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\u201cWhat Does Your Work Experience Reveal About You in Your MBA Application\u201d is excerpted from MBA Admission for Smarties: The No-Nonsense Guide to Acceptance at Top Business Schools<\/a>, by Linda Abraham and Judy Gruen.<\/em><\/p>\n ALT:\"Want to get accepted into a top business school? Check out our 13 MBA Resume Tips below!\"<\/p>\n Here are my rules for creating a dynamic and powerful resume that will reward every second of the adcom Smember\u2019s viewing time, a resume whose every line will add stature to your candidacy.<\/p>\n Many schools will accept two-page resumes, but the overwhelming preference among adcom members at the top-20 schools is for one-page resumes. Unless you have more than a decade of professional experience under your belt or some other superlative achievements that simply demand that extra page, keep it short and sweet --one page.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n This qualifications summary<\/a> serves as a headline for your resume, drawing attention to your most impressive qualifications and achievements. Done right, visually appealing headlines written in concise text boxes, bullet points, bold text or similar style will strike readers immediately with illustrations of your exceptional impact, enticing them to read more about you out of interest, not out of obligation.<\/p>\n An effective qualifications summary might include:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n \u2022 A short personality summary and\/or career history<\/p>\n \u2022 Achievement highlights<\/p>\n \u2022 Anything notable in your past that is relevant to the program you are applying for.<\/p>\n Some specific examples of achievements worth noting in a qualifications summary might include:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n \u2022 If you earned three promotions in two years \u2013 four years in advance of the traditional path for your company<\/p>\n \u2022 If you initiated and successfully led a new venture from within your organization<\/p>\n \u2022 If you feel you have a unique attribute that will differentiate you from all the other applicants.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Don\u2019t waste a bullet point item in your resume where you essentially repeat a job title. If you are an analyst, you don\u2019t need to say that you \u201canalyze problems and develop optimal solutions.\u201d That\u2019s what analysts do. If you are a consultant, you don\u2019t need to write that you \u201cconsult with clients on improving their business.\u201d That\u2019s what consultants do.<\/p>\n What will distinguish you is not your job title, but what you achieved when you held that title. For maximum impact, do the following:<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Include details such as: how much or by what percentage you reduced expenses, how many people were on the team that you supervised, how much or by what percentage you increased sales, and the like. Don\u2019t say, \"Developed e-commerce plan that was selected for implementation\" when you mean \"Designed $5 million e-commerce strategy that increased revenues by 12% and attracted 6 new clients.\" Don\u2019t use a vague phrase such as \u201cled a team\u201d when in fact you led a six-person team responsible for the rollout of a new product that brought in $300,000 in six months. If you can\u2019t disclose revenue figures, refer to percentage increases or improvements, or cite the improved industry ranking of the organization\u2019s product or performance as a result of your contribution.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Highlight the positions where you had the greatest impact. In most cases, your current position will deserve the most space. To stay within the preferred one-page format, try to limit your current or most recent position to four bulleted accomplishments. If you have recently changed jobs, devote more bullet points to demonstrating what you achieved in a prior position. Ideally, you will not have to reach back more than a year in your employment history to do this.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n If one position has allowed you significant leadership opportunities and impact or you have been in your current role for several years, you may need more than four bullet points. Still, avoid listing promotions as if they are new positions, which actually detracts<\/em> from the attention that the promotion gets. Instead, list the company name and total dates of employment at the top, followed by a list of each role with its bullets beneath that.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Leadership can be manifested by taking charge of an engagement or project, and also by seizing the initiative to add value to your organization. This can mean recruiting peers and staff to get buy-in on an idea or project or to work together to achieve a goal. When you think about leadership<\/a> in this more expansive way, you will invariably find that you have more examples of it than you thought. Try to frame your leadership triumphs in terms of how they benefited the organization you worked for.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Don\u2019t include high school activities unless you had truly extraordinary achievements, such as winning a prestigious national award or something else dazzling for someone that young.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Your resume should present your most prominent and impressive experiences first. If you have more than two years of work experience<\/a>, put your education information after work experience. Do not include GPA, GMAT, SAT or other statistics, which are already on your application.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Verbs make you sound like a dynamic individual who is always ready for action. Don\u2019t say, \u201cResponsible for the development of inventory-control system\u201d when you can say \u201cDeveloped inventory-control system.\u201d Look for opportunities to include strong cooperation-laden verbs, such as assist, contribute, support, or provide.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n The skillful use of understated design can result in an eye-catching resume that projects a sophisticated, successful image. Avoid fussy typefaces -- nothing in script or with squiggles. Stick with a conservative style, and go easy on the busy eyes of the adcom members \u2013 no smaller than a 10-point font size.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n These include honors, publications, presentations, patents, professional licenses or certifications, and relevant volunteer experiences. Don\u2019t go overboard, however. If you\u2019ve been a research assistant on a dozen projects or received honors since elementary school, select only what is truly most impressive.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Reduce fluff and make every word count. Use style check and spell check (even though ewe no spell Czech cannot catch awl errors)<\/em>. Have a friend or a professional editor review your resume for errors you may have missed.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n Need help perfecting your MBA admissions resume? Check out Accepted\u2019s\u00a0<\/a><\/b>Resume Services<\/a>\u00a0<\/b>and work one-on-one with an admissions expert to create a coherent, compelling admissions resume that will convince your target school\u2019s adcom that they should keep reading.<\/b><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Related Resources:<\/strong><\/p>\n \u2022 MBA Applicants: Make Your Work Experience Work for You<\/a>, a free guide This article<\/a> originally appeared on 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.<\/em><\/p>\nThe MBA Resume Rules<\/h2>\n
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\n\u2022 How to Write the Qualifications Summary for Your Resume<\/a>
\n\u2022 Optimize Your Application: Grades, Scores, Essays, Resume, Activity History, & More<\/a>, a podcast episode<\/p>\n