Crafting a CV that effectively showcases your strategic planning and market analysis skills can be a formidable hurdle in business development. By consulting our guide, you will learn how to articulate your experiences and demonstrate your value proposition to potential employers with clarity and impact.
- Create an attention-grabbing header that integrates keywords and includes all vital information;
- Add strong action verbs and skills in your experience section, and get inspired by real-world professionals;
- List your education and relevant certification to fill in the gaps in your career history;
- Integrate both hard and soft skills all through your CV.
Discover more industry-specific guides to help you apply for any role in the links below:
- Business Consultant CV Example
- Management Consultant CV Example
- Business Manager CV Example
- Business Intelligence CV Example
- Business Owner CV Example
- Category Manager CV Example
- Market Research CV Example
- Business Development Executive CV Example
- IT Business Analyst CV Example
- Junior Business Analyst CV Example
Formatting your business development CV to meet the role expectations
Staring at the blank page for hours on end, you still have no idea how you should start your professional business development CV. Should you include more colours, two columns, and which sections? What you should remember about your CV format is this - ensure it's minimalistic and doesn't go over the top with fancy fonts and many colours. Instead, focus on writing consistent content that actually answers the job requirements. But, how about the design itself :- Use the reverse chronological order to showcase your experience, starting with your most recent role;
- Include your contact details (email address, phone number, and location) - and potentially your professional photo - in the header;
- Must-have CV sections include summary or objective, experience, education, and skills: curate the ones that fit your profile;
- Your professional business development CV should be between one-to-two pages long: select the longer format if you have more experience.
A little bit more about your actual CV design, ensure you're using:
- plenty of serif or sans serif font (e.g. Montserrat, Exo 2, Volkhov) as they are Applicant Tracker System (ATS) compliant. Avoid the likes of Arial and Times New Roman because most candidates' CVs are in this typography.
When submitting your CV, are you still not sure what format it should be? Despite the myth that has been circling around, most modern ATS systems are perfectly capable of reading PDFs. This format is an excellent choice as it keeps all of your information intact.
PRO TIP
Incorporate a touch of colour in headers or section breaks, but keep it professional and ensure it doesn’t detract from readability, especially in more conservative industries.
The top sections on a business development CV
- Professional Summary showcases your value proposition and how you can contribute to business growth.
- Key Business Development Skills highlight industry-specific abilities and strategic competencies.
- Work Experience details past roles and quantifiable achievements relevant to business development.
- Academic Background emphasizes education that supports your understanding of market trends and business strategy.
- Notable Business Achievements focuses on recognitions that underscore your success and potential.
What recruiters value on your CV:
- Highlight your strategic thinking skills by mentioning successful campaigns or initiatives where you identified growth opportunities and contributed to revenue increases.
- Emphasise your relationship-building prowess, including examples of partnerships or networks you have developed and how they have benefited the business.
- Showcase your analytical abilities by detailing how you have utilised data-driven insights to inform decisions and drive business development strategies.
- Demonstrate your versatility within business development roles by noting experience with different markets, products, and industries to display your adaptability and broad expertise.
- Include any relevant qualifications or continuous professional development courses you have undertaken that are pertinent to the role of a business developer, such as sales, marketing, or negotiation training.
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What information should you include in your business development CV header?
The CV header is potentially the section that recruiters would refer to the most, as it should include your:
- Contact details - your professional (non-work) email address and phone number;
- Professional photograph - if you're applying hinting at the value you bring as a professional.
Many professionals often struggle with writing their business development CV headline. That's why in the next section of this guide, we've curated examples of how you can optimise this space to pass any form of assessment.
Examples of good CV headlines for business development:
- Head of Business Growth | Strategic Partnerships | MBA | Lean Six Sigma | 10+ Years Experience
- Business Development Manager | Tech Sector Expertise | SaaS & PaaS | Contract Negotiation | 7 Years Experience
- Senior Business Development Executive | B2B Sales Leadership | International Markets | Fluent in Spanish | 15 Years Track Record
- Business Development Associate | Start-Up Ecosystems | Digital Marketing | BSc Economics | Rising Professional
- Director of Corporate Development | M&A Specialist | Financial Modelling | CFA Charterholder | 20+ Years Excellence
- Graduate Business Development Representative | Fresh Innovator | Social Media Strategies | BA Marketing | Early-Career Enthusiast
Opting between a business development CV summary or objective
Within the top one third of your business development CV, you have the opportunity to briefly summarise your best achievements or present your professional goals and dreams. Those two functions are met by either the CV summary or the objective.
- The summary is three-to-five sentences long and should narrate your best successes, while answering key requirements for the role. Select up to three skills which you can feature in your summary. Always aim to present what the actual outcomes were of using your particular skill set. The summary is an excellent choice for more experienced professionals.
- The objective is more focused on showcasing your unique value as a candidate and defining your dreams and ambitions. Think about highlighting how this current opportunity would answer your career vision. Also, about how you could help your potential employers grow. The objective matches the needs of less experienced candidates, who need to prove their skill set and, in particular, their soft skills.
Still not sure about how to write your CV opening statement? Use some best industry examples as inspiration:
CV summaries for a business development job:
- Accomplished business development manager with a decade of experience in the highly competitive SaaS industry. Expertise in strategic planning and execution, with a proven track record of securing multimillion-dollar deals. Noteworthy achievement includes leading a cross-functional team to a 25% revenue growth within two financial years.
- Dynamic professional with over 8 years in multimedia advertising sales, eager to transfer persuasive communication and relationship-building skills to the tech start-up ecosystem. Successfully expanded client base by over 40% year-on-year through innovative campaign strategies and robust market analysis.
- Highly motivated former healthcare consultant transitioning to business development, with a strong foundation in market research and data analytics. Eager to apply strategic planning abilities to foster partnerships and drive growth in the tech sector. Mastered the art of client relations, resulting in a 30% increase in customer retention in the previous role.
- Dedicated individual with expertise in environmental engineering seeking to leverage extensive project management and analytical skills in a business development capacity within the renewable energy sector. Skilful in identifying sustainable business opportunities and passionate about contributing to a greener economy.
- Keen to embark on a business development career, bringing a fresh perspective and an infectious enthusiasm for creating value through new market exploration and relationship building. Committed to learning rapidly and making a significant impact by contributing to the strategic growth of a forward-thinking company.
- Aspiring business development professional, armed with recent MBA credentials and a zest for innovative market solutions. Highly motivated to apply academic knowledge and leadership experience to forge strong client relationships and identify untapped market segments for substantial business growth.
The best formula for your business development CV experience section
The CV experience section is the space where many candidates go wrong by merely listing their work history and duties. Don't do that. Instead, use the job description to better understand what matters most for the role and integrate these keywords across your CV. Thus, you should focus on:
- showcasing your accomplishments to hint that you're results-oriented;
- highlighting your skill set by integrating job keywords, technologies, and transferrable skills in your experience bullets;
- listing your roles in reverse chronological order, starting with the latest and most senior, to hint at how you have grown your career;
- featuring metrics, in the form of percentage, numbers, etc. to make your success more tangible.
When writing each experience bullet, start with a strong, actionable verb, then follow it up with a skill, accomplishment, or metric. Use these professional examples to perfect your CV experience section:
Best practices for your CV's work experience section
- Developed and expanded a client portfolio by 70% within two years through strategic networking and robust relationship management, surpassing annual sales targets.
- Identified new market opportunities and formulated entry strategies, resulting in the launch of three successful service lines that increased company revenue by 15%.
- Led cross-functional teams to execute business development plans, facilitating communication and project management to ensure alignment with company goals.
- Negotiated and secured high-value contracts with key industry players, contributing to a 25% growth in the company's market share over five years.
- Implemented innovative sales and marketing tactics, including digital campaigns and industry partnerships, which enhanced brand visibility and generated leads.
- Analysed competitor strategies and market trends to provide actionable intelligence, driving the adoption of adaptive business models for sustained competitive advantage.
- Conducted comprehensive deal evaluations, including due diligence and risk assessment, to inform executive decisions on potential mergers and acquisitions.
- Streamlined internal processes to improve efficiency within the business development department, reducing operational costs by 10% while maintaining high-quality output.
- Collaborated with product development teams to influence the roadmap based on customer feedback and market demand, ensuring the company's offerings remained relevant and competitive.
- Spearheaded an initiative to penetrate new market segments, increasing market share by 25% within two years.
- Negotiated and secured a pivotal $4.5 million contract with a key industry player, marking the largest deal in the sector for the fiscal year.
- Developed a comprehensive training program for junior business development staff, improving team performance metrics by 40%.
- Drove a cross-functional team to launch a new SaaS product, resulting in a subscriber increase of 60% within the first quarter post-launch.
- Identified and forged strategic partnerships with three industry-leading firms, enhancing brand visibility and collaborative product development.
- Collaborated with marketing to implement a targeted digital campaign that generated a lead conversion rate improvement of 35%.
- Orchestrated the expansion into two international markets, leading to a revenue growth of 20% from these regions.
- Initiated and managed a CRM overhaul that improved customer relationship management and operational efficiency by 45%.
- Led a team in creating a customer loyalty program that boosted repeat business by 30% within one year of implementation.
- Implemented a global market analysis project that identified five key growth areas, resulting in a tailored expansion strategy.
- Managed trade show participation across four continents, leading to the establishment of 50+ potential new client relationships.
- Conducted competitor analysis to refine company’s value proposition, directly impacting the proposal win rate by increasing it by 18%.
- Created a data-driven decision-making framework for identifying promising market opportunities with potential, resulting in a 10% budget efficiency increase.
- Piloted a client feedback system to streamline product development, leading to a 15% decrease in customer churn over six months.
- Analyzed market trends to advise senior management on strategic initiatives, influencing the decision to enter a lucrative niche market.
- Exceeded sales goals by 150% in my first year through persistent customer engagement and effective lead qualification.
- Successfully managed a portfolio of 30 B2B clients, helping to sustain a 95% client retention rate throughout my tenure.
- Collaborated with product teams to communicate customer pain points, significantly contributing to product improvements and a 20% reduction in support tickets.
What to add in your business development CV experience section with no professional experience
If you don't have the standard nine-to-five professional experience, yet are still keen on applying for the job, here's what you can do:
- List any internships, part-time roles, volunteer experience, or basically any work you've done that meets the job requirements and is in the same industry;
- Showcase any project you've done in your free time (even if you completed them with family and friends) that will hint at your experience and skill set;
- Replace the standard, CV experience section with a strengths or achievements one. This will help you spotlight your transferrable skills that apply to the role.
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PRO TIP
Include examples of how you adapted to new tools, environments, or work cultures, showing your flexibility.
Hard skills and soft skills to showcase your unique skill set on your business development CV
Did you know that your CV will mostly likely be assessed by recruiters based on skill alignment? And that means that the way you feature your key skills across different CV sections will play a crucial role in landing you that first interview. We recommend you add your:
- technical capabilities or hard skills in your CV experience, certificates, projects, etc. Use your past accomplishments to prove your technical capabilities. List up to a dozen different software or hardware in your dedicated skills section to match the job keywords;
- personal and communication skills or soft skills in your CV strengths, achievements, summary/ objective, etc. Soft skills are a bit more difficult to prove. How do you define your aptitude in active listening? So, instead of just listing the skill name, include a tangible metric to show your success.
On a final note, when you're in a hurry to create your profile, you may misspell a particular technology or soft skill. That's why we suggest you copy and paste the particular skill name (or keyword), directly from the job advert. This would also help you to pass any initial Applicant Tracker System (ATS) tests.
Top skills for your business development CV:
Market Research
Lead Generation
Sales Strategy Development
Negotiation
CRM Software Proficiency
Financial Modelling
Data Analysis
Project Management
Marketing
Contract Management
Communication
Networking
Strategic Thinking
Innovative Problem-Solving
Adaptability
Collaboration
Persuasion
Time Management
Leadership
Emotional Intelligence
PRO TIP
Use mini case studies or success stories in your CV to demonstrate how your skills have positively impacted previous roles or projects.
Listing your university education and certificates on your business development CV
The best proof of your technical capabilities would be your education and certifications sections. Your education should list all of your relevant university degrees, followed up by their start and completion dates. Make sure to also include the name of the university/-ies you graduated from. If you happen to have less professional experience (or you deem it would be impressive and relevant to your application), spotlight in the education section:
- that you were awarded a "First" degree;
- industry-specific coursework and projects;
- extracurricular clubs, societies, and activities.
When selecting your certificates, first ask yourself how applicable they'd be to the role. Ater your initial assessment, write the certificate and institution name. Don't miss out on including the completion date. In the below panel, we've curated relevant examples of industry-leading certificates.
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Focus on describing skills in the context of the outcomes they’ve helped you achieve, linking them directly to tangible results or successes in your career.
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Key takeaways
Your successful job application depends on how you well you have aligned your business development CV to the job description and portrayed your best skills and traits. Make sure to:
- Select your CV format, so that it ensures your experience is easy to read and understand;
- Include your professional contact details and a link to your portfolio, so that recruiters can easily get in touch with you and preview your work;
- Write a CV summary if you happen to have more relevant professional experience. Meanwhile, use the objective to showcase your career dreams and ambitions;
- In your CV experience section bullets, back up your individual skills and responsibilities with tangible achievements;
- Have a healthy balance between hard and soft skills to answer the job requirements and hint at your unique professional value.
