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MBAGuide
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Joined: 24 Jul 2019
Last visit: 11 Nov 2025
Posts: 2,282
Own Kudos:
942
Given Kudos: 28
Location: India
Concentration: Operations, Marketing
Schools: Insead Sept'18 (A$$) ISB '19 (A)
Schools: Insead Sept'18 (A$$) ISB '19 (A)
Posts: 2,282
Kudos: 942
How do you pitch your professional experience in applications? 27 Jan 2025, 00:00
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In Top B school applications, one peculiar dilemma I've noticed among management consulting applicants is the subtle-yet-sharp existential pang they experience when they have to trumpet their "exalted achievements" from the humble perch of an analyst position. The Top B-schools like LBS, INSEAD, Oxford and HEC, unapologetically demand robust proof of career progression!

‘Technically, you only held the ropes for the climber ahead of you!’- I think this and get very concerned. :D
However, I would also like to add that there is no single frame of reference from which an applicant's career progression can be viewed. I have seen the most unexpected profiles make it into very prestigious schools because of the thought and effort put into developing the narrative.


Here are some ideas to activate your brain cells to showcase your profile if you are planning to apply to a B-school this year.


Traditional Roles VS Startups

Traditional Roles

Applicants from Fortune 500 companies and traditional organizations face the challenge that hierarchies are very well defined. If the adcom doubts your more-than-justified claims for even a second, they can quickly call an alumnus or a colleague and get more realistic details about your professional positioning. For applicants in these fields, most top B-schools have what's called a “feeder company” pipeline. The admissions team knows your titles. They know your career uniqueness/specialization and your likely post-MBA outcomes. You must at a bare minimum showcase conventional career development timelines and highlight your accomplishments where you have gone above and beyond and point out the achievements and promotions you have received.


Startups

The challenge would be for start-ups and medium-sized companies that are creative with titles or conservative with them. The adcoms also know less about these companies. I tell prospective applicants all the time how much the top B-schools love applicants with startup experience, but I also know that getting applicants to really bring out their iconic contribution to the team/company and convince the schools of their potential is a huge challenge. If you have worked in a start-up or a small boutique, consider the following factors by which you will be judged


1.Prestige of the Startup/Organization
The first thing admissions committees will wonder is, “Who are the founders?” What’s their pedigree? Is the startup making a name for itself in a niche space? If not, what made you join? The narrative around the company’s uniqueness plays a pivotal role in demonstrating your ambition and foresight. If the organization’s prestige isn’t immediately obvious, it’s up to you to build that bridge for the adcom.


2.Growth of the Company
Let’s not sugarcoat this—growth is a key metric. B-schools want to know: Did the company scale during your time there? Did it secure funding, capture market share, or launch something transformative? If the company stayed stagnant or fizzled out, your task becomes harder. You’ll need to think carefully about how to present your contributions and learnings in a way that offsets the lack of external validation.


3.Organizational Structure
Startups, with their fluid roles and lean teams, can make it tough to explain your hierarchy. Successful applicants make this crystal clear without sounding overinflated. What was your role in the team? What responsibilities were uniquely yours? How did you contribute to the broader company goals? Successful candidates from this segment would take time to clarify their hierarchy in the organization, its structure, and the tasks they perform. They can do this very subtly by weaving these details into the application materials.


4.Growth of the Individual

Now comes the critical piece—your growth. Regardless of whether promotions or titles were handed out, you must show how your responsibilities evolved. Did you take on bigger projects, more compensation, critical decisions, or more leadership duties over time? A career progression narrative is the backbone of any strong Goals essay, and if yours is missing this, it’s time to rethink the approach.

Example
To illustrate the importance of thinking about how to present your professional experience, I would like to tell you about an applicant who was recently accepted at INSEAD. After more than three years of struggling with his own start-up that could not scale or get funding, and then accepting an at-risk junior consulting position at a top consulting firm, we had a big gap in terms of career progression, when speaking in obvious terms. One can assume that this person is about 2 levels below the average consulting position accepted at INSEAD (think of the normal feeder pipeline at this organisation). However, the detailed stories and nuanced, progressive responsibilities as a result of each project helped him put together a very strong and memorable narrative of career progression at INSEAD. In the end, the adcom is less concerned about where you started and more focused on whether you’re charting an upward path to success.





Best wishes
Aanchal Sahni (INSEAD MBA alumna, former INSEAD MBA admissions interviewer)
Founder, MBAGuideConsulting
LinkedIn |WEBSITE: https://mbaguideconsulting.com/| Message(WA): +91 9971200927(message for faster response)| email- mbaguideconsulting@gmail.com