Employment Gaps vs Freelance: What should I choose?

Question

Hi All,

I had an employment gaps for 1.5 years as I originally prepared for a graduate degree. In those time I did a freelance project-based jobs, assisting my professor in his commercial projects

Should I categorize that as gaps or should I add my projects to my professional experience?

Pros:
There is leadership experience I can point out, as I led a team of 4 people for a strict deadline

Cons:
I currently have 6+ years work experience (excluding the freelance jobs), I am afraid adding it will make me close to 8 years and make me "too senior" for the class profile

MBADecoder · Answer

I am unclear on why it took you 1.5 years to prepare for a degree, which, it seems, you did not eventually pursue. My bigger concern would be addressing this issue, not so much the freelance projects and their context. I would have a clearer solution to your problem if I understand this point. If you were to talk about the freelance jobs as FT work experience, that is ok- but how long did these continue for? The entire 1.5 years or were they shorter (in which case you would still have some gaps to explain)? Another point - applying with 8 years experience does not make you "too senior" for b-school. Adcoms would want to see the quality of your work experience and how you have grown in your different roles, where you stand today and what your career vision is for the future. Namita Garg, Founder, MBA Decoder Email: contact@mbadecoder.com Profile evaluation: https://mbadecoder.com/services/free-profile-evaluation

MBAGuide · Answer

Maxsparrow If this employment gap is in the early years, after which you have already gained a lot of experience and are progressing steadily in your career, I would not worry too much. You should focus on how you can best showcase your engagements over the last 3-4 years. You can be open about your 1.5 year gap in employment or say that you were freelancing or doing research projects before you found the right opportunity (and why?). However, if this gap was not that long ago, you need to come up with a better strategy. You may get some more ideas here Managing Career Gaps in MBA Application: Common Scenarios & Strategies : INSEAD (gmatclub.com) Get personalized advice tailored to your unique circumstances in the B School admissions process. Reapplying? Get a free ding analysis Best wishes Aanchal Sahni (INSEAD MBA alum, former INSEAD MBA admissions interviewer) Founder, MBAGuideConsulting (former MBA admissions consultant at top global firm) LinkedIn |WEBSITE: https://mbaguideconsulting.com/ | Message(WA): +91 9971200927| email- mbaguideconsulting@gmail.com

Maxsparrow · Answer

Hi Namita and Aanchal,

Thanks for your response and sorry for the confusion, kindly let me elaborate my situation

Timeline:
I did the freelance around 2015, which is right after I finished my undergrad
At the time I was not sure of how to proceed in my life, and a couple months forward I decided to pursue a master degree in Chemical Engineering (continuing my undergrad degree)

I actually got an offer from my target school and scholarship award of 75% tuition fee reduction. The problem is I spent some more time to find, though did not manage, to obtain other financial aid for the remaining 25% and the living cost. After dealing with my own disappointment (back then), I decided to get a real professional experience. Including the extra time for the job hunt, I spent 1.5 years after graduation until I got my first Full Time job opportunity.

Since 2017 I have been working in the healthcare industry, as business development / analyst and product manager.

Overall I am grateful to the fact that my attempt to pursue advanced degree in 2015 did not go through, because I got more insight and right now more interest in developing my leadership and business skills, as no matter how good the business or industry we are in, I believe without those skills we cannot materialize it.

For post MBA career, I aspire to build my own business (eventually) but first to involve myself in a VC as I like to connect with passionate people and help to materialize their dream business, in hope to spread more positivity.

My school of interest would be US B-Schools such as Stanford GSB, HBS, Wharton
Considering to apply for MIT, Yale, Booth as well
Age would be 30 y.o. if I am admitted for Fall 2025 (I took a 2-years accelerated program in high school, that allows me to get 8 years of experience prior reaching age of 30)

MBADecoder   MBAGuide 
I would appreciate if you could give another feedback or two to my case. I ponder about it when I work on my resume, but please if you have more insights of how to proceed about in the application as well.

My humble thanks... Maxsparrow, Captain Maxsparrow... ;D

MBAGuide · Answer

Captain Maxsparrow There will be several other factors at play in deciding your case at your target schools HWS and M7, but the gap before you found your first full-time role will have little impact if your experiences and career trajectory after are solid. You can briefly reflect on the gap year, and it won't hurt either. I am unable to comment on your target schools because you did not share about your career trajectory and successes, but I am hoping you would have researched your prospects. Happy to advise further should you need guidance Get personalized advice tailored to your unique circumstances in the B School admissions process. Reapplying? Get a free ding analysis Best wishes Aanchal Sahni (INSEAD MBA alum, former INSEAD MBA admissions interviewer) Founder, MBAGuideConsulting LinkedIn |WEBSITE: https://mbaguideconsulting.com/ | Message(WA): +91 9971200927| email- mbaguideconsulting@gmail.com

MBADecoder · Answer

Well, Captain Jack Sparrow, You just wrote down a sketch of your optional essay. An optional essay can be used as a tool to tell a powerful story about yourself- you decided to study further/ didnt have funds/ had to recalibrate/ change plans and work. In hindsight- it turned out for the better as you learned important lessons in your professional career which you otherwise would not have learned. You also learnt a few important lessons on handling adverse situations, built resilience etc. etc. You can mention your work experience here to justify the significant time gap of 1.5 years. You can also talk about being in a better postion- financially and career awareness wise to embark on the MBA journey now. Overall, this essay can be very nuanced and show your reflection over your starting professional years and how they guided your choices later. Don't get fazed by the 8 years of work exp- if you have a good enough story to tell, have a passion for your goals and a realistic path to achieve them, then you'll surely have your chance. However, coming to career goals- there's some hitch there- VC roles are the most coveted and the fewest at business schools so it may be impossible for you to land those roles without having prior entrepreneurial/ VC/ banking experience. Also, if your goal is to eventually set up your own company, joining a startup or a growth company would be a better path for you to be involved in day to day operations/ challenges and learn the tricks of the trade. A VC role will not give you that experience. these can be bigger red flags as compared to your 1.5 years career gap. IMO, you should really be researching career paths so that you write something that adcoms will buy into. Namita Garg, Founder, MBA Decoder Email: contact@mbadecoder.com Profile evaluation: https://mbadecoder.com/services/free-profile-evaluation

ExpertsGlobal · Answer

Hello  Maxsparrow ,

Thanks for writing in.

The Optional Essay is going to be crucial in your case. We do not think you should worry about your years of experience if your narrative and profile is a convincing and compelling one, overall.

In our opinion, you must candidly address the 1.5 years in your Optional Essay; moreover, you should talk about how these years of experience have added to your candidature and make you better positioned to contribute to your cohort. The leadership experience will prove to be advantageous; hence, highlighting the same is going to be important.

Hope this helps.

All the best!

Employment Gaps vs Freelance: What should I choose?

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