Brand Manager Resume Example
Working as a brand manager can provide a rewarding career, involving developing marketing strategies and analyzing market trends. For a successful brand manager application, you'll want to submit a professional resume that showcases your relevant skills. In this article, we'll explain how to write a winning resume for brand manager applications that best showcases your skills and experience.
After reading this guide, you'll know what it takes to create a resume that really stands out from other brand manager applicants. You'll find useful insights on constructing a resume that makes the most of your unique skills, experience and strengths. You'll also learn how to tailor your resume according to the job description, and depending on your experience levels. Read on to access expert insights from Jobseeker that will help you create a winning brand manager resume.
What to include in a brand manager resume
Most resumes contain similar key sections, with a brand manager resume being no different.
If you have no work experience as a brand manager or have just started in the industry, you could consider using a functional or skills-based format, which emphasizes your skills and education. Soft and transferable skills are often more highly valued by employers for junior roles, so highlight these. Also add any internships, volunteer work or training courses you've undertaken.
If you're already working as a brand manager, concentrate on proving your credentials with your work achievements. Use a reverse-chronological resume format to place work experience prominently in your resume. Rather than simply listing your responsibilities in each role, show the impact you made and offer evidence that demonstrates the skills and experience listed in the job description.
As a highly experienced candidate, you'll want your brand manager resume to showcase your depth of relevant work experience, as well as other achievements. Use a reverse-chronological format and add additional sections to prove you're a strong candidate. Senior resumes are often longer than resumes for junior roles. This is because you may choose to include extra sections, such as awards, professional memberships, publications, conferences or certifications on your resume.
How you choose to present your resume is up to you. There are plenty of options for a professional resume layout and format, but every application should include the following:
Resume Header
A brand manager resume header contains your name and contact information. Add your first and last name, your phone number and your email address. Include your address or location, but avoid adding any other personal information. If you have a LinkedIn profile, you can add the URL to your header so the hiring manager can get a better understanding of your work history and experience. Be aware of the amount of space your resume header takes up. You don't want your contact details to take space away from the main content of your resume, so keep this section as brief as possible.
Use an email address that's professional and appropriate for professional communication. Typically this would be an email address based on your first and last name, or your initials. If necessary, you could include your profession or another unique identifier. Avoid using old email addresses that could be considered unprofessional or inappropriate. Additionally, always check your contact details before sending your resume to ensure they're up-to-date.
Penelope Chavez
penelope.chavez@example.com
(111) 222 33 444 55
666 Park Avenue, New York, NY
linkedin․com/in/penelope–chavez123
Resume Summary
In your resume summary, write a short paragraph that highlights two or three of your key achievements and skills for brand manager roles. You could also call this section 'resume objective' or 'personal profile'. A resume summary covers your career experience to date, while a resume objective focuses more on your ambitions for the future. Additionally, make sure your resume summary reflects the job description and focuses on qualities that are relevant to working as a brand manager.
Alternatively, focus on introducing your career ambitions, and why this role is a good fit, both for you and the organization.
A good resume summary is short and snappy, and focused on the skills and experience listed in the job description, with evidence to back it up. It will also help the reader to form their first impressions of you by providing an insight into your personality and unique qualities. Take a look at some strong examples of how to approach a brand manager resume summary in the graphic below.
Results-driven Brand Manager with a BBA in Marketing and extensive experience as Brand Marketing Director. Expert in developing and executing innovative marketing strategies, driving brand growth, and enhancing market presence. Proven track record in leading cross-functional teams, managing high-impact campaigns, and optimizing brand performance through data-driven insights. Strong communicator and strategic thinker adept at building and maintaining strong brand identities in competitive markets
Brand manager with a background in marketing and experience in brand-related roles. Worked on creating and running marketing plans to help brands grow. Have been part of teams and worked on various campaigns. Use data to look at brand performance. Communicate well and think strategically to help brands stand out in the market
Conversely, a bad resume summary might be too generic, lacking focus on the specifics of the job description. It will also fail to provide any useful insights on what makes you a unique candidate. See above for some examples of things to avoid when writing your brand manager resume summary.
Work Experience
In your work experience section, list any previous relevant roles you've worked in, as well as your key achievements as a brand manager. List each relevant role in reverse-chronological order starting with your current or most recent role. Add your job title, the organization name, its location and the dates you worked there.
Add some bullet points under each job entry, explaining your achievements in the role, so the reader can see how you contributed towards success for the company. Provide evidence of your impact and make sure each point addresses a requirement listed in the job description.
An effective resume work experience section is one that constantly echoes the skills and experience listed in the job description, and shows how you used your skills to positive effect in each job. Each bullet point should be carefully crafted to showcase a particular skill or achievement relevant to brand manager jobs, with evidence to show the value you added. Review some strong examples of resume work experience sections in the graphic below.
Brand Marketing Director, January 2022 - Present
NovaWave Enterprises, Honolulu
- Increased brand awareness by 40% through strategic multi-channel campaigns, resulting in a 25% rise in customer acquisition
- Spearheaded a rebranding initiative, enhancing brand perception and achieving a 30% growth in market share within a year
- Launched an award-winning digital marketing campaign, driving a 50% increase in online engagement and a 20% boost in sales
Brand Marketing Director, January 2022 - Present
NovaWave Enterprises, Honolulu
- Improved brand visibility through various marketing efforts
- Led branding projects to enhance company image
- Developed marketing strategies to increase customer engagement
In the graphic above, you'll see some examples of less effective resume work experience sections. A bad resume work experience section might fail to address skills and achievements that relate directly to the job description. Falling back on clichés, vague descriptions and basic responsibilities, rather than showing the impact you made, is likely to disengage the reader.
Education
In this section list any educational qualifications or degrees that are relevant to brand manager roles.
Opportunities as a brand manager and similar roles in the sector usually require a specialist degree. If you have a Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) in Marketing degree, be sure to mention this in your resume. You might also want to list any qualifications that highlight your PPC campaign execution or market research analysis.
Include any qualifications relevant to the role. For each, add the name and level of the award, the institution name, its location and your dates of study. You can enhance this section by adding bullet points that show any outstanding grades, awards or achievements and any specialist subjects you studied. These details can make you stand out from other candidates.
If you were a member of any clubs or societies, or volunteered for any causes while studying, you could also mention these in your education section.
Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) in Marketing, 2017 - 2020
University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa
Hard and Soft Skills
Adding a list of your key skills provides a quick reference for the reader of what you can bring to a brand manager role. Skills such as market research analysis or creativity and innovation are particularly useful for brand manager jobs. Again, refer to the job description and make sure you include skills that the employer has listed as essential or desirable for employment as a brand manager.
Highlighting your hard skills
Under hard skills, add any specialist skills you possess that are specifically required for brand manager jobs. These tend to be technical skills and industry knowledge essential to the position. Furthermore, your hard skills list helps to show employers how competent and experienced you are at key brand manager duties and responsibilities. Add up to five key hard skills that show you're an ideal candidate for the role. It can also be beneficial to add context to each skill, showing how you've used it to positive effect in your career to date.
Your resume hard skills list should reflect your unique and specific industry expertise and experience, while also fulfilling the requirements listed in the job description. See the examples below for an idea of what an effective brand manager resume hard skills list looks like.
- Market research analysis
- Digital marketing strategies
- SEO/SEM proficiency
Showcasing your best soft skills
Soft skills are your transferable skills and personal qualities that make you a good match for a brand manager position and the organization. Soft skills tend to be more universal than hard skills, and can often apply to multiple jobs and industries. Indeed, as the nature of work changes, soft skills are growing in importance, so make sure you include them in your resume. You should generally look to include up to five soft or transferable skills that match the job description.
An effective brand manager resume soft skills section should be targeted to include skills that reflect your personality and unique characteristics, while also matching the job description. The graphic below includes some examples of good resume soft skills.
- Creativity and innovation
- Communication and presentation
- Strategic thinking
Certifications and Training
Your certifications section is the place to mention any relevant professional brand manager certifications, licenses or qualifications. You could list accreditations for certain professional roles or licenses for certain activities that help to make you a strong candidate. Therefore, make sure you list the dates of your certifications and licenses so employers can see they're up-to-date and valid.
Below you can find several examples of certifications for a brand manager resume:
- Certified Brand Manager, 2022
- Digital Marketing Certification, 2022
- Brand Strategy Certification, 2022
Optional Sections
To provide further information on your suitability for the role, you could add some optional sections to a brand manager resume. Add any of the sections below that help you showcase your key skills and experience.
Personal Hobbies and Interests
Add any hobbies and interests that reinforce your credentials for the position. They also help to show a different side of your personality, and can help your resume create a more memorable impression on hiring managers. If you're short on real world work experience, hobbies and interests can be a useful way of providing more information about your qualities. If you're thinking about adding hobbies and interests, just make sure they add something unique to your application, and showcase your personality and interests in unique and interesting ways.
Volunteering
If you're lacking relevant brand manager work experience, volunteer work can help to show you still have the relevant skills. Include the title of your volunteer role, who you volunteered for, as well as the dates you carried out the work. Provide brief details of your responsibilities and the impact you made.
References
Although it's rare to include references on a brand manager resume, some employers may ask for it. Don't add references unless they're specifically mentioned by the employer in the job advert. Only include referees that you've had prior approval from, and notify them to expect contact from the employer.
References can be provided upon request.
Best action words for your brand manager resume
Action words can help illustrate to the hiring manager the difference you made in each of your previous jobs. Choose verbs from the suggestions below that highlight your key skills or those mentioned in the job description.
- Develop
- Strategize
- Execute
- Analyze
- Innovate
- Lead
- Collaborate
- Optimize
- Manage
- Drive
For help creating an eye-catching resume design to catch the attention of hiring managers, see Jobseeker's professional resume layouts. You can also use our clear, effective cover letter templates to complete your application.
Sample resume for brand manager positions
Using each of the sections above, we've created this example brand manager resume, to help guide you when creating your own:
666 Park Avenue, New York, NY
•
penelope.chavez@example.com
•
(111) 222 33 444 55
•
linkedin․com/in/penelope–chavez123
Dynamic and results-driven Brand Manager with a Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing and extensive experience as a Brand Strategy Manager. Proven expertise in developing and executing innovative branding strategies, driving brand growth, and enhancing market presence. Adept at analyzing market trends, consumer insights, and competitive landscapes to inform strategic decisions. Strong leadership and communication skills with a track record of successful cross-functional collaboration and project management. Committed to creating compelling brand narratives and achieving measurable business outcomes.
Brand Strategy Manager
2020
-2022
Nexum Insights (Oklahoma City)
- Spearheaded a rebranding initiative that increased brand recognition by 35% and customer engagement by 40% within six months
- Developed and executed a multi-channel marketing strategy that boosted sales by 25% and expanded market reach by 15%
- Led cross-functional teams to launch 10 successful product campaigns, achieving an average ROI of 200% per campaign
Market research analysis
Digital marketing strategies
SEO/SEM proficiency
Creativity and innovation
Communication and presentation
Strategic thinking
Certified Brand Manager
Digital Marketing Certification
English - Fluent
Spanish - B2
Best practices for a brand manager resume
- Use a professional resume format with clear headings, a defined structure and consistent marginsfor optimum readability.
- Thoroughly proofread your resume before you send it, to make sure it's free from errors in spelling or grammar.
- Include your educational achievements, including any impressive grades. Focus on the most relevant qualifications for the role.
- Add each relevant job in reverse-chronological order, beginning with your current or most recent position and working back from there.
- Quantify your career achievements by including evidence of your impact throughout your resume.
- Don't add any hobbies or interests unless they directly showcase a skill or experience that's relevant to the job.
- Don't lie or exaggerate the details of your brand manager career or education, as this can backfire later in the recruitment process.
- Don't use an email address that creates an unprofessional impression. Instead, create an email address for job applications based on your name.
- Don't list personal details such as your age, gender or a photo, unless these are necessary for the role. They can lead to hiring bias.
- Don't list irrelevant work experience as it will likely do nothing for your chances of success.
Making an ATS-friendly resume
An applicant tracking system (ATS) is just one of the tools employers and recruiters can use to streamline their hiring practices. This typically includes screening candidates by scanning and ranking their resumes based on their likely suitability for any vacancy. When you're writing your brand manager resume, there are several things you can do to make sure your resume stands the best chance of passing the ATS stage.
Here are a few quick tips for creating an ATS-friendly resume:
- Adopt a traditional structure for your resume, such as a reverse-chronological format or a functional format. These are likely to be the easiest layouts for ATS software to scan.
- Use of job description keywords throughout your resume will help it rank higher in the ATS scanning stage, as it will more closely match the requirements laid out in the job description.
- Using clear, simple headings makes it easier for an ATS application to scan your resume, as it can easily identify what's in each section of your document.
- Adopt a resume design that uses clear, professional design principles and leaves white space for your content to breathe. Use the most readable fonts and incorporate subtle design elements to enhance the readability of your document.
- Make sure your resume is as concise as possible, so ATS applications can easily scan and identify the required details.
If you need help creating a professional resume, take a look at our expert career articles and variety of resume examples created by careers experts.
Frequently Asked Questions about a brand manager resume
Accompanying your resume for brand manager applications, you'll want to produce a cover letter that similarly leaves a positive impression on hiring managers.
In some situations, a full, professional cover letter may not be necessary. Check the job advert and decide whether to write a formal cover letter, or if a brief email is more suitable.
If you choose to write a full cover letter, follow traditional letter-writing conventions surrounding greetings, sign-offs and use of professional language. The body of the cover letter tends to be three paragraphs. The first introduces yourself and the role you're applying for, giving reasons for your application. The second briefly covers your key skills and achievements that are most relevant to brand manager roles. Finally, the third paragraph re-emphasizes your interest in the role and leaves a call to action, encouraging the employer to reach out to you.
Jobseeker's tried and tested cover letter templates were created by experts to help you make a strong impression with your applications. Follow the simple steps to create a winning cover letter today.
If you have no experience, it's still possible to write a professional brand manager resume that makes a positive impression on hiring managers. Select a resume format that emphasizes your skills and education over your work experience, such as a functional format. Use the additional information sections at the end of your resume as a showcase for relevant skills and achievements. These can be a particularly useful way of proving you have the skills necessary for the job.
Use a resume headline to make it easy for the reader to start assessing your suitability for brand manager positions at first glance. Resume headlines are also a powerful way of increasing your resume's chances of passing the ATS stage. They reference the job title and some of the keywords that match the job description. Write a few words to set the tone for your resume, including the job title, your experience or track record and one or two key skills that make you stand out.
You can use this example resume headline as a template for creating your own:
- Aspiring Brand Manager in Training
- Innovative Brand Strategy Expert
- Seasoned Brand Management Professional
The most suitable resume format for you depends on two crucial factors. Firstly, whether you have a body of relevant work experience. Secondly, the type of job and its seniority level. If you're applying for a junior position or changing careers, you might want to consider a functional resume. This highlights your skills and education over your work experience. On the other hand, if you're experienced in your industry or applying for senior positions, a traditional, reverse chronological resume format is usually best. This places most emphasis on your work experience.
Key takeaways for your brand manager resume
Writing a strong, impactful resume is about using your experience to demonstrate your relevant skills and achievements. You can do this through your work history or other resume sections. Choose the most suitable resume format for your experience levels, and focus on tailoring your resume based on the requirements listed in the job description.
Remember, Jobseeker resume templates and other tools make it easy to create a resume and cover letter that leaves a positive impression on hiring managers. Sign up now to start building your perfect resume. A stylish, professional cover letter can make all the difference to your job prospects. See Jobseeker's cover letter examples, written by careers experts, to help you craft an eye-catching application.
Sources:
(1) Tips for Writing a Federal Resume, U.S. Department of Labor: https://www.dol.gov/general/jobs/tips-for-writing-a-federal-resume
(2) Resume Tips, Duke University: https://careerhub.students.duke.edu/resources/resume-tips/
