14 Business Manager Resume Examples for 2024

Crafting resumes for business management roles needs a careful approach. This article guides you with solid examples and tips to show your skills and experience. Learn to outline your achievements, tailor your career story, and use language that resonates with recruiters in the sector. Get ready to build a resume that reflects your potential as a management professional.

  Compiled and approved by Liz Bowen
  Last updated on See history of changes

  Next update scheduled for

At a Glance

Here's what we see in standout business manager resumes.

  • Show Impact With Numbers: The best resumes show impact with numbers like revenue growth rates, percentages in cost reduction, customer satisfaction scores, and employee retention figures. Using these makes your achievements clear.

  • Match Skills With Job Description: Include skills on your resume that you have and are also in the job description. Popular ones for this role are budget management, project coordination, data analysis, process optimization, and strategic planning.

  • Stay Ahead With Trends: You should show you know the latest trends. For a business management role, phrases like agile management or digital transformation are often sought after.

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Ordering your education section

Where to place your education on a business manager resume depends on factors such as your work history and whether you've recently pursued further education. If you're already well into your career, your experience should take precedence. Your education then gets listed after your work experience. In contrast, if you've recently completed an MBA or other ongoing education that's worth highlighting, list your education first. This will immediately explain to employers why you've been out of the work force.

For entry-level applicants, your degree is one of your biggest assets. In this case, your education should be the first thing potential employers see. Remember, the goal is to showcase your most relevant and impressive credentials first.

Specific skills for business management

Business management can be a competitive field, and it's important to highlight the skills that make you stand out. Highlight specialized skills like project management, financial literacy, or industry-specific knowledge. If you have proficiency in any business software or CRM systems, these are also worth mentioning.

Also important are transferable skills such as leadership, communication, and problem-solving. Show how you've executed these qualities in a practical setting. For example, did your strong negotiation skills result in profitable contracts? Or perhaps your innovative problem-solving tactics saved a project from failure. Specific instances such as these will set you apart from the competition.

Ideal resume length

The length of your resume can make or break your chances of securing a job interview. For a business manager, your resume should ideally be one page, especially if you're an entry-level or mid-level hire with less than 10 years of relevant experience. A concise, well-structured one-page resume creates a powerful impact, allowing the hiring manager to quickly scan your qualifications and accomplishments.

If you are a senior-level candidate with extensive experience, two pages could be necessary to sufficiently detail your accomplishments. If you're struggling to reduce your resume's length, consider switching to a more efficient template, or condense older, less relevant information.

Branding yourself for business management

If you're looking to break into business management, it's key to brand yourself as a strategic leader. Highlight specific instances where you've led teams or driven corporate initiatives. Whether it's executing a marketing strategy that boosted revenue, or implementing a workflow change that increased efficiency, make sure these achievements stand out.

In a business manager role, your leadership and decision-making skills are crucial, so do not shy away from detailing these in your skills section. Be sure to quantify your accomplishments whenever possible, as this gives more credibility to your claims and shows potential employers that you deliver results.

Beat the resume scanner

When applying for a business management position, your resume often goes through a computer first. This system is called an Applicant Tracking System (ATS). It checks if your resume has the right words that match the job you want. To pass this test, follow these steps:

  • Use words from the job description like 'operations management' and 'team leadership'. The ATS looks for these.
  • Add numbers to show your success, like 'increased sales by 20%' or 'managed a team of 15'. Numbers help the ATS see your results clearly.

Make sure your resume format is simple. Complex designs can confuse the ATS. Also, save your resume as a Word document or a simple text file. Some systems read these better than others.

Tailor your resume to show your skills

When you apply for a job as a business manager, you need to show you have the right skills. Make sure your resume speaks about your personal experience in managing a business. This means talk about what you have done, what you know, and how you have helped your past jobs. Your resume should give clear examples that match what the job needs.

  • State your experience in planning. Tell how you made plans that worked. For example, use phrases like 'developed a strategic plan that increased revenue by 20% in one fiscal year'.
  • For those who have led teams, talk about it. Let the employer know your leadership experience, such as 'managed a team of 15 sales associates'.
  • If you are new to this job area, link your past skills to what a business manager does. If you were good at making sure projects were done on time, say something like 'coordinated project timelines ensuring on-time delivery within budget' which shows planning and organization skills.

Avoid vague bullet points

When you list your experience as a business manager, you need to be specific. The tasks you handled should clearly show your skills. For example, instead of writing 'Managed projects,' say 'Managed 5+ teams to complete projects two weeks ahead of deadlines.' This gives a clear picture of what you can do.

It is also important to show results. Numbers can help with this. Instead of writing 'Increased sales,' you could write 'Increased sales by 20% in one quarter.' This shows exactly how you helped the company. Remember to keep your sentences short and focus on what you achieved.

Use strong action verbs

As a hiring manager, I know how much a resume stands out when you use strong action verbs. They show your ability to take charge and make things happen. Remember, the verbs you choose should match the skills and experiences you have. They should be simple but powerful words that tell us what you did in your past work.

Here's a guide for picking the right verbs when you are applying for a role as a business manager. Think about the tasks you've done and choose verbs that give a clear picture of your work.

  • To demonstrate leadership and initiative, use verbs like led, initiated, established, directed, and pioneered.
  • To show your ability to improve and grow a business, include verbs such as expanded, optimized, enhanced, escalated, and advanced.
  • When highlighting strategic planning skills, choose formulated, designed, devised, planned, and strategized.
  • To emphasize your financial skills, use budgeted, calculated, saved, invested, and audited.
  • If you want to focus on your ability to work with others, verbs like collaborated, negotiated, coordinated, facilitated, and mediated are good choices.

Want inspiration for other action verbs you can use? Check out synonyms to commonly used action verbs like Oversee, Cultivate, Worked with, Conducted, Clean up.

Show successes, not tasks

When you write your resume, it's important to show what you've achieved as a business manager. Simply listing your daily tasks doesn't tell us how well you did them. You need to turn those tasks into accomplishments that show your real impact.

Think about what you've done that helped the company. Did you reduce costs? Improve a process? Grow revenue? Here are two ways to change a responsibility into an accomplishment:

  • Before: 'Responsible for team management'
    After: 'Led a team of 10 to exceed sales goals by 15% within a year'
  • Before: 'Managed company budget'
    After: 'Cut department expenses by 20% through strategic supplier negotiations'

Key skills for business managers

When you're updating your resume, it's vital to include the right hard skills. These show you have the practical abilities needed for business management. Here’s a list to help you start:

  • Strategic planning
  • Financial analysis
  • Budget management
  • Project management
  • Business development
  • Operational improvement
  • Risk management
  • Supply chain management
  • Data analysis
  • Regulatory compliance

Choose skills that fit the job you want. For example, if you aim to manage projects, focus on project management and risk management. Place these skills in a dedicated section on your resume. This helps you pass the Applicant Tracking System (ATS) which employers use to filter resumes.

Remember, you don't need to list all these skills. Pick the ones you're good at and match the job. Include them in your work experience descriptions to show how you've used them. For instance, mention how you used financial analysis to cut costs or strategic planning to grow the business.

Highlighting impact with numbers

As a business manager, showing your impact with numbers can make your resume stand out. You want to prove that you are good at improving the business. Numbers help show the real difference you made. Here are ways you can think about your past work and find numbers to use:

  • Think about your role in growing the company's income. For example, did you increase sales? By how much? Show this with a metric like 20% sales growth over a year.
  • Consider any cost-saving measures you introduced. Did you make operations more efficient? Maybe you found a way to cut down on waste, which can be shown as reduced operational costs by 15%.
  • Look at how you managed budgets or financial plans. For instance, if you oversaw a budget, you might use metrics like managed a $500,000 budget accurately.
  • Reflect on projects you led. Did they finish on time and under budget? This effectiveness can be highlighted with metrics like completed 5 projects 10% under budget.
  • Did you improve customer satisfaction? If yes, by what margin? Mention something like increased customer satisfaction scores by 25%.
  • Have you led a team? Mention the size and how productivity changed under your management, for instance, led a team of 30 and improved productivity by 40%.
  • Did you implement any new systems or processes that saved time? Show it with metrics like introduced new workflow, saving 10 hours per week.
  • If you worked on reducing customer support issues, quantify the improvement, such as 30% fewer customer complaints after a new policy.

Use these ideas to think about your own work. What numbers can you find that show you are good at your job? These metrics will help you prove your value to employers.

Highlight leadership and growth

As a business manager, showing your growth in roles and leadership skills can make a big difference. Here's how you can include this on your resume:

  • For each job you list, describe any promotions you received. Use simple phrases like 'Promoted to team leader within a year' or 'Advanced from assistant to manager in 18 months.'
  • Include examples of leadership. You could say 'Led a team of 10 in achieving sales targets,' which shows you have experience managing and guiding others.

Think about times you were asked to lead a project or a group. Even if you were not a manager, these are good examples of leadership. You might write 'Tasked with heading the quarterly inventory project,' which shows trust in your leadership.

Remember to focus on clear, specific examples that show you have the skills needed to manage and lead a team effectively.

Tailor for the company size

When you apply for a business management role at a small company or startup, like Dropbox or Square, show how you are adaptable and can handle various tasks. You might say, 'Managed a team of 5 to drive sales and marketing strategies, leading to a 20% increase in revenue.'

For larger corporations, such as IBM or General Electric, highlight your ability to navigate complex structures and drive results at scale. Your resume could include, 'Oversaw a division of 200, ensuring compliance and efficiency, contributing to a 5% annual growth.'

Startups value hands-on experience and a proactive approach, while big companies focus on your capability to manage large teams and processes.

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