Hey marketers, the internship hunt is only beginning, so let’s take advantage of this winter break to hit the ground running in the new year!

Table of Contents

• The Setup

• Finding Jobs

• Portfolios

• Application Methods

• Discord

Hit the Ground Running

This should be the skeleton of your resume:

• Your Name and Contact Information

• Education

• Work Experience

• Extracurriculars

• Skills

For reference, here are my 2 current resumes. 1 is a general one I use and the other is a resume I use if I’m applying to tech companies for marketing roles.

Let’s break these down step by step. But the first 2 should be a breeze.

1. Your Name and Contact Information - The Basics

At the top of your resume should be your name, in bold. Right below, have your email (use your school email!), what city and province you’re from, your phone number, and your LinkedIn. If you have a recent portfolio, add that too!

This section doesn’t have to be anything too detailed, just straight to the point with the information a recruiter needs to know if they want to contact you.

2. Education - Your Academic Journey

Next, you want to highlight what school you attend, what program you’re in, and what year you are in. Also when you started and your expected graduation date.

Another one of those simple areas but if you have any club experience you can also add that here or stick to adding it in the Extracurriculars section. Note that you want to avoid redundancy, so, if you don’t want to create an Extracurriculars section, then feel free to add your club experience in the Education section.

3. Work Experience - Your Centre Piece

This is where you want to be as detailed and articulate as possible.

A solid resume showcasing your unique experiences, what actions you took and their results is a standard for best resume practices.

Let’s look at an example that’s off to a good start but can be improved.

This is from my experience at Unilever, on the Dove female brand team as a marketing intern.

• Co-led a $600,000 marketing budget, experimenting with a social first strategy for Dove’s Core Body Wash to educate consumers on Dove’s sensorial, contributing to heightened brand visibility and engagement across digital channels

I thought it looked pretty good when I first wrote it, but there are some ways to improve it immensely. First, let’s look at what works:

1. Action Word: An action word is a MUST at the start of your sentence. It engages the reader to understand what you did in this role.

2. Leadership: "Co-led a $600,000 marketing budget" immediately demonstrates responsibility and influence.

3. Strategic focus: "Experimenting with a social-first strategy" shows initiative and relevance to current marketing trends.

4. Brand-specific impact: Tying the work to Dove’s Core Body Wash demonstrates brand-level involvement.

5. Clear results: Highlighting heightened "brand visibility and engagement" gives a sense of impact.

Now how can we improve this?

1. Quantify results: Add specific metrics (e.g., engagement rates, impressions, click-through rates) to make the impact more tangible.

   Example: "Contributing to a 25% increase in brand visibility and a 15% growth in social media engagement across digital channels."

2. Refine wording for clarity: The phrase “educate consumers on Dove’s sensorial” needs clarification. Ask yourself how you achieved this—through influencer partnerships, targeted ads, or specific campaigns.

   Example: "...to educate consumers on Dove’s sensorial benefits through influencer campaigns and targeted social ads."

3. Highlight creativity or innovation: If the “social-first strategy” involves unique approaches (e.g., TikTok trends, Instagram Reels, or UGC campaigns), call that out to emphasize creative contribution.

Let’s put this all together and write a new bullet point for my experience at Unilever.

• Co-led a $600,000 marketing budget, implementing a social-first strategy for Dove’s Core Body Wash to educate consumers on it’s variety of scents, driving 40M impressions in less than 2 months across social platforms.

4. Extracurriculars - Stand Out Beyond the Classroom

This is a great chance for you to show recruiters how you get involved in your school community outside of academics. Highlight clubs, volunteering experiences, case competitions, or leadership roles that showcase your skills and passions.

When listing extracurriculars, focus on:

• Relevance: Include activities that demonstrate skills like teamwork, leadership, or creativity.

• Impact: Use metrics or outcomes if possible (e.g., “Organized a fundraising event that raised $3,000 for local charities”).

• Passion: Highlight activities that align with your personal brand or career goals.

Even if it’s a small role, showing consistent involvement can make a big difference to recruiters!

4. Skills - What are you made of?

Your skills section is your chance to showcase the tools and abilities that make you a great fit for the role. Depending on the job you're applying for, tailor this section to highlight the most relevant skills.

• Technical Skills: Include essentials like the MS Office Suite (Excel, PowerPoint, Word), but don’t stop there. Add marketing-specific tools like Google Analytics, Canva, Adobe Creative Suite, or social media platforms if relevant.

• Soft Skills: Sprinkle in a few key traits like communication, problem-solving, or teamwork to show you're well-rounded.

• Prove It: Wherever possible, back up your skills with examples in your experience section (e.g., “Used Excel to analyze sales data and create dashboards that increased efficiency by 20%”).

Remember, your skills section is a snapshot of your strengths—make it sharp and focused!

Know Your Resources

There are a few reliable sites for finding internships for Canadians, but I would recommend sticking to LinkedIn, this newsletter, and our Discord community. If you’re a part of a university, research the resources they have at their Career and Development Department as well.

LinkedIn is a great place to find job postings, recruiters, and career professionals who you can coffee chat with to get referrals.

This newsletter will have detailed information on how to go about your internship hunt and active job postings.

Our Discord community will be a space for you to get advice, build relationships, and find opportunities to grow your skillset. This is also a chance for you to learn more about potential offerings if someone is hiring or is willing to offer a referral.

Is it worth it?

Absolutely, positively, most definitely… yes.

Showcasing your skillset to a recruiter visually will set you apart from your competition. It’s also a great way to develop your skills especially if you’re just starting out.

Now, not all companies are looking for a portfolio, but it doesn’t hurt your application to have one.

Here is my current portfolio I made in Canva https://mizanahmedportfolio.my.canva.site/

It’s not perfect, but it get’s the job done to showcase my marketing process and experience.

Tailor it!

This is a list of the more popular strategies.

1. Cold Applying

This is the most ineffective way to land an internship. It's not impossible but be prepared for it to take a while. If you do cold apply, make sure to tailor your resume for each internship you apply for. 

2. Referrals

A referral application will get you straight into the eyes of the recruiter. This is an extremely effective way to land an internship but requires some heavy lifting. If you already have some friends or know anyone who is willing to get you a referral, take advantage of it. If you don't, then get ready to do some outreach and coffee chats to collect those referrals!

3. Networking Events

This is a method similar to referrals. If you're able to hit it off with an employee at the event, you can build a relationship and ask for that referral!

4. Cold Email

Another ineffective and time-consuming method by reaching out to people's emails or messaging them on LinkedIn. This could be incredibly challenging unless you already have a relationship with these people.

5. University Resources

All universities should have their own job boards where recruiters are specifically looking for students from your school. There should also be a resource of alumni from your program who you can coffee chat with to get referrals or advice on the application process.

6. Case Competitions

Some companies will host case competitions where if you are a finalist, you can get an interview for a marketing internship at the company.

L’Oréal Brandstorm is an example of this. https://brandstorm.loreal.com/en

Join our Discord community of fellow marketers who are on the same path as you! This is a great resource to get advice, grow, and meet like-minded individuals. https://discord.gg/neRErQj6

Thank you for reaching it to the end of the newsletter! Stay tuned every Monday for a newsletter with help landing a marketing internship for summer 2025!