Writing a Promotional Resume That Doesn’t Suck

Confused about what to put on your promotional resume? You are not alone. For years, the internet was severely lacking when came to templates for resumes in our industry. Now, you can find agencies and sites posting multiple how-to guides that are supposed to make it easy.

Word of advice – a simple answer is harder than you’d expect.

If you don’t have time to read through complicated manuals on promo resume writing, here’s the important stuff that you need to know.

Everyone Is Busy

Resumes should be one page and easy-to-read. If you have a resume with two pages, you might as well draw doodles on page two because no one is going to read it. This is not specific to promotional marketing, it is specific to resumes. Resumes are designed to give people an idea of who you are and what you have to offer, not a full accounting of every event you have done.

If you regularly book work, creating a one-page resume will be a challenge. Here are some ways to help keep it brief:

List the type of events rather than specific events

Only list promo roles (brand ambassador, promotional model, ) for your experience

Include only relevant non-promo work experience

Don’t forget to keep it in chronological order- when you worked matters.

The thing to ask yourself before you hit save on your final copy is: “do they really need to know this?” Not everything is relevant. The most common non-relevant information people put on their resume is the agency they were booked through. Please don’t make that amateur mistake.

Promo Yourself

Don’t forget to sell yourself. Your resume should make it very clear who you are and what you’ve done. Remember- everyone is busy (and they don’t want to think about it too much.) Include the necessary details and don’t worry about adding all the extra fluff. Every promo resume should include these three things:

Your name and contact information Names of brands or types of brands you have represented Types of promo jobs completed

Make Yourself Special

If you follow the basic template, you are sure to look like everyone else right? That’s where the special skills section comes in. Finish your resume with a few tidbits about what makes you unique. Get creative here (and only here) because that is where recruiters will quickly scan to see how you compare to the other 100 applicants that are decided between.

Unique skills can include education, non-promo work experience, volunteer work, hobbies, languages and skills.

Promo Keywords

Keywords are common words that everyone recognizes to mean the same thing. When used correctly, they can make a bland resume rockstar quality. Here’s a list of popular promo keywords that you can use on your promo resume. If any of these keywords apply to your experience, use them!

Roles: brand ambassador, crowd gatherer, emcee, promotional model, tour staff, booth model, product demonstrator, technology specialist, team lead, sampling, street team, flash mob, concert promotions, food sampler, costume character, in market manager, tour manager, event staff

brand ambassador, crowd gatherer, emcee, promotional model, tour staff, booth model, product demonstrator, technology specialist, team lead, sampling, street team, flash mob, concert promotions, food sampler, costume character, in market manager, tour manager, event staff Skills: public speaking, marketing, retail, health and fitness model, runway model, actor/actress, host/hostess, CDL Driver, sales, social media, photographer, bilingual, college graduate, etc

public speaking, marketing, retail, health and fitness model, runway model, actor/actress, host/hostess, CDL Driver, sales, social media, photographer, bilingual, college graduate, etc Experiences: liquor promotions, nightlife promotions, children’s promotions, etc

If you are still struggling to make your resume ‘pop’, feel free to send it to me. For the month of July, I will personally review and give pointers for free (when I can fit it in). You can reach me at promogurl@gmail.com