Certified Resume Writer and Career Coach
This article covers business resume examples and what constitutes an excellent business manager resume. The term Business Manager sounds generic, so it is useful to identify the different types of business managers.
What is a Business Manager?
A Business Manager is an umbrella term for those serving as managers and executives in several different industries. Examples of these industries include:
- Retail, customer service, sales, and marketing
- Social services, associations and non-profits, government and military
- Human Resources, organizational development, education
- Real estate and construction
- Food and beverage, hotels, and travel and tourism
- Health care
- Science, engineering, and technology
- Accounting, corporate finance, banking, financial/investment management
- Manufacturing and operations
- Consulting
What Does a Business Manager Do?
A Business Manager directs an organization’s staff and activities to achieve company objectives. As a result, they function as the point people for the organization’s success. They are required to think strategically concerning how to create and mobilize a productive workforce. Some of their varied responsibilities include:
- Hiring and training employees
- Ensuring a continual flow of resources
- Implementing company procedures and budgets
- Tracking organizational financial goals
- Preparing reports for higher-level executives
- Maintaining inventories
- Evaluating business performance
8 Tips for Resumes for Business Managers
A business management resume will benefit by highlighting strong organizational skills, solid business acumen, industry knowledge, leadership, communication abilities, and supervisory skills.
Overriding Strategies
In perusing effective business management resume samples from different industries, several overall strategies contribute to success.
Write to the job you want
You cannot write an effective resume without knowing what type of positions you are looking for and having specific objectives.
Sell it to me… Don’t tell it to me.
Do not simply state facts. To really sell something, you need to draw attention to it and promote it. This can be assisted by including quantifiable metrics when describing your accomplishments.
Use keywords.
For a business manager resume sample, potential keywords can include:
- Team building
- Strategic planning
- Organizational design
- Revenue growth
- Cost reduction
- Profit improvement
- P & L management
- Performance optimization
- Operating management
The employment of keywords are a critical aspect of the resume-scanning process. Employers and recruiters electronically search resumes for specific terms to identify candidates with the qualifications, skills, and credentials for their specific hiring needs.
Use the “Big” and save the “Little”
In effective business manager resume samples, one can detect a focus on large aspects such as new products, revenue and profit growth, new initiatives and ventures, technology implementations, and sales successes.
Make your resume “interviewable”.
This can include making sure your most important selling points are featured prominently and not buried within your resume. You should avoid irrelevant and neutral or negative information. Also, make sure your resume is easily legible. This includes adequate font size, a logical flow from beginning to end, and lots of white space.
Employ Function to Demonstrate Achievement
A resume that only lists job functions is not impressive. An example of this is:
"Responsible for all operations at the Marriott Hotel in downtown Atlanta."
Instead, try using something like:
"Profitably managed a 31-room luxury Marriott property that generates over $200M in annual revenues. Currently ranked #4 for customer service out of 585 Marriott properties across the U.S."
Remain in the realm of reality.
Do not push your skills and qualifications outside the boundaries of what is truthful. You don’t want to end up getting fired from a job because you lied on your resume.
Be confident.
You have a specific combination of qualifications, employment experience, achievements, technical skills, and education. You must generate a resume that sells you as a unique commodity within the competitive job search market
How to Write a Powerful Business Manager Resume
Looking at business resume examples, they follow a standard format and should include the following sections:
- Resume header
- Resume summary
- Professional history
- Resume skills
- Education
A business resume examples reveal that an important component is employing the proper style and tone. Keeping the resume conservative is a good idea but this can vary depending on the organization’s culture (i.e. Google as opposed to IBM).
It is critical to fully research the organization you are applying to when you create your resume and cover letter. A resume that specifically targets that company will demonstrate to the person doing the hiring that you really want to work for them, not just land a position.
- Use the most effective tone for each organization.
- Select a business manager resume template that will make an excellent and professional visual impression. Remember, the resume will likely be their first impression of you, and you want that impression to be as good as you can make it. To do this, you can find and use business management resume templates that are available on the Internet.
- Examine the job listing and employ keywords and verbiage that will increase your chances of passing the Applicant Tracking System (ATS) screening. This will include analyzing the job description and listing the attributes and skills they are looking for. Then use those same words in your resume to tip off the ATS that you are the person they are looking for to fill the position.
Suggested Resume Format: Business Resume Examples
Particularly for a person who has risen through the ranks as a business manager, the reverse chronology position order resume is the most effective format to use. This means in the Professional Experience section, beginning with the most recent or current position and proceeding backward in time.
There can be exceptions including if you are just entering the job market or if you took a more convoluted route to your current position. If this is the case, a functional or hybrid model might better suit your needs.
Resume Header/Contact Information
Name – Regarding the name on the resume, it has become increasingly acceptable to use the name by which you prefer to be called. For example, Tzirina (Irene) Kosto.
Address – As to the address, the full street address can be listed, but it is becoming more common to just list the city/state/Zip Code.
Telephone Number – For telephone number, it is recommended that you leave one number on your resume—the one where you can be reached most readily and where callers can leave a voicemail message.
Email Address and Other Social Profiles – You should always include your email address on your resume. It also does not hurt to list your LinkedIn profile address. Both your email address and your LinkedIn profile address can be hyperlinked.
Resume Summary Section
The Resume Summary Section is the executive overview of your career. Since this section comes just after the resume heading with contact information, it needs to be an effective sales tool for you. Achievements such as raising revenue and cutting costs can be enumerated here. For this section, employ powerful adjectives and verbs to showcase your expertise, motivation, and personality.
Good examples of effective phrases for this section are:
Innovative and energetic manager with proven ability to tackle diverse challenges and deliver operational gains and Recognized expert in telecommunications interviewed by major media including CBS.
Professional Experience Section
The Professional Experience Section is the meat of the resume. This section adheres to a stricter format than the summary section, but you can still employ those powerful adjectives and verbs to hone your message. Highlight a progression of knowledge and responsibilities by focusing on your highest-level achievements. You can even employ bullets to list specific quantifiable data and dollar metrics to demonstrate tangible outcomes rather than just listing job functions.
An example is:
Refocused sales strategy to add 3 new markets and expand existing markets, adding more than $5M in yearly recruiting revenue and Achieved 45% controllable profit through strategic marketing, cost controls, and high service standards.
Education Section
Your Education Section should include college, certifications, credentials, licenses, registrations, and continuing education. If any are particularly notable, make sure to list them prominently in this section. Listing a very high GPA or a distinction such as summa cum laude will be noticed.
Business managers are expected to have a bachelor’s degree in a business-related field and some positions may require an MBA or a specialty degree.
Extras
Extra sections can be included, and consolidated into one section. Examples of notable extras are:
- Honors and awards
- Public speaking
- Publications
- Technological skills and qualifications
- Teacher and training experience
- Committees and task forces
- Professional affiliations
- Civic affiliations
- Personal information (ex: being multilingual)
Conclusion
Always remember that you are trying to sell yourself. Appreciate the value you bring to an organization and then communicate that value by focusing on your achievements. Companies understandably do not want to hire just anyone—they want to hire “the” someone who will make a difference. Demonstrate to them that you are that candidate.
