Even though it doesn’t seem logical at first, having a business owner resume is an excellent idea. Whether you want to invest in your business or you want to get an attractive job opportunity, having an up-to-date resume can help you.
Some banks may require you to have an up-to-date resume upon investment approval. You may also want to have a resume to showcase your competencies, qualifications, and experience in your industry. There are numerous reasons to consider having a business owner resume.
A business owner manages financial and executive operations to drive profit for their organization. That’s why it is essential to highlight your administrative skills and demonstrate your business acumen in your resume.
You should also consider adding any training or formal education you’ve had relevant to your industry field. Some business owners have a college degree in business, business administration, or finance. However, you can also have majors or non-traditional training in any other field. It is not a mandatory requirement to become a business owner.
If you want to explore more insightful advice to develop your business owner resume, check below. We’ve included four resume templates and relevant tips for each occupation.
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A business owner has legal ownership of a business but isn’t always involved in the management process. It’ll depend on the complexity of the organization. Some business owners delegate executive tasks to managers, but they always make the final decisions. Other business owners are more involved in the management and executive operations. One of their main responsibilities is to provide a vision and make strategic decisions, that’s why you should highlight your strategic planning skills on your resume.
It is a good idea to use your resume to showcase your value in the business. You can talk about your core skills, such as strategic planning, negotiation, administration, and management. Even though business owners are not often involved in day-to-day operations they are still responsible for high-level decision-making, so this is another skill you might want to include in your resume.
There’s no such thing as a business owner certification. However, there are relevant certificates that validate your business acumen and other related skills. Some interesting certifications you can add to your business owner resume are the Certified Business Analysis Professional (CBAP), Project Management Professional (PMP), and Certified Supply Chain Professional (CSCP).
A small business owner creates a company that solves a specific need in a local community. Their responsibility is to direct, administer, and manage their business to meet their financial and operational goals. They should have an excellent eye to spot opportunities and risks. Therefore, you can include risk management skills on your resume.
It is important to demonstrate your expertise in your field in your resume. This will help investors and banks know that you have business acumen and understand how to overcome issues in your industry.
Inventory management is an essential skill to have in the retail industry. Having an optimized inventory increases efficiency in your operations and customer satisfaction. This way there are no issues related to missing items, and your business can provide a better service.
An eCommerce business owner manages online retail operations to distribute or sell products. The eCommerce business owner monitors operations and creates policies and standards for their team. They also analyze metrics, forecast trends, and develop strategies based on those insights. Therefore, it’s essential to demonstrate your data analytic skills on your resume.
eCommerce requires a lot of effort in marketing strategies. You should position your business on search engines using SEO techniques, get more visibility through social media, or use paid ads to generate more traffic. Of course, you can also outsource marketing services, but as an eCommerce business owner, you should have some basic knowledge of marketing fundamentals.
These days more companies have joined the remote arena, and eCommerce is not an exception to this. Managing a remote team requires different techniques to monitor and keep up with everyone’s progress. You need to use project management software like Jira or ClickUp, and communication channels like Slack that help you orchestrate the entire team.
As a self-employed business owner, you're wearing a myriad of hats, encompassing roles from marketing, customer service, operations, to finance among others. The unique aspect about writing a resume for such a role is that you're not just outlining job duties, but diverse entrepreneurial skills and achievements. There's a shift in the trend of businesses now, with many adopting lean methodologies and embracing generalists who can multitask. This necessitates a resume that effectively communicates your adaptability and versatility.
Remember, your resume is the story of your business' journey. It'll be distinct from traditional job-based resumes. You're demonstrating a mastery of several sectors, understanding of business operations, and the ability to guide a business to success. This isn't about just stating what you did, but quantifying the impacts made, the revenues earned, and growth achieved.
As a business owner, tangible, specific metrics tell a powerful story. Did you increase sales by a particular percentage? How many customers do you serve? By presenting solid, quantifiable data and achievements, you underline your ability to deliver results.
Every business owner is self-employed, but not every self-employed individual is a business owner. The difference relies on whether you have other people working for you. For example, a freelancer would be self-employed, just like an agency owner, but this last one also operates a business and guides a team. Leadership skills are essential in entrepreneurship. That’s why you should emphasize your ability to motivate others in your resume.
You should choose your job title wisely when writing your resume. These days most companies use ATS filters to scan resumes, and not having an optimized job title might affect your performance. Try to incorporate keywords that are relevant to your industry and entrepreneurship.
Project management is an essential skill to have in entrepreneurship. You will need to create strategic plans, estimate costs, and resources, delegate tasks, and monitor operations. Hence, it’s a good idea to highlight this skill on your self-employed business owner resume.
As a hiring manager who has recruited for companies like Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft, I've seen countless resumes from business owners. The most effective resumes are those that showcase the candidate's entrepreneurial spirit, leadership skills, and ability to drive results. In this article, we'll share some tips to help you craft a compelling resume that will catch the attention of potential employers.
As a business owner, you've likely achieved significant milestones that demonstrate your entrepreneurial skills. Make sure to highlight these achievements on your resume, using specific examples and metrics to quantify your success. For example:
By showcasing your achievements, you'll demonstrate to potential employers that you have the drive and skills to succeed in a new role.
A resume summary for a business owner is optional, but it can be a great way to provide additional context about your experience and highlight your most impressive accomplishments. If you have a long career history or are making a career change, a summary can help explain your background and tie together seemingly disparate experiences.
However, avoid using an objective statement, as they are outdated and focus on what you want rather than what you can offer an employer. Instead, use your summary to showcase your unique value proposition and make a strong case for why you're the best candidate for the job.
The work experience section is the most important part of your resume as a business owner. It's where you highlight your career history, key accomplishments, and the skills that make you a strong candidate. Here are some tips to help you craft a compelling work experience section that will catch the eye of recruiters and hiring managers.
As a business owner, you want to demonstrate you have excellent communication skills on your resume. Hence, it’s essential to use the appropriate words to indicate your precision and expertise. Action verbs can help you describe your work experience and achievements by using fewer words than usual.
This will help you improve your resume’s readability and it’ll be easier for people to scan it. This means that you’ll be more noticeable and improve your chances of being contacted by your bank or potential employer. These are some of the action verbs you can use in your business owner resume.
For a full list of effective resume action verbs, visit Resume Action Verbs.
One of the reasons to create your business owner resume is because you can showcase your skills. That’s why you should use the skills section to demonstrate your value. Business owners generally have skills like entrepreneurship, strategic planning, inventory management, and basic to advanced marketing knowledge.
Additional skills include recruiting, general management, and leadership. If you’d like to see more skills you can use in your business owner resume, check out our selection. We’ve included only relevant skills that illustrate your value.
You can include the above skills in a dedicated Skills section on your resume, or weave them in your experience. Here's how you might create your dedicated skills section:
This word cloud highlights the important keywords that appear on Business Owner job descriptions and resumes. The bigger the word, the more frequently it appears on job postings, and the more 'important' it is.
Thank you for the checklist! I realized I was making so many mistakes on my resume that I've now fixed. I'm much more confident in my resume now.
