Breaking into marketing without a long list of job titles behind your name is harder than it sounds. Here is exactly what worked for one member of our team when she landed her role as a marketing coordinator at a digital agency.
If you want to get a marketing job, most of the advice you will find online stays surface-level. “Build your network.” “Follow industry trends.” These tips are not wrong, but they do not tell you what to actually do in the weeks before an interview. The five steps below come from real experience landing a digital marketing role, and they are practical enough to start on today.
The clearest path to a marketing job is getting hands-on experience in the field before you formally apply. Volunteer for a local non-profit, reach out to small businesses, or apply for internships in any capacity. Two things happen when you do this: you build real skills, and you collect work samples that go directly into your portfolio. Without that portfolio, you are asking a hiring manager to take your word for it.
A portfolio website is one of the most underused tools for anyone trying to break into marketing. You can build one for free using Canva and link it directly from your resume. If you do not have client work or real campaigns to show yet, create mock-ups. Build a social media strategy for a brand you admire. Design a sample email campaign. Show that you can think across different industries and different audiences.
Better yet: research the agency you are applying to and create mock-ups tailored to their actual clients. If you are applying to a full-service agency that handles everything from social media content to paid advertising, show them you already understand what that work looks like. That level of preparation is hard to ignore.
The most common resume mistake in marketing is listing job responsibilities instead of outcomes. Employers want to see numbers, not descriptions. “Managed the company Instagram account” tells a hiring manager nothing. “Grew Instagram engagement by 34% over three months through a consistent posting schedule and targeted content strategy,” tells them everything. Go through every role on your resume and ask: what did I actually achieve here? List KPIs. List percentages. List growth. Even modest results, framed with context, are more compelling than a list of duties.
Before any interview, research the company, and then go one level deeper and look into their clients. Find genuine alignment between their values and yours, and bring that into the conversation. Mention a campaign they ran that you respected. Reference a client they work with and explain why you find that industry interesting. Agencies pay close attention when a candidate has clearly done their homework. It signals that you take client work seriously and that you already understand what it means to be part of a team.
This step is rare, which is exactly why it works. According to a 2023 survey by Zety, 68% of hiring managers say a follow-up letter influences their final decision when two candidates are otherwise equal. The letter should do three things: thank the interviewer genuinely, highlight a specific moment from the conversation that reinforced your interest in the role, and address any weakness that surfaced during the interview. If you were asked about a gap in your experience, use the letter to outline how you would close it. A well-written follow-up turns a potential mark against you into a demonstration of self-awareness and initiative.
Marketing rewards people who show initiative before the job even starts. The candidates who stand out are the ones who come in prepared, back their experience with real results, and follow through even after they leave the interview room. If you are looking to join a marketing team in Windsor, visit our careers page to see what openings are available at ESC.
And for a look at what working in a marketing agency actually looks like day-to-day, our post on what a social media content shoot day looks like gives you a real behind-the-scenes view.
Beth is a Marketing Coordinator at ESC (Exponential Solutions Consulting), a full-service digital marketing agency based in Windsor, Ontario, where she works across social media content, brand awareness, and creative campaign execution for clients across a range of industries.
