Include small family business startup experience on resume?

I am revising my engineering resume and I am debating whether to include my work on a small, family owned/operated business that I co-founded and co-own. It does not have any technical similarities to my main job but has provided me with valuable business experience that can carry over to my engineering work and, I believe, demonstrates my credentials as a highly motivated self-starter.

However, I don’t want the side business to distract from my technical qualifications, give the impression that I am not fully dedicated to my day job, or suggest that I’d be looking to start my own engineering company and ditch my primary employer.

What’s the best way to handle this? Thanks.

Everything you said in the first paragraph are positives; I’d put that last on the “Experience” checklist, after all your dazzling accomplishments in your field. :wink:

Unless it makes your resume nine pages long. Then you’re on your own.

Thanks

I would definitely include it, small business people generally have to be clever and efficient.

Ok, no worries about appearing to be spread too thin?

I’ve never hired anyone, and everyone is free (please) to bash what I’m saying:

If you have had 2 or 3 jobs in your field, list them in order of biggest career accomplishment position, then 2nd biggest, then 3rd biggest, then the small business info. If you’ve had four or more jobs, pick the 2 or 3 that stand out (and don’t be afraid to include one that might be outside your field) and list as stated above, then small business info. Don’t worry about gaps in employment on your resume (unless it’s decades) and if the order of the list is not chronological, no real biggie. You want IMPACT!:

Hiring dude: Let’s see,
Item #1, 1985-1991, created stable wormhole for company, decreased shipping costs by 96%.
Item #2, 2009-present, manufactured working perpetual-motion machine for employer, patent case to resolve in court any time now.
Item #3, 1992-2001, assembled suit-case-sized cold fusion reactor for Walmart, Inc., company went off grid, corporate savings–104%

Christ, I gotta hire this guy!

Item #4, 2002-2008, (small business start-up info.)

Oh, good, business experience, too.*

JETSON, YOU’RE HIRED!
[Please, wait for others to chime in.]

*Definitely what control-z said.




I’m not a hiring manager, but I’m involved in the process and have strong influence over hiring in my department. My initial reaction is skepticism, for reasons of length of employment and work priorities. My first impressions are that this guy needs a paycheck until his business gets strong enough for him to bolt and that his company is going to take precedence over our company, because why wouldn’t it?

I think your concerns about including this information as part of your job search profile are well founded. You’re an equity partner in an active company. Companies don’t want to hire entrepreneurs, they want to hire workers. If you decide to present this experience on your resume and in interviews, tread lightly. Play up your investment and start-up accomplishments and play down your involvement in day to day operations of your company on your resume. In interviews, focus on what you learned launching the company and how you set it up for long term success by putting the right people in the right places to protect your investment without the need for your regular involvement.

Some companies outright forbid moonlighting and I promise you, exuberance for a part-time paid gig can be detrimental to your job prospects, especially as an equity partner. If you want the experience to be an asset, be very sure to leave no doubt that day to day obligations and motivations are not an ongoing liability.

You’re going to have to mention the business anyway as it’s currently in business and you co-own it, so why not take the opportunity to highlight the positives from it?

I have never in any interview been asked if I am an owner or equity partner in another company and I don’t see any need to disclose that information unless directly asked that question.

I have been asked whether I am under any non-compete agreements or hold equity in any companies that could be considered competitors, but never about equity stake in any other company in existence.

I disagree with your premise. The OP is under no obligation to volunteer that information.

I would emphasize it. Any company that is scared of ambitious self-starters is not the kind of place an ambitious self-starter wants to work.