Resume Writing - How to explain a failed bussiness?

Question

Ok, my question is this. For about a year and half I owned my own business, which failed pretty bad due to terrible management (My business partner/financial backer was an idiot =(
I'm now looking for work in a stable environment, my question is, how Do i put this information in my resume, without making it look bad. Should I just forgo the information about me owning it, and just list it as another job?

I'm at a loss here, any help would be greatly appreciated =)

Answer 1

I would put self employed contract work with the business partner (by name / business name) and identify the reasons for failure (cash flow, employees that were required to be hired, etceteras).
But... put positives that resulted from the experience... "gained knowledge of tax structure, limits on partnerships, inventory management, general day to day business" No time is lost to thinking people and the more positive things you can say, the better.

Whatever you do don't blame the business partner/financial backer unless he went to jail for taking the money from the cash register.

Good luck in job hunting. You may want to talk to a "head hunter" about finding you a job and see what they say. Yahoo answers may be fine but you would want a "professional's" opinion too.

Answer 2

First of all, nothing to be ashamed of a failed business. You gave it a try. That is very commendable. I think you should learn to drop the acrimony and anger towards your partner. He/She did not cheat you, right? Did he/she do his/her best? Even if he/she mismanaged, it is all part and parcel of what one learns from running a business. Learning to forgive and forget the past, but learning from it is essential for a successful future. Otherwise, that failure will worsen things for you.

Now to your resume, Smart managers know that one can learn more from a failure than from a success. Smarter managers do not hire people only with successes to show but no failure. Do some introspection and jot down clearly what you learned from that failure. Be ready to articulate that. Is there something you could have done better? For writing a good resume, you need to focus each bullet on Problem-Solution-Results. What problem did you face, what wa the solution, and what result did it produce? remember, the resume is about what you did and not what your partner did. Even if the business was a failure, you must have done your best to achieve some milestones and succeeded in them. Focus on them. You must have done a lot to keep the spirits up and positive energy going in spite of all the trouble. Focus on them in writing your resume. No need to mention about the business failure. Keep the failure analysis, i.e. what you learned from the business failure, for the interview. Even when you articulate that, avoid criticizing your partner. Try to put a positive spin and emphasize what you learned. As I mentioned before, drop that acrimony. It should never surface in the interview.

You will do well. Good luck.

Answer 3

Whether a personal business succeeds or fails is irrelavant to the job you are applying. You weren't fired. You didn't do anything illegal, did you?

Just put self employed and list your duties. When the interview asks why you left the job just explain the business was dissolved.