Entrepreneur Resume Examples to Help You Build Yours

Entrepreneurs define their own career destiny. How do you create a resume that shows this?

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By Ho 5 minute read

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Entrepreneur Resume Example

Entrepreneur Resume Example

What to highlight in an entrepreneur resume

Whether you’re running a small business, startup, or making business plans to run an empire, you’ll need a resume that highlights your best entrepreneur features. As a business owner, you’ll need to show in your resume that you can handle all elements of business, from managing team members to budgeting and strategic planning.

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How to write your entrepreneur resume

The structure of your entrepreneur resume will depend on how much experience you have, your skills, and previous job titles, such as whether you have experience in roles like operations management, business management, and other development roles.

In this case, you can use a chronological resume. If you don’t have much experience but lots of skills, then you can use a functional format. If you have both, then a combination resume is for you! 

Regardless of the resume format you choose, the perfect resume will have sections dedicated to work history, skills, and education.

Header

The header section is the first part of a resume, and contains contact information such as your name, address, phone number, and email address. You need to include this information so the hiring manager or recruiter can contact you with updates about your progress.  As an entrepreneur, networking is very important. To show off your networking experience, you can include a link to any professional portfolio pages you have, such as your LinkedIn profile. This is a great way of giving the hiring manager or recruiter more information. 

Resume summary

The resume summary is an opportunity for you to market yourself as an entrepreneur. This means putting all your valuable qualities in the spotlight to hook the hiring manager or recruiter. Include two to three brief statements that summarize your resume content like key achievements such as small business ventures, certifications, and more. In short, a great professional summary will include details on how much experience you have and explains why you’re the best candidate for a position.

Skills

Great entrepreneur resumes will show off the necessary skills that show you can handle the different aspects of business development. You should include a mixture of hard skills and soft skills for the perfect business owner resume. Hard skills are role-specific and soft skills are intangible abilities that are transferable across many industries. Consider using these resume skills examples to help you create this section:

  • Leadership skills 
  • Project management 
  • Customer satisfaction 
  • Business planning 
  • Budgeting 
  • Creativity 
  • Multitasking 
  • Strategic planning 
  • Using initiative
  • Interpersonal skills 
  • Microsoft Office 
  • Problem-solving 

For inspiration, study the job posting and associated job description. This can help you pick out the best entrepreneurship skills to include in your skills section. 

Work history

As an entrepreneur, your work experience
section is an important measurement of your success as a business owner. Employers might be interested in how successful you’ve been in previous entrepreneur positions, so including this information is important.

Feature work experience from the last 10 to 15 years that’s relevant to the role. You should also include your employer’s details or your company details such as company name, location, and your dates of employment.

Consider listing this information in reverse chronological order, starting from the most recent example. This provides the hiring manager or recruiter with the most up-to-date information.

You can also include measurable information like business statistics as a result of your work. This might impress a hiring manager and allow them to assess your value as a candidate.

Education

The education section
might be an important part of a resume depending on the industry or market entrepreneurs target. In this section, you should include information like degree title, school name, and any notable coursework or academic honors. For example, some entrepreneurs may have bachelor’s degrees in business management or a related field like business administration. Including this information might show you have the correct industry knowledge to carry out entrepreneurial tasks.

Do’s and don’ts for an entrepreneur resume

Do's
  • Use a resume template. This can help give your resume a structure, professional fonts and a professional look.
  • Study the job posting to pick out the best skills and qualifications to include in your resume.
  • Use our resume builder. With our step-by-step advice and templates, you can create a clear professional resume with ease.
Don'ts
  • Include unnecessary information such as unrelated employment experience. This can clutter your resume and lose a reader's interest.
  • Forget to proofread your final resume. Bad spelling or grammar errors are a bad look.
  • Include unnecessary information such as hobbies that don't relate to the position or your high school GPA.

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FAQ: Entrepreneur resumes

Have questions? We’re here to help.

Yes! Cover letters are a great way to market yourself and give the hiring manager or recruiter more in-depth information about your skills. You can further explain why you’re an ideal candidate and talk about your business management experience in greater detail.

Employees are people who work for a salary or compensation of some sort. Entrepreneurs are people who own businesses and take on financial risk in return for a profit.

If you’re applying for different jobs, then you should tailor your resume for each application. To do this, include role-specific keywords based on what you see in the job description to help you pass applicant tracking systems (ATS) that scan resumes, and feature work experience and skills information that are specific to the job.

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WRITTEN BY Ho

Ho is a Certified Professional Resume Writer (CPRW) and editor with two decades of experience in content strategy, creation, and development. He holds a Master’s degree in Creative Writing from Johns Hopkins University and his background includes experience aiding military veterans as they transition to civilian careers.

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