Applying for a Marketing Manager role?
Let's get you past the first filter.
Is your CV speaking the ATS's language?
Here's what an ATS scans for in a Marketing Manager CV, and how to use it without gaming the system.
Before you hit apply
What the ATS is actually scanning for.
An applicant tracking system can use your CV's content and structure to help match, filter, or surface candidates. For a Marketing Manager role, these are the terms worth checking against the job description, drawn from the work itself and the language that commonly appears in postings.
Skills & responsibilities
Tools & platforms
Drawn from the role's skills and the tools that commonly appear in postings.
The honest way to use them
Match the language. Don't fake it.
Keywords get you read. They don't get you hired. Here's how to use them so the ATS and the human behind it both come away convinced.
List only the channels you've run
“SEO” or “paid media” on your CV invites a question about your results. List the channels and tools you've genuinely worked with, not every one you've read about.
Put terms in context, not a list
Work the language into real bullets about campaigns you ran and what they moved. “SEO, content, paid, email” as a bare list is what a recruiter skims past.
Mirror the specific posting
Use the wording the ad uses, where it's true for you. “Demand generation”, “lead generation”, and “growth marketing” can be scored differently by the same system.
Keep the format clean
Odd columns, tables, and graphics can confuse older parsers. A plain, single-column structure reads cleanly to both the ATS and the human after it.
See your match
How many of these does your CV already have?
Drop your CV, add the job you're targeting, and see an honest, ATS-style match: which terms you've got and which are missing. Free, no account, and your CV carries straight over.
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A decent keyword match. You're strong on campaign and content terms; a couple of high-value analytics ones are missing.
Straight answers
Marketing Manager ATS questions people usually ask.
How do I get my Marketing Manager CV past the ATS?
Mirror the language of the specific posting where it's genuinely true of you, keep the formatting simple and single-column, and lead each bullet with the campaign and the result it drove. There's no trick beyond honestly matching what the role asks for.
What keywords should a Marketing Manager CV include?
Terms like marketing strategy, campaign management, content marketing, SEO, and digital marketing, plus tools such as Google Analytics, HubSpot, and Google Ads where you've used them. Only the ones you can back up.
Should I put metrics on my Marketing Manager CV?
Yes, wherever they're real. Results like lead growth, conversion lift, or ROI make a marketing CV far stronger than a list of campaigns run. Never invent numbers, but surface the genuine impact, which is exactly what our scan helps with.
Does the ATS reject Marketing Manager CVs automatically?
Many hiring workflows use software to rank, filter, or surface candidates rather than making a simple yes/no call on a CV alone. A weak keyword match can make you harder to find, which is why clear, relevant wording and a clean format matter.