Building Your Resume After Graduating from a Business Administration Program

So you have graduated with a business administration diploma and now it’s time to find a job. Congrats! It’s time to start the job search and create your resume. Building a resume can be difficult, but it can be even more difficult when you graduate with a broad diploma, like a business administration diploma. The job options are endless when you receive this diploma. When you graduate with a business administration diploma, it’s important to change each resume for each job you are applying to. Each resume should speak to the specific position you’re applying for. Use the following tips and examples as inspiration for when you write and construct your professional resume.

First, though, it helps to review some of the jobs you can apply for with a business administration diploma. Keep in mind that for each career path below, you’ll change your resume objectives up to match the position. We’ll go over some great strategies later on.

 

Careers in Business Administration 

 

1. Business Development Associate

The main role of a business development associate is to gain sales by contacting and building relationships with new and existing clients. They work with many different people within a business like marketing, sales, and production associates to create and implement business strategies to increase sales. 

2. Marketing Associate 

With a business administration diploma, there are many careers you can get within marketing – one of them being a marketing associate. Marketing associates help with planning and executing marketing activities. It’s an entry-level job that supports the marketing department by doing daily tasks to keep the department functioning. 

3. Account Manager 

An account manager is part salesperson and part customer service rep. You can work as an account manager in many different types of businesses, but most known in an advertising or marketing agency. As an account manager, your role is basically doing everything it takes to get everything done. You are the liaison between the agency you are working for and your clients. You oversee the agency-client relationship, understand their needs, and make sure the agency delivers.

 4. Administrative Assistant 

Administrative assistants are the right-hand person of the office. They are typically the ones sitting at the front of the office or business desk right when clients or customers walk in. Some of their responsibilities include answering email and phone inquiries, maintaining digital and paper records, booking meetings and seminars, taking meeting minutes, and more. If you are organized, efficient, and enjoy working with others, consider a career as an administrative assistant. 

5. Financial Administrator 

Financial administrators are responsible for maintaining transaction records, preparing monthly and quarterly financial reports and processing reimbursements. If you are interested in finance and bookkeeping, this is a great stream of business to enter. 

6. Human Resources Coordinator 

A Human Resources Coordinator is someone who helps with the administrative duties for the HR department of an organization. They assist the human resources managers with recruitment, maintain employee records, assistant with payroll and provide support to current employees. 

7. Sales Representative 

As a sales representative, your role is to sell a product or service your company provides. A sales representative is not to be confused with a sales associate. As a sales representative, you typically work for a B2B (business to business) company, meaning you are looking for potential new clients or buyers.

 

Learn more about the different types of jobs you can get with a business administration diploma here.

 

Resume building strategies 

Because business administration is so broad, it’s likely that you’ll be applying to niche jobs in the industry, like any of the jobs mentioned above. While you could create one resume outlining all your skills and experience and use it for every job, you’ll have more success if you write each one with a different objective. What you include on a resume for a marketing position will be different than what you put for an administrative assistant. But, guess what? The great thing is that with your diploma, you have the skills to apply for both! It’s all about being able to articulate your value and your skills clearly and creatively. 

Here are some strategies when it comes to building your resume for different jobs after your business administration diploma. 

 

1. Create an Inventory Resume 

This is your base resume. Think of your inventory resume as the resume that has the meat and potatoes. You can add and edit to this, but it’s your main document. When you create this resume, you create it with the understanding that you will be be changing it up with every position you apply to.

This resume should include: 

• A general summary statement or objective that highlights 3-4 core competencies.
• A skills section outlining additional areas you excel
• A professional experience section that gives brief descriptions of each of your roles with supporting bullets.
• Any additional sections for your education, training, volunteer work, etc.

 

When you’re creating this resume, it will likely contain too much information about everything you have done in your professional life. This is okay! It’s great to have this framework, especially when applying to many business administration jobs with different objectives. You will cut this down when you develop each individual resume. 

 

2. Tailor your Resume 

Now comes the fun part—tailoring the resume. What you leave in and what you leave out depends entirely on the position you are applying for. This is where you have to pay attention to the specific job posting. 

When writing your resume for the different jobs, pay attention to the job title and job description. Include keywords from the job listing in your resume. These are essential phrases that will draw attention from the hiring manager or automated tracking systems.

 

Tip: When editing your resume for different jobs, look at the specific job description and copy and paste the top 3 skills and experience requirements listed and paste them in a separate document. Open up that document beside your resume and go through your resume and find areas where you can speak to those skill sets. Make sure you are including as many as you can. You can even use the same language they use on the job description. If you notice you have many skills and industry-specific jargon from past jobs you have applied to, take those out. Hiring managers want to see information that is specific and relevant to the job. 

 

3. Summary Statement/Objective 

Your summary statement is one of the easiest ways you can change up your resume for different roles. If you take your base resume and change up the summary statement, it changes the entire tone of the document. You should be doing this for every business administration niche you apply to. A strong summary statement and objective will give the reader an initial brief of your most relevant skills, strengths, and sets the tone for the rest of the document. This summary should speak to the job itself. For example, if you are applying for a marketing manager position and you have worked in sales and marketing before, make sure to highlight the marketing aspect of the job. You really want to align your objectives with their objective.

 

Look at Job Titles 

Hiring managers are busy people, and it’s likely they may scan through your resume. Often times, they may scan your job titles before actually reading through the bullets. You may not always be able to change the job titles on your resume, but sometimes you can make small changes that can help you get your messaging across more accurately. For example, if your title was “Manager of Sales and Marketing” and you are applying for a marketing job that has less to do with sales as it does marketing, perhaps you may change it to “Marketing Manager.” 

 

Transferable Business Administration Skills 

When you graduate with a business administration diploma, you graduate with many transferable and useful skills for different fields within the business sector. No matter what type of business career you want to pursue, the following skills will help you succeed. You can use the following skills on your resume no matter which job you’re applying for, just make sure to back it up with information that is relevant to the job you are applying to.

  

1. Efficient Typing

2. Strong Technology Competency

3. Organization and Time Management

4. Interpersonal Skills 

5. Attention to Detail

 

Well, there you have it, you now have the tools in your tool box to start writing killer business administration resumes to land you any job in the field. Be patient with yourself, be confident in your abilities, and remember to take your time. Remember, each resume should be different for each job you apply to, but it should still represent you and your experience. 

If you’re interested in furthering your education before applying for business administration positions, click here for more information on Robertson’s School of Business.