How to Use Family Business Experience to Get a Job

Description: This article explains how to use the experience from a family business to market your skills to your next employer. 

Question: I’m about to graduate from business school and the most significant experience I have is as an assistant manager in my father’s company. Will employers be reluctant to hire me?

Answer: It’s all in the spin you give it. Assuming that you’ve had a positive and challenging experience while working for your father’s company, you have a perfect opportunity to present it as just that. Rather than minimizing its worth, carefully evaluate and present your accomplishments, the lessons learned and the value that you will bring to your next employer. This experience can be a point of distinction for you.

Having had the good fortune of being the son of a business owner, you will want to highlight the ways in which you were able to capitalize on this opportunity. What you gained from the experience in transferable skills is the essence of your marketability to potential employers. To complement the significance of the experience, you may choose to reference your father as a challenging mentor and role model with high expectations.