You’re a skilled strategist with a keen eye for detail and an in-depth knowledge of what it takes to run a business. Starting from scratch, you slowly worked your way from a mere dream to a tangible reality.
As a founder and CEO, you can pick and choose when you’re applying for a new job. However, you still need to accurately create a cover letter and a resume that show why you’re the business expert the company needs.
Good news: you’re in the right place. Check out our founder and CEO resume templates—we’ll show you how to create a resume that’s as stellar as your career thus far.
Related resume examples
What Matters Most: Your Business Skills & CEO Experience
By now, you’ve mastered the legal complexities of starting and managing a business, sharpened your financial analysis skills, and built the confidence necessary to lead a team effectively.
From securing funding to launching new products and increasing revenue, you’ve got the knowledge and skills that many companies seek.
To craft an effective resume that gets you that partnership or job, make sure to be highly specific and highlight what you bring to the table. Since you’re an entrepreneur, you can be flexible and adjust this list based on the company you’re applying to.
For example, if the role is a startup seeking a consultant, emphasize your skills in local laws and regulations or obtaining grants. If you’re applying for a CEO position, it’s better to underscore your financial acumen and strategic planning.
9 best founder and CEO skills
- Financial Management
- Microsoft Office
- Salesforce
- QuickBooks
- Product Development
- Market Analysis
- Regulatory Compliance
- Investor Relations
- Risk Assessment
Sample founder and CEO work experience bullet points
You’ve undoubtedly tracked various KPIs, be it customer retention, budgets, revenue, ROI, or market share. Use those metrics to accurately express your impact.
People looking to hire you will want to see solid proof of your ability to deliver results and promote company growth. Pick and choose from your long list and accomplishments, and tailor them to the position you’re applying to.
Make sure to include some financial figures to strengthen your claims. If you say that you managed a $2M budget across 3 product launches, that’s bound to impress—but if you write it off as “launched new products,” it doesn’t hold the same weight.
Here are examples of how to use metrics to your advantage:
- Developed and implemented policies and strategic plans to increase web traffic by 400% over 3 years
- Spearheaded a $3M initial fundraising round, building key relationships and securing capital for strategic growth over 12 months
- Built a team of 40+ specialists, including designers, developers, and customer relations experts, assuring steady company growth
- Negotiated lucrative contracts with stakeholders and vendors, reducing overhead costs by 13% year-over-year
Top 5 Tips for Your Founder and CEO Resume
- Talk about your commitment
- You may run into a unique problem—some companies will consider you overqualified. To them, the danger is that you might find a different role and move on quickly. You can overcome this by putting a lot of emphasis on your long-term goals with this company, including the projects you’re excited about and your hopes for climbing the ranks.
- Showcase your vision
- You started your own company with a certain vision, so dive deep into it in your cover letter. Explain the reason why you started the business you did and how you overcame obstacles, such as lack of funding or difficulty building up your brand image.
- Zone in on the industry
- Don’t be afraid to use technical jargon and discuss industry-specific matters—it helps you establish yourself as the expert that you are. For example, if your background is in e-commerce, mention how your analysis of the latest market trends helped you establish a successful dropshipping business.
- Not everything has to be perfect
- Talk about your hardships, such as a new product launch that didn’t perform as expected or customer service policies that caused dissatisfaction. Explaining how you overcame these difficulties and still came up on top is a great way to show your creative thinking and crisis management.
- Describe your successful partnerships
- As a founder and CEO, you’ve had to build many relationships from scratch—discuss them to underscore your leadership. This can mean liaising with stakeholders, vendors, and business partners, but also hiring and promoting within your own company.
Pick and choose the skills that are appropriate to the role. If it’s an executive management position, focus on your financial acumen and the successful teams you’ve led in the past.
A surefire way to stand out is to tailor your resume to match the job description. Swap skills and experience in and out as needed. More importantly, show that you’re passionate about working there even though you could be working elsewhere.
Despite your extensive experience, keep your resume to one page. This makes it easy to quickly scan, but also shows you know how to focus on the most significant things, which is crucial in a CEO.
