Tips for a Business Owner's CV?

There are both positive and negative ways in which a recruiter will view someone who has worked in the same organisation for the majority of their career. While some people may consider this to be a reflection of commitment and loyalty, others may see it as a sign that you are not keen on change.

Despite all your recent experience being with the same one organisation, you will no doubt possess a wealth of transferable skills – you are, after all, a highly experienced individual.

It is important to demonstrate clearly within your CV what those transferable skills are and how they are of value to a prospective employer – and the best way to communicate this is to use the functional type of CV.

Implement a Key Skills section highlighting the transferable skills you have developed during the course of your career – administrative, organisational, interpersonal, etc. skills

You should then proceed to a Key Experience section, citing specific examples to support what you have said in the Key Skills section. Examples add credibility to your words.

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And you should conclude with a Career Summary rather than a full Career History.

If you can also include an Achievements section then it can make an instant and dramatic difference to the power of your CV, enabling you to distinguish yourself from other candidates. It’s probably best to place this immediately after the Key Experience section.

Your CV should be informative – but also concise. In general, 2 A4 pages is a maximum, regardless of how much experience you have. Too many CVs are quite simply too long. Only include information which will actually help to sell you. Recruiters don’t want to waste time reading details irrelevant to your ability to fulfil the job role.

There are a number of common mistakes which more mature applicants are likely to make. One of the most common is to head your CV ‘Curriculum Vitae’. Your CV should be headed with your name - and just your name - boldly and clearly - before any other details - contact details, etc. It is true that, traditionally, CVs were headed with ‘Curriculum Vitae’, or suchlike, but this convention is very much on the way out now.

You should also steer clear of including superfluous detail such as date of birth, marital status, number of children, etc. None of this sort of information should be included on CVs these days.

Your situation may be slightly different. ask a question below ↓ and our editorial team will reply with our advice.

The Next Step

Now that you have read through the advice above, you might want to put it into practice. Our CV Builder lets you build a professionally structured CV tailored to your target role. Enter your details and experience, and get a polished CV ready to send to employers. Try it now →