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Business Development Resume: Examples & Writing Guide
You'll learn:
Many people may once hear about some business development-related jobs, such as business development manager, director of business development, or business development executive. However, what exactly is business development?
Generally, business development is to seek growth opportunities for companies - developing new potential markets, building business relationships with partners, and even creating distinct business models.
With a basic understanding, it is time to build a professional business development resume. Since hiring managers browse each resume in no more than 6 seconds, it is important to have a clear structured business development resume including only relevant information.
How to Write a Resume for Business Development?
Step 1 : Understand the differences between a CV and a Resume.
Curriculum Vitae (CV) and resume are both a record of a person’s professional experiences, but they are different in 4 kinds: content, purpose, length, and design.
A business development CV is longer with more detailed information, while a business development resume usually does not exceed two pages and only includes the information that is relevant to a specific position.
Step 2 : Choose the right resume format for business development.
There are 4 types of resume formats: chronological, functional, hybrid, and targeted resume format.
It is common to use the reverse chronological resume format. Nevertheless, if you just graduated from college and would like to build a professional business development resume, a hybrid resume format is more proper.
Step 3 : Search for business development resume templates and examples as references.
Sometimes it is just so struggling in the very beginning, so reading some business development resume samples online can be helpful. Another way is to search on online resume platforms (such as CakeResume or Linkedin) for the profiles of those who are in related-positions like business development manager, business development specialist, director of business development, business representative, and so on. Understanding how they describe their achievements may give you a clear guideline.
Step 4 : Tailor your business development resume.
Always keep in mind who your reader is. That is, write your business development resume with only relevant information according to each company you are applying for.
Step 5 : Craft the business development cover letter.
The main purpose of a business development cover letter is to indicate who your personality is and what you can contribute. Therefore, if you prepare a good business development cover letter, which other applicants may not do so, it can help you catch the hiring manager’s attention.
Step 6 : Proofhead both your business development resume and cover letter.
Proofread to make sure there are no typos, grammar mistakes, or other errors.
What to put on a business development resume?
When it comes to what to put on a business development resume, it always has a primary principle: Including all related information and excluding all redundant ones!
1. Business Development Resume Profile (Personal Information)
The purpose of the profile is to allow the hiring manager to know you basically and to contact you easily. In this section, it is strongly recommended to include:
- Full name
- Professional title (for example, your current job title)
- Email address
- Mobile number
- Address
✍️ You can also provide some information like LinkedIn URL, personal website, etc.
🚫 On the contrary, unless it is required, please do not include irrelevant information or the one that will probably lead to discriminations:
- Current salary
- National insurance number/Social security number
- Gender, nationality, birthday
- Sexual orientation, race, marital status, dependency, and religious belief
- Photograph
2. Business Development Resume Headline
Imagine you successfully get the position of business development manager, before starting to build a partnership, you probably need to well understand your company’s core value and competency. Only in this way can you help your company stand out from competitors and create a win-win relationship.
💡 Tips: A great one-line business development resume headline does the same thing - clearly highlight your core competency which distinguishes you from others.
Here are some headline examples for a business development resume.
- If you are writing a senior business development manager resume, you can summarize your career with figures:
“Experienced Business Development Representative Specializing in Outbound Marketing with an Increase in Lead Generation by 20%.”
- If you are writing an entry-level business development resume headline, you can indicate your strength which is most relevant and valuable to the company:
“Detail-oriented Graduate Skilled in Data Collection and Analysis”
2. Business Development Resume Summary or Objective
A good business development profile summary is a brief and legible introduction about an applicant’s professional experiences and skills in 2 to 3 sentences (around 30 to 50 words). On the other hand, a business development resume objective emphasizes one's career goal.
Some summary/objective examples for a business developer resume:
- For a fresher business development resume:
“Information Science graduate with strong programming data analyzing skills. Currently seeking a position as a business development associate at Shopee, to utilize analyzing skills to discover customers’ needs and increase platform’s deals. Gained text mining experience at Eland Information Co., Ltd as an intern, assisting the company in depicting online users’ persona.”
- For a senior business development manager resume:
“Director of Business Development with strategic planning skills. Currently seeking a position as a Business Development Manager at Amazon, to develop strategies for entering the target market. Managed a team of 8 at Acer to develop a new market and constructed relevant projects worth over $3M in revenue.”
4. Business Development Skills in Resume
If you are wondering: “What are the skills required for a business development manager,” it is suggested to check the job descriptions. Showing the required or expected skills in your business development resume can always grab the hiring manager’s attention in seconds.
Here are some business development skills a resume commonly includes.
Hard Skills
- Data Analysis
- Market Research
- New Market Penetration
- Presentation Skills
- Strategic Planning
- Problem Solving
- CRM (i.e. Hubspot)
Soft Skills
- Communication and Negotiation skills
- Observation
- Adaptability
- Proactivity
- Innovation and Creativity
- Relationship Building
- Sales ability
5. Work Experience in a Business Development Resume
This section is almost an integral part of your business development resume. It is recommended to use the reverse chronological resume format for work experiences. Moreover, since a good business development resume should be as readable as possible, listing 3-5 bullet points for each career period can help the hiring manager quickly understand what you had accomplished in the past.
Example of describing work experiences for a business development resume:
Business Develop Manager, August 2019 - Present
ABC Corp, Cincinnati
- Organized a team of 20 to develop a new business on E-commerce
- Led a business development project to develop the SouthAsia market with 60% customer base growth and a 70% increase in revenue
- Communicated with foreign governments to seek investment approvals and supports
Always include Organization, job location, role tile, and beginning and end dates in the work experience section.
6. Education in a Business Development Resume
Just like work experience, it is better to list academic achievements in reverse chronological order, from the highest degree to at most high school education.
In this section, provide information about:
- School name
- Degree
- Majors and minors
- Year of graduation (if you have not graduated, noting “expected” graduate year)
- Honors and Awards
💡 Tips: You can also include your GPA, relevant courses, and extracurricular activities in this section.
7. Additional Information on a Business Development Resume (certifications, awards)
Some certificates that can be included in your business development resume to help you stand out from other candidates are:
- Google Analytics
- Google Ads
- HubSpot Inbound Sales
- Rise Up Sales
Besides, language ability is vital to a business developer as well. Therefore, if you have any second or third language certificate, put it on your business development resume!
Tips for Writing the Best Business Development Resume
Tip 1 : Customize your business development resume.
An essential competency of a business developer is to think in an empathetic way and discover each customer’s unique needs.
Similarly, different companies have distinct job requirements, even though all they use the same titles like “business development manager”, “business development executive”, or “business development specialist”. It can always increase the probability of receiving an interview invitation if you customize each resume.
Tip 2: Use Keywords from business development job descriptions.
You can always utilize the keywords in job descriptions when you are tailoring your business development resume. Including business development resume keywords can make your resume more ATS-friendly, which increases the chance of getting an interview.
Tip 3: Quantify achievements on your business development resume.
Numbers are always intelligible proof of your abilities.
Tip 4: Choose an ATS-friendly resume format for business development.
Since you are applying for, say, a business developer role, not a designer one, using resume layouts with too many graphs or charts is not proper if the company is using ATS to screen resumes.
Tip 5: Use action words in your business development resume.
Using action verbs in your business development resume can vividly demonstrate your accomplishments. For instance, use “attained” or “secured” to show what you earned.
Tip 6: Have a professional Linkedin or CakeResume profile
If you ask a senior business development manager: “what is the most crucial skill a business developer must have," he/she will probably answer, ”build relationships.”
Since a business developer has to keep seeking growth opportunities for companies, a strong network building skill can greatly enhance the probability of getting useful information and resources. Therefore, creating a good Linkedin or CakeResume profile!
CakeResume is an easy-to-use editor you can use to create and host a resume webpage for free. It provides 50+ beautiful resume snippets to choose from to design a professional portofolio in minutes.
How to write a cover letter for a business development job?
A business development cover letter should not exceed more than one page, and it is recommended to have these 5 sections:
5 Things to Include in Business Development Cover Letter:
1. Contact information
It serves as the same as a personal profile does on your resume: let the hiring manager know who you are and how to contact you!
2. Greeting
If you do not know the hiring manager’s name, it is common to start with, “Dear hiring manager,...” Nevertheless, if you do know his/her name (Hey! Future business development manager, there is a useful tool called Linkedin!), just greet him/her with that right name!
3. Motivation
This section is to answer another key question: “Why this company?” Instead of flatters, tell employers how well you understand their companies and how deep your product knowledge is to establish an exceptional impression!
4. Qualification
This part is to answer - “Why me?” The principle is similar to that of your business development resume writing, but here it is more like storytelling. Select a few skills and accomplishments relevant to business development, connect properly to convince the employer you are that qualified person.
5. Closing
We already have a polite greeting, and a grateful appreciation should also be included in your perfect business development cover letter! The closing section is to thank the hiring manager for their efforts in reading your resume and cover letter.
Business Development Manager Resume Sample (Text Format)
Nicolas Lin
Proactive Business Development Specialist with 3+ year experiences in FMCG
Mobile: (+886)912-345-678
Email: [email protected]
Address: Taipei, Taiwan
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/nicolaslin
Resume Summary
Business Development Specialist who specializes in branding marketing and relationship building. Currently seeking a position as a Business Development Manager at XYZ Ltd., to create long-term business relationships with customers. Lead a team of 12 at ABC Ltd. to launch the brand in a new market with a 60% sales growth.
Work Experience
Business Development Specialist, Jun 2017 - Present
ABC Ltd.
- Assessed and explored potential clients with an increase of 56 new clients.
- Leveraged resources and expanded 2 new sales areas in Asia within 36 months training period.
- Organized branding projects to position and reposition brands in the Southeast Asia market.
Business Development Associate, Apri 2016 - May 2017.
ABC corp.
- Established a new business model which increased the customer conversion rate by 50%.
- Identified and evaluated business growth opportunities through data analysis.
- Optimized lead generation process which generated 10+ closed deals worth more than $500k a month.
Education
B.A in Business Administration, University of Minnesota
2009 - 2013
GPA: 4.0 / 4.3
Award: The President’s Student Leadership and Service Award (PSLSA)
Skills
Hard Skills
- Data analysis (Python, R)
- Market Research
- Google Analytics
- Branding Strategic Planning
- Hubspot
Soft Skills
- Communication and Negotiation skills
- Proactivity
- Innovation and Creativity
- Relationship Building
- Sales ability
Language
- Mandarin
- English
- Germany (B1)
--- Originally written by Angela Ye ---
With the intention of helping job seekers to fully display their value, CakeResume creates an accessible free resume/CV/biodata builder, for users to build highly-customized resumes. Having a compelling resume is just like a piece of cake!
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