will need points prepared before you sit down to write your resume, or you will need to make changes to you existing resume. However, for any of it you shall introspect and find out what all you have done, collect the proofs, and create points. While you are making points remember to include the element of quantifying them.
The introspection is a great way to gather everything you have done in one place so that you won't have to scour the emails, or physical proofs, or anything when you actually start writing your resume.
Company Information
Research about the companies you will be applying to as that will help you prepare not only for the resume but for the other parts of the job application process i.e., interview. We will help you in understanding and then giving you guide on how to research about the company and what all factors are considered.
Company information these days, is available at several places online and offline. You need to chase after each and every one of them to get a comprehensive sense of the company. You shall not only visit the company website's 'About us' page but also other professional social media platforms such as LinkedIn etc. These platforms will have people who have been part of the company and are part of the company and the company information on the open platform too. You can reach out to these people, network with them and get a better understanding of what the company is.
When you are reading up about the company, you shall focus on what their core values are. What is their mission and vision statement, what is their history, key members of the organization, any important current events in the news. When you read up about them, do try to take notes, pay attention to the kind of language they use, the kind of adjectives, action verbs they use. One key way in which you can learn a lot about the company is the Annual report, if it is a publicly traded company. The Annual report is where you will have all key elements of the company, and not just the financial performance.
The company information will be very useful in the step where you start formulating your resume for the application process.
Customization
When you have started creating your resume, we ask you to recall all that we had asked from you to do before it. Keep in mind the company information research, job description, job market research, and your own self assessment. Customization is in its essence where you use all the knowledge you have acquired for your job role and position and you use it to create a tailor made resume for that particular company and not just the role.
When you begin writing your resume, you need to keep couple of things in mind. Firstly, you need to use the language used by the company in your resume. What we mean by that is, use the same words used by the Company in its core values and other places, in your own resume where you write about your skills, your key experiences. The same words there will help the hiring manager relate more to your resume. They will make judgements about how a good fit for the company you are when you include the same values in your soft skills or even hard skills, when you have worked along the same values as the company in the previous companies.
Proof Reading
The last stage of completing the resume is when you have proofread your resume. There are certain things to keep in mind while proofreading your resume. You will find many ways in which you can proofread online. One of them is to put your resume in grammar review websites where it will help you identify and also fix your sentence structure. You can use a number of tools online that can help you select better key words and action verbs, and check your spelling as well.
However, there is no check like another person reading it online, unless you pay someone online. However, we suggest to give your resume to any of your friends or relatives and get your review on how it looks to them from the perspective of hiring managers. If they think the resume is creating an impact on them basis the kind of points you have made, the format, the use of language then you have a good resume. However, there is always scope for improvement so ask as many people as you can to get your resume reviewed so that you have something you can improve and make it bulletproof.
Formats
Essentially there are 3 types of resume format, and each of them have their own uniqueness and their use cases. Buckle up as we will guide you through all 3 of them and then help you decide which one is the best for you.
📌Types of formats
Functional resume format
The functional resume format is for people who are beginning their career or are switching from another field. For the latter, the skills are not transferable all the way and need the help of this format to make sure they are a worthy candidate.
The format focuses more on the skills than the experience, so if you are a fresher, or a person switching jobs, highlight your soft and hard skills relevant according to you and explain them with one example and keep more ready in case the hiring manager ask the same in the interview too.
If you have experience i.e., jobs, internships, freelancing, projects then do add them and try to relate that experience to the role you will be applying, even if it is not really related the hiring managers will look for candidates they can mould and thing are a good fit for the company.
Reverse chronological resume format
This type of format is more suited for professionals who have experience. The experience is given more priority than the skills unlike functional format. The experience has to be in the reverse chronological order as the name suggests. Always have your experiences in the reverse order as it helps the hiring manager create a more holistic picture of your fit basis the latest information and experience.
Combination resume format
The combination type format is a hybrid of the aforementioned 2. You can choose to keep you focus on either or both of the skills or the professional experience sections.
Templates
Borders
There is no need to keep fancy borders, we suggest to not have them as it will take space away from the resume. The text also should not be very close to the borders of the A4 size sheet. To solve those problems we have designed and have a collection of formats with the right formatting ready for you to just place your content in.
Font
The font shall be consistent through out the resume. Be it the headers of the sections or the content.
Font Sizes
The font sizes should remain consistent as well through out the resume. The font size for different headers, sub-headers, and of the points may be different, but they should be same in the classes they present in. Do not mix up too many fonts sizes, it may become confusing.
We suggest you pick a maximum of 4-5 font sizes from one font type.
Line Spacing
Line Spacing between the points shall be consistent, usually a spacing of 1 is enough however, if you need to fit more content in then please customize it as per your resume though, keep in mind that it should be legible to the reader
Paragraph Spacing
As per the line spacing point though the spacing between paragraphs, or rather sections shall be consistent too. Keep it to a maximum of an enter space, or jumping to a new line.
Bullet Points
For sections such as your professional experience, or skills, or hobbies, or achievements, you shall mention them in bullet points mentioning the whole breadth of the point and not just partially. Bullet points are more logical and legible to read and comprehend as a opposed to a whole paragraph.
White Spaces
When you are limited to a single page for a resume, which is what a perfect resume will be, then you will want to fit as much as possible in their given you have content, although, you might be short on how to put it given formatting, or unoptimized pointers. Please keep in mind that whenever you are making your points for the deserving sections such as your professional experience, or skills, always cover the whole breadth of the paper, use the right key words and actions verbs to increase the length of the sentence if you're falling short, though, also be weary of using too many filler words, which may just pollute your impact.
Brand manager resume sample outline
Resume header- the contact information section
Full Name: Fill in your name as per what you have submitted on your Government IDs
Mobile Number: Provide the mobile number which is on you and easily accessible to you
Email Address: Create a professional email address, if you don't have one already. We advise not to mix your personal email ID with your professional work
Permanent Address: Providing your address is not mandatory, however, if you do choose to put it then you can just summarize it to your area and area pin code
LinkedIn Profile: Always update your LinkedIn and check for anything that needs to be updated whenever giving your LinkedIn profile
Resume summary
Your resume summary should not be more than 3-6 sentences long. A resume summary is called the resume objective, in case you have read it somewhere else and/ or know about it. The resume summary is where you mention your intentions for applying for the role/ job of a brand manager. The summary should come out through some skill or your personal experience which has pushed you in this direction. Moreover, you can express your key achievement as well which highlights your skills and your potential as a fulfilling candidate.
The resume summary needs to be succinct and not vague. You will not have a plethora of words to summarize your statement for applying and you won't be able to hold the attention of the hiring managers for too long, hence, mention only what you think will catch the eye, use key words and action verbs, and elaborate those experiences and achievements in the resume below.
Professional experience/ work history
The below headlines for how to mention your experiences, need to be followed for all the experiences/ companies you have worked for and explain through pointers for each of them the value you added and your key responsibilities. The order needs to be maintained for all thus keep it as professional as possible.
Job title and Company:
The job title or the designation or the role you were recently employed at, you can mention the many positions you helped as separate category of job in order to highlight what you did for one single company. Once you mention the job title, you can in the same line mention the name of the company you were employed in.
Dates of Employment:
In the next line you need to show the hiring manager from when till when you were employed at that company. You can choose from the below two options, whichever you deem fit and formal for the occasion.
- Year-Month
- Month
The aforementioned should not be interchangeably used for difference experiences at different companies in the same resume. Stick to one type and the format in which you represent your tenure needs to be in 'From-To' format.
Job Description/ Key Responsibilities:
We have mentioned both job description and the key responsibilities to highlight that in this section you can use what your JD was and what you were responsible for as they can be separate. What your responsibility was or evolved to can be separate from what you were hired to do. Thus you should mention all those points, now according to how many experiences you want to mention in your resume, you should choose wisely which points to keep and which to let go for each experience.
You should prepare from 3 to anywhere near 5 points for each experience, and create multiple iterations of these when you are finally creating your resume. You will have an abundance of points to choose from and can mention a few of them together whichever you deem fit and will entice the hiring manager into selecting you for the further rounds of the job application process.
Key Achievements:
While you are mentioning your key responsibilities, you can also make points for what you achieved in while you were employed. Any major contribution to the team, project, personal or professional growth, anything for which you were recognized can come here. It is to show the hiring managers that you are a person who goes above and beyond to what is being told and you make more efforts to stand out and that you have really added value to the organization and not just take the skills from it.
Education section
Education Qualification Name:
The name of your educational qualification, it can be your degree, your diploma, and/or charter-ship. Please keep in mind that in this section you only need to mention your professional qualifications and may want to avoid any certifications - online or offline
Institution Name:
Mention the name of the institution from where you received your qualification
Location and Date:
Under the Institution name mention the Location i.e., state in which you completed your education from and then the date. The date can be stated as below in the format of 'From-To':
- Year-Month
- Month
GPA (Optional):
People only mention their GPA on CV if they have scored extremely well through out their academic career, and their education is paramount for the job, or if they are relatively new to the workforce.
Skills section
We provide you with a list of relevant skills which you can use to put in your brand manager resume which will help you get through the ATS - applicant tracking systems and may get you the interview with the hiring manager. Skills can be broadly categorized into soft and hard skills. Soft skills are intangible in nature, and make up your personality and affects people around you i.e., leadership, team building, time management. On the other hand hard skills are tangible, like the use of SPSS software for statistical analysis in marketing.
As a brand manager, we understand it is a management position and will need more sophisticated soft skills, hence keep in mind to use the list we have provided and put them on you resume for the right impact.
📌List of relevant skills for your brand manager resume:
- brand management
- brand manager skills
- brand strategy
- marketing campaigns
- brand positioning
- market trends
- marketing initiatives
- brand strategies
- innovative marketing strategies
- brand marketing
- advertising and marketing campaigns
- marketing strategy
- customer engagement
- marketing strategies
- branding and marketing techniques
- business administration
- successful brand strategies
- market research
- marketing skills
- communication skills
- strategic thinking skills
- digital marketing campaigns
- creative thinking
- soft skills
- working with marketing team
- effective brand strategies
- brand identity
- brand performance
- public relations
- brand messaging
- conducting market research
- in depth knowledge of marketing
- brand recognition
- branding initiatives
- increased sales
- branding strategies
- successful launch
- company's brand visibility
- increased retail sales
- branding strategy
- long term brand strategies
- digital marketing
- increased brand awareness
- new markets
- marketing channels for marketing campaigns
- boost sales
Bonus Tips for You
Keywords and ATS
Keywords add value to your resume as they help you clear the ATS - applicant tracking systems. They are the first level before you get shortlisted. Most of the candidates failed to surpass this. Therefore, we have created a curated list of key words that will help you enhance you resume and get shortlisted for that interview you have been longing for!
📌List of relevant keywords for your brand manager resume:
- marketing university
- increased brand awareness
- digital marketing
- digital marketing campaigns
- branding strategy
- company's brand
- great brand manager
- marketing teams
- most brand managers
- brand managers play
- increased sales
- brand recognition
- brand managers work
- in depth knowledge
- brand messaging
- public relations
- brand performance
- brand identity
- soft skills
- experienced marketing professional
- market data
- entry level brand managers
- brand ambassador
- working with brand ambassador
- strategic thinking
- associate brand manager
- communication skills
- brand manager position
- marketing skills
- market research
- successful brand strategies
- business administration
- customer engagement
- brand marketing managers
- marketing strategy
- brand marketing
- innovative marketing strategies
- brand strategies
- marketing initiatives
- market trends
- brand positioning
- assistant brand manager
- brand strategy
- brand manager skills
- creative brand manager
- brand management
- brand management skills
- brand managers
- brand manager
Cover letter
A few things to keep in mind before you begin your cover letter. The cover letter or a personal essay should usually between 400-800 words. The cover letter is not a fully informal essay and is a key part some of the application processes. Sometimes the application process may not ask you to submit a separate cover letter, but may have a series of questions that they may ask on their portal which are the points you cover in a cover letter.
Header
The header will follow the same pattern as what you put on your resume. It will contain your full name, your email address, your address (optional), your phone number, and LinkedIn profile (optional)
Salutation
Dear hiring manager', or 'Respected hiring manager' are some of the examples to greet the hiring managers. Since the cover letter goes along with the resume, it may also give the writer some creative freedom in how you express your personality you can be a bit casual though, we like to keep it formal to avoid any problems.
Introduction
The intro of the cover letter is where you try to express your interest for the role you are applying for. You can mention where you got the role from and how you can be a good fit by giving an objective view of how you can add value to the company.
As a brand manager, you can understand the impact a brand can have on a consumer. Think of the hiring managers as the consumers and yourself as a brand. Now try to put your best image upfront, which would be how malleable and consistent you are as a person where you can gel in with the values of the company and give results too!
Your intro of the cover letter will set the pace and the mood for the content to follow. We remind you to keep your intro short and concise.
Body
The body of the cover letter is where you start to peel your personality onion. An no, it is not to make the hiring manager cry in a bad way but cry tears of joy! The body shall contain your key experiences, skills, & achievement. The skills & achievement points are priority. Whenever you mention skills that you have honed and perfected over the years of experience, provide example where you displayed it evidently. And keep a few others in handy incase you are asked to elaborate more on it in the interview.
Now we move on to the achievements. You can give any important one or two achievements either from you professional or personal life. You can give one of each or both of personal or professional, though, we would suggest you to give one of each. The hiring manager then can get a wholistic view of you as a person. They can see that you have a life beyond work also which is contributing to your personality. As a brand manager that will help you be efficient as it gives your creative freedom, increase your management skills.
Another key aspect of the cover letter's body is the key experiences part. Now your skills example will duly cover the experiences and even your achievements will if they are professionally related, though, if there are key experiences like if you had to manage a whole team when the project was your brain child then those experiences can add value to your personality. Therefore, you can pick a key experiences, or experiences to showcase how effective you have been at your job.
Conclusion
The conclusion of the cover letter is where you give your closing arguments for your brand, which is you. You would like to sum up the kind of character you possess will fit well into the company and maintain the genuine interest which you had portrayed in the intro. The conclusion does not have to be lengthy as the reader or the hiring manager will be looking at multiple cover letters. End the personal essay at a positive note and mention that you're looking forward to a positive response from them.
Closing
'Sincerely' or 'Warm Regards' are a few ways in which you can close the letter and then sign your name off.
References
If you're a person who has worked before in companies and has some experiences in the field then you will have acquired some people on your side especially the senior management, which would be happy to be your references. We suggest to not keep more than 3 references along with the resume and the cover letter. The references are to aid your cause as a candidate for the role of brand manager.
Conclusion
We hope the Brand manager resume guide that we provided you with proves useful. Please go through our website to find a distinguished collections of formats, and templates to fulfill your need of creating an extravagant resume that will get you shortlisted. Moreover, find our AI powered resume builder that gives suggestions like ChatGPT and will help you create the perfect resume.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Do I need a cover letter with my brand manager resume?
Cover letters help you in many ways and increase your chances of getting calls for interview. You can read the above article for more in-depth view on whether you should include the cover letter or not. In case, you are not including a cover letter, ensure that your resume is modified for particular role and job.
Are references mandatory in my brand manager resume?
References help you in many ways (read the article above), however in case you are unable to gather 3 references for your resume, it is okay. References are not mandatory to include on your brand manager resume although some HR managers may ask for references to confirm their doubts or get some more clarity about your profile in that case, you may have to find some people to mention as references for yourself.
Should I keep my brand manager resume 2 pages long?
A professional resume is 1 to 2 pages long to ensure the reader of your resume does not miss out on any info by getting bored or losing interest due to the length of the resume. Shorter resumes are easy to read and and don't take a lot of time which also means that reader will not lose attention while reading it. Now, if your brand manager resume is 2 pages long, it's alright, just make sure you do not exceed 2 pages.
