Business Owner Resume

You may know how to run a successful business, but do you know how to capture your entrepreneurial spirit in a resume? Convince employers you can contribute to the growth of their business with a well-crafted resume, and your next professional endeavor is right around the corner.

Use these three tips to write a business owner resume that proves you’re capable of driving success in any role:

1. Highlight your strong business acumen

To write a job-winning business owner resume, highlight your business knowledge, managerial experience, leadership skills, project management skills, and problem solving capabilities.

At one point or another, you’ve probably involved yourself in various aspects of your former business, such as financial management, business development, sales, and marketing. Though a strong business acumen is valuable to all industries, your resume needs to be customized to the job so employers can visualize how you’ll fit in.

To show them you’re a perfect match, showcase job-specific skills in your resume bullet points, as well as any experience relevant to the industry you’re applying to.

For example, if you’re interested in a senior marketing role, talk about how you handled the marketing for your own business.

Also, list relevant hard skills in your resume’s skills section so employers can easily assess your qualifications.

Here are key technical skills to include in your business owner resume:

• Business strategies
• Business planning
• Vendor management
• Accounting software (Intuit Quickbooks and Sage 50 Accounting)
• Inventory software
• Scheduling software (Workforce)
• Sales platforms (Shopify)
• Microsoft Project
• Microsoft Teams
• Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software
• Oracle
• Salesforce

Though your hard skills may demonstrate to employers you’re qualified for the role, your soft skills will also be used to determine whether you’re a good fit.

Here are important soft skills employers look for from current and former business owners applying to work with them:

• Proactivity
• Dependability
• Attention to detail
• Communication skills
• Interpersonal skills
• People skills
• Adaptability
• Critical thinking
• Decision-making
• Prioritization
• Time management skills
• Organizational skills
• Delegation
• Sales skills
• Customer service skills
• Collaboration

Here are a few examples of how you can incorporate some of these skills into your resume bullet points:

Established a catering business from the ground up, planning and managing all aspects of the business including sales, business development, staff hiring, and vendor management, and marketing.

Delivered catering services to various organizations, including schools, camps, conference and event centers, and businesses.

2. Add hard numbers to your business achievements

You’re probably used to evaluating performance with numbers, but do you know how to use data to showcase your past entrepreneurial successes in a resume?

When writing your resume bullet points for your work experience section, provide examples of how you’ve contributed to the growth of your former business or businesses.

Because employers will find these examples much more interesting than a simple list of responsibilities, take the time to think about hard numbers you can include to make your bullets stronger. These numbers make your accomplishments clearer and reassure the reader you have a track record of success.

Here are great examples of how to quantify the skills you’ve developed as a business owner on your resume:

Grew business to the largest catering services provider in Charlotte within 5 years with 200+ employees serving 350+ events annually.

Increased the company’s revenue from zero to over $3 million, introducing new events and services, including weddings and community events.

Grew revenue from under $100K in 2011 to over $500K in 2015, leading the business to attain a double-digit growth percentage in four years.

3. Achieve the ideal business owner resume length

When hiring for a senior or executive-level role, employers will gravitate toward candidates with the strongest professional background in their industry.

If all your entrepreneurial experiences are relevant to the industry you’re applying to, a two-page resume would be the ideal resume length to adequately convey your expertise.

However, writing a two-page resume isn’t a free pass to dive deep into each skill you’ve acquired throughout your self-starting career. Ultimately, a resume that’s overly long — and for all the wrong reasons — will make employers lose interest fast.

Keep the reader engaged by making the bullet points in your resume’s work experience section concise, so they can better assess your abilities (and do so quickly).

Here are some tips to ensure your resume is at the optimal length for you as an individual, and only provides details from your previous business owner experience that would strengthen your job application:

• Analyze the job posting to uncover job-specific skills. Position yourself as an employer’s ideal candidate by showcasing those specific skills throughout your resume.
• Research the company and identify their business goals. Modify your resume bullet points to include examples of your successes in these areas for your own business or businesses.
• Use strong action verbs in your resume bullet points to make your former business owner experience more compelling. For example,

Enhanced brand awareness through robust marketing campaigns, social media, and digital strategies, exceeding YoY revenue growth goals by 10%.

To further explain why you’re the right person for the job, pair your resume with a professional cover letter.