{"id":24579,"date":"2014-06-30T08:20:10","date_gmt":"2014-06-30T15:20:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/?p=24579"},"modified":"2014-06-30T02:28:06","modified_gmt":"2014-06-30T09:28:06","slug":"4-tips-for-demonstrating-professional-growth-in-a-flat-organization","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/4-tips-for-demonstrating-professional-growth-in-a-flat-organization\/","title":{"rendered":"4 Tips for Demonstrating Professional Growth in a Flat Organization"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"growth\"<\/a>If you work in a flat organization, how do you demonstrate advancement and growth? After all, your progress will be compared to that of other candidates who have regular promotions with clearly delineated expanded responsibilities. In a flat organization, you may hold the same title for five years.<\/p>\n

It is a point that your MBA application<\/a> must make clear. Here are some ways to do so:<\/p>\n

\u2022 <\/span>In your MBA resume<\/a> bullet points, when you summarize accomplishments\/experiences, order them consecutively and put dates in parentheses before or after the point. This way, if you have four years with a particular title, you can show progress within that time. Also use details to highlight growth. If the dollar scope of your projects increases over time, quantify those points. Similarly, if you led three-member teams initially and now lead ten-member cross-functional teams, specify that growth. If you started doing something new, describe it in a bullet point with the date, e.g., \u201cIn 2008, became responsible for managing relationships with clients up to $500K.\u201d The key is to look at your experiences and accomplishments and ask, \u201cHow can I portray them to reveal my professional growth?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2022 <\/span>There will be even more opportunities in your essays to show your growth within a flat organization. The most obvious is when you are asked (typically in a goals essay<\/a>) to summarize your career progress. Whether or not you have this particular question, look for a place early on in the set of essays to add a sentence explicitly describing the situation, along the lines of, \u201cMy employer, ABC Corp., is a flat organization, with no management ladder between associate and senior management. Nevertheless, in my three years as TITLE, I have gone from ABC to XYZ.\u201d Provide examples, ideally one that demonstrates your progress relative to accomplished colleagues, e.g., \u201cI am the only one among my 10 peers to work directly on-site with our overseas clients and to accompany senior managers on sales visits to China.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2022 <\/span>Ask your recommenders<\/a> to address this issue directly, and explain why to them (don\u2019t just assume they\u2019ll understand why it matters).<\/p>\n

\u2022 <\/span>In the application form you will have to fill in information about your roles and positions. Apply the same principles noted above to these sections, to the extent possible.<\/p>\n

I have one final suggestion. Don\u2019t assume a subtle read. Make the point more than once, but in different ways, to make sure it gets across.<\/p>\n

\"Maximize<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Cindy<\/a> By Cindy Tokumitsu<\/a>, co-author of The Finance Professional\u2019s Guide to MBA Admissions Success<\/a>, and author of numerous ebooks, articles, and special reports. Cindy has advised hundreds of successful applicants in her last fifteen years with Accepted.<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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Accepted.com's experienced admissions consultants<\/a> can help you create the most impressive application possible with comprehensive packages<\/a>, <\/i><\/b>or provide targeted assistance from picking perfect programs<\/a> to designing a dazzling resume<\/a>, constructing engaging essays<\/a>, or preparing for intense interview<\/a>s<\/a>\u2026and more! Accepted.com has guided thousands of applicants to acceptances at top MBA programs since 1994 \u2013 we know what works and what doesn't, so contact us<\/a> to get started now!<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on the Accepted Admissions Consulting Blog<\/a>, the official blog of Accepted.com.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you work in a flat organization, how do you demonstrate advancement and growth? After all, your progress will be compared to that of other candidates who have regular promotions…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,939,775,113,243],"tags":[1170,227,278,723,523,1306,996],"class_list":["post-24579","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mba","category-accepted","category-admission-consultants","category-applications","category-blog","tag-application-resume","tag-application-tips","tag-mba-application-tips","tag-mba-resume","tag-resume","tag-resume-tips","tag-resumes","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\t\t\n