Department toolkit
The Marketing Student Toolkit
Everything to set up before you apply — in the order marketing hiring teams actually judge.
Why this order, for marketing
Marketing is the one business field where your own online presence doubles as a work sample — a hiring team looking at your LinkedIn profile or a simple personal site is evaluating the same instincts (positioning, clarity, visual judgment) they'd want you to bring to their brand, which is why identity and portfolio surfaces lead here earlier than in almost any other field.
Everything after that follows the same logic: a three-sentence story is really a positioning exercise, a resume works best when it names concrete pieces of work rather than tasks, and because marketing openings span in-house teams, agencies, and contract work, alerts across all three catch what a single search would miss.
- 1A simple personal site you can stand behindIn marketing, how you present yourself online is itself evidence of the skill — a simple site showing a few campaigns, posts, or writing samples does more here than in most fields.
- 2Set up LinkedIn like a professionalA marketing hiring team looks at how you use your own profile — headline, visuals, activity — as a live example of the judgment you'd bring to their brand.
- 3Your three-sentence storyPositioning is the core skill of the field, and the same principle applies to you — three sentences that clearly position what you do is a rehearsal, not just an introduction.
- 4A professional photo and headline, done in an afternoonConsistent, considered visuals across your profile and site read as marketing craft, not vanity — sloppy or mismatched images undercut the pitch before anyone reads a word.
- 5A one-page resume structure that worksMarketing resumes lean on results told through concrete work — structure each bullet so it names the piece of work and what it was for, not just the task.
- 6Set up LinkedIn Jobs and let openings find youMarketing roles range across in-house teams, agencies, and freelance-adjacent contract work — alerts across all three catch openings a single search misses.
- 7Track every application in one simple Notion tableMarketing searches often run alongside freelance or contract work — a tracker keeps applications, pitches, and samples sent to different employers straight.
Before you apply — the checklist
- Personal site live with a few real samples of work
- LinkedIn presence itself reads as considered, not generic
- Three-sentence story functions as a positioning statement
- Visuals (photo, site, profile) are consistent and considered
- Resume bullets name the work, not just the task
- Job alerts set across in-house, agency, and contract roles
- Know where you stand: your free Knock Number