This article will assist you in listing self employment in a resume with tips and examples.
If you have been self employed for a while and now wish to come back to the workforce, but aren’t sure what to write or how employers might react, here are few tips.
Employers’ Point of View
Self employment experience is difficult or impossible to verify. So employers may not like hiring a person who has been self employed for a long time or who has no experience but self employment.
Proving your abilities and accomplishments is essential to your search for employment. Verifiable references and/or significant employment experience are also important as further proof of your abilities and reliability.
How to List Self Employment in your Resume
The key tips for writing your self employment in a resume are:
- If you were a company owner or manager during self-employment, and if your company had a name, emphasize that. It’s best to state that you were a manager/general manager/sales manager of Company X, rather than its owner.
- If the company was a partnership, indicate this and preferably give your partner’s contact information.
- It is preferable to supply Year(s) / Manager / Company Name. You can add a description of your responsibilities and accomplishments.
- Some employers will trust that you really have been working, but they will be looking for sings of trustworthiness and relevance. So it’s good to be honest in your descriptions of responsibilities and successes.
- You should provide enough technical specifics for the employers to see that you know what you are talking about. With the same personal and technical honesty, explain how your experience and skills fit the job opportunity.
- Indicate good personality and interpersonal skills, especially those relevant to the job.
- Provide a cover letter and emphasize relevant technical skills you learned and used during self employment.
- Finally, write a good Objective Statement to convey real interest in being employed and working for that specific company.
Financial problems and business failure are often the cause for returning to the corporate workforce. Explain these honestly. It’s better if your reasons are the desire for a more challenging job, better opportunities, insurance and advancement, all of which you see in the position you are applying for. But if it really was a failed business, explain the reasons for bankruptcy, emphasizing what you have learned and what relevant skills you have acquired over the course of that time.
Samples: Self Employment Resume Templates
The following are three resume sections for self employed individual – Professional Experience. Key Skills and resume objective statement.
Self employment Experience Section in a Resume
Work History – Professional Experience
[Owner and CEO]
[Company details], [Location] 2007 – present
Achievements
- Planned and directed all functions of the company – Enforced strong leadership skills to ensure efficient/effective utilization of corporate resources
- Established and integrated the functional strategies of the company utilizing business expertise to reach financial/operational goals and objectives.
- Deployed resources to achieve financial forecast and business objectives
- Record of success in guiding and directing an ABC enterprise through substantial change management, balancing engagement with strong and effective strategic leadership.
- Developed sales and marketing plans and programs for company sales personnel.
- Analyzed market trends and statistics to determine potential of growth – monitored sales performance regularly
Self employment skills section in a resume
Core Competencies: Key Skills and Strengths
- Ability to design strategies and observe performance metrics
- Cross-functional team management experience: Experience cooperating and working with cross company Executives
- Leadership and charisma
- Excellent organizational, presentation and negotiation skills.
- Networking
Self employment: Resume Objective Statement
Sound knowledge of the [your industry] market principles and trends with the ability to formulate strategies, make decisions, plan with confidence and execute, having a quick grasp of the cutting edge technologies in the [industry].