The Business School Application resume – what, how long and why?Our latest installment on Strong MBA Applications focuses on the resume. While business school essays provide the inside story on one of your achievements in the professional, personal or academic arenas, a business school application resume should ideally provide a bird's-eye view of all your achievements together.
Let's cover some of the common concerns of an MBA application resume.
What should it cover?The major difference between a MBA and a job resume is the audience.
The employer is interested in how relevant your past experience and skills are for a particular position. However, the business school AdCom is interested in the bigger picture – the versatility of your profile to judge your fit, and its suitability to contribute to the diversity of the incoming class.
Things to include in a MBA resume, besides the traditional professional resume, would be an emphasis on soft skills, extracurricular and community activities, personal interests and a broader description of your profile and/or company, if not well-known.
Things to avoid would be industry-specific jargon, as well as listing certifications that are not as well-known without elaboration.
How long should it be?From my experiences in academic/corporate interviewing and guiding graduate applicants since 2004, I am inclined to look at resumes with a naturally critical eye. In my experience, resumes that are 1-1.5 pages long tend to be the most engaging. Shorter than that, you run the risk of focusing on just the professional achievements. Longer than that, you are discussing more tasks (routine activities) than star achievements.
Besides, most MBA applicants have an average of 5 years of experience. For this level, a one-page resume is the one most commonly prescribed. Keep it to about 1.5 pages to include all your achievements outside the workplace for the MBA AdCom.
Why is this exercise important?Giving your resume its due attention in the application stage will also make it easier to cut it down to 1 page when you start applying for summer internships pretty soon after you start the program. You will have enough on your plate then – wouldn't it be nice to have one thing less to worry about?
An additional benefit is that the work you put in will give you a clearer idea of your past accomplishments and help to better position yourself for future career goals. This exercise will help you hit the ground running for your internship search once you are in the MBA program.
As competition in MBA programs grows more intense, business school admissions committees scrutinize every aspect of the MBA application to a greater extent. This includes resumes. A precise, well-written resume will help to attest a candidate's credibility much more than one that needs to be completely reworked. This is why all the Business School Admissions Consulting packages (Elite, Complete or Essential) at My
MBA Admit/Admit World were designed to include a comprehensive Resume Review. In addition, Resume Reviews are also available as a stand-alone service in both their Standard and Advanced versions.
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22 Jul 2010, 06:45
