Copywriting Resume Examples

Copywriters are the people who write and edit the text you see in advertising, marketing, billboards, brochures, catalogs, instruction booklets, company emails and websites. Their job is to create clear and engaging content that helps sell a product or educates consumers.

It’s common for copywriters to choose a focus whether it be working on website content or email campaigns — being seen as a specialized writer helps companies feel more confident in your abilities.

For copywriting, your work experience, skills and education are going to be the focus of your resume. You’ll still need the other essentials like your contact information and a professional summary or objective statement.

Your work experience is pretty central to the resume; it will help you a lot to include all of the companies and groups for whom you’ve produced copy. It’s ideal for you to consider the role you’re applying to and try to emphasize the experience you have that most closely relates.

However, it’s also important to keep in mind that with copywriting it’s not just what’s on your resume that’s important. For most writing jobs, employers are going to want to see samples of your work — whether it was paid work or not — as they need to see that you’re capable of producing solid copy.

It’s important that you have a portfolio ready to showcase strong examples of your work in addition to your resume. Today, most writers keep websites that serve as online portfolios for the ease of sharing with employers.

It’s still also acceptable to attach a digital portfolio with your resume and cover letter in email form, or submit a hard copy of your portfolio if applying in-person.

In a copywriting resume, an education section is essential. Typically a higher-education degree is desired for most copywriting roles.

For your education section it’s essential to list the following: The school that you attended, the city and state it’s located in, the years you attended, and if applicable, the degree(s) you obtained. Typically, if you’ve graduated from college, it is unnecessary to list your high school education.

In the case of recent college graduates who studied in a relevant field but don’t have actual work experience yet, it’s acceptable to include a high GPA, or list any specific coursework that you took that may be related to the job.

A summary statement sits right at the top of your resume, and is a strong two-to-three sentence sales pitch about yourself and your copywriting work experience.

In a summary statement for copywriting, you want to make sure that you highlight any big name companies you may have worked for, notable publications that have featured your copy, or a brief explanation of the skills that you bring to the table that make you an excellent job candidate.

If you want more specifics, JobHero has an in-depth guide on professional summaries and objective statements that will give you all the tools you need to make sure that yours is outstanding.

Yes, without a doubt. Employers will expect a cover letter from you if you’re applying for a copywriting position, not including one will hurt your chances of making it to an interview.

Take it seriously and think of it as the first writing sample you’re submitting to demonstrate your marketing skills, sell yourself.

In addition to showing that you’re capable of producing persuasive well-written sentences, a cover letter offers you space to tell a story in a way that a resume alone cannot. It’s a great opportunity to discuss your career development as a narrative or better explain who you are as a candidate.

If you want to check out some stellar professional examples, JobHero has a library with dozens of copywriting cover letter examples that will give you inspiration and help you write your own top-notch letter.