{"id":35776,"date":"2017-02-06T08:00:59","date_gmt":"2017-02-06T15:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/?p=35776"},"modified":"2017-03-09T13:48:16","modified_gmt":"2017-03-09T20:48:16","slug":"4-tips-for-demonstrating-professional-growth-in-a-flat-organization-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/4-tips-for-demonstrating-professional-growth-in-a-flat-organization-2\/","title":{"rendered":"4 Tips for Demonstrating Professional Growth in a Flat Organization"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

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 must make clear. Here are some ways to do so:<\/p>\n

1.<\/strong> <\/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

2. <\/span><\/strong>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

3.<\/strong> <\/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

4.<\/strong> <\/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

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

\"Cindy<\/a><\/em><\/em>Cindy Tokumitsu<\/a> has advised hundreds of successful applicants, helping them gain acceptance to top MBA and EMBA programs in her 15+ years with Accepted. She would love to help you too. Want Cindy to help you get Accepted? Click here to get in touch!<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Related Resources:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2022 Stand Out! A Critical Goal for Your Application [Episode 181]<\/a>
\n\u2022 How to Give Your Application as Much Weight as Possible<\/a>
\n\u2022 Tone Up Your Writing: Confidence vs Arrogance<\/a><\/p>\n

This article<\/a> originally appeared on\u00a0<\/em>blog.accepted.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Applying to a top b-school? The talented folks at Accepted have helped hundreds of applicants get accepted to their dream programs. Whether you are figuring out where to apply, writing your application essays, or prepping for your interviews, we are just a call (or click) away.<\/p>\n

Contact us, and get matched up with the consultant who will help\u00a0you\u00a0<\/em>get accepted<\/a>!<\/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":[641,1866,1170,227,1229,1848,811,1695,883,723,1306,121],"class_list":["post-35776","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mba","category-accepted","category-admission-consultants","category-applications","category-blog","tag-admissions-tips","tag-application-essay-tips","tag-application-resume","tag-application-tips","tag-business-school-essay-tips","tag-business-school-resume","tag-essay-tips","tag-mba-admissions-tips","tag-mba-essay-tips","tag-mba-resume","tag-resume-tips","tag-tips","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\t\t\n