Please evaluate/revise my resume

Question

Hi all,

just a little background info of myself....

I'm an UCLA grad in 2008 and majored in biology. Was going dental but I have a new found interest in business, particularly in consulting and finance. I never had any relevant coursework except Macroeconomy as GE and I never had any relevant work experience. I have only volunteered in hospitals. I know it is close to impossible to land an entry-level position at Bain or McKinsey, but I am still going to try.

I have applied to BofA and Wells Fargo's PART TIME teller position and even they didn't want me...

Help me find a job T_T

thanks!

wynnshang · Answer

appreciate your input....no one has bothered to respond for the past 2 weeks....

How many courses are we talking about? Cuz I dont really want to waste a lot of time... I was hoping 1 semester to at most 1 school year...

1 course? or should i minor it? Community college or UCI?

Thanks again!

bakfed · Answer

Hi WynnShang, one quick question: what have you been doing for the past two years since you graduated in 2008? I wasn't able to find this information in your post, nor on your resume.

You would really need to be able to find a full-time job right now (doesn't matter what as long as it's legit and ethically correct) to hit the ground running. Haivng read your post, you mentioned that you'd like to go into MC, preferably with one of the big 3 MC companies. Chance are, you'll need to head to a top 15 b-schools in the nation to land an interview with McKinsey or Bain. On the same token, you're going against an extremely steep hill in you're thinking about going to b-school with no full-time work experience. Hence, this negative feedback comes around to what you've been doing and what you'll do in the next couple of years. If you don't have a full-time job just yet, don't give up, but keep going at it. There's no magical job that will get you into b-school (unless you're working for Goldman or BCG, then you have a pretty strong leverage). Also, no schools will consider you if you cannot narrow down your choices between finance or MC, as these two fields are completely different. I'm sorry if this sounded a bit depressing, but you really need to set your expectations at the right place. At this current stage, you will probably not be able to get into a top consulting firms without the leverage of a top b-school on your resume (granted that UCLA is not a target school and average undergrad GPA at target schools who get into these top companies is about 3.7).

Best of luck~

wynnshang · Answer

1. Given my GPA is low, should i still put that on my resume?

2. I am completely new to this business related fields and I know I'm asking for the impossible to join McK or Bain. Because I do not know what each of the field is like, I couldn't really decide.. I wish I could be clear about what I want but unfortunately, I don't have any experience in those fields to help me decide.

3. I've been trying to look for a full-time job and I'm not trying to sound like a douche, but all the companies that approached me were either classified as scam or asking me to sell insurance. I don't think selling insurance requires a bachelor and definitely don't think it is needed for the sake of experience. Most of the entry-level jobs are sales...is there any way for me to avoid being a sales?

4. like the earlier guy who posted telling me to go take a class... i'm looking into my local community college, but the selections are too few. UCI and CSUF are also options for me, but they are way more costly than community college. Do I just take 1 class or minor it? Is Community college enough or should I go for 4-year universities? What kind of classes should I take and how many?

Thank you

bakfed · Answer

Wynnshang, just an fyi - all my answers are simply from my experience and perspectivies; what you choose to do at the end is still your choice and only your choice.

1. I'm not that keen with putting GPA on resume unless you can also add the "magma cum laude" type of name to it; otherwise, people know that you didn't graduate with honors (I didn't either, and this is just my opinion). If you want to get into M/B/B and they want to know your GPA, even without your GPA on resume they'll still be able to figure it out.

2. I think a good question is why you "think" you want to join M/B/B? Is it the prestige? How much do you know about them? Again, having read your original post and your response, I still can't determine whether you're gearing toward business school or not. If so, and you do get into a top 15 b-schools in the nation, your chance of getting into M/B/B is actually in your hand (and of course, some luck involved). If not b-school, no matter what job you hold right now will probably not get you into M/B/B in the near future. See, the thing with M/B/B is that these companies go into target schools (schools such as Harvard, Stanford, UPenn, Cornell, and the other top schools in the nation (the only UC that is considered a target school is Berkeley)) and recruit students from these schools. But even then, they ask for undergrad GPA and SAT scores. Those who are cut out on the numbers (avg of 3.5 to 3.7) will be invited for case interview, for which the companies will give you a problem and your job is to ask as many questions as you can in order to solve it. It's quite a rigorous process and the surely, the job is not for everyone, not simply because the process is rigorous, but because the job itself is also very cutthroat. You'll have to probably fly around the country (or even the world) to solve problems and you'll fly out on Monday and get back in town on Thursday night. Most of these company have a "up-or-out" type of ideaology, which basically means that if you don't get promoted within two years, you're out (this is more true for MBA grads though, I believe). Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that it's extremely hard to get into these top consulting firms and you'll need a leverage to get yourself in. That leverage for you right now is the MBA if you truly want to go for it. But in the end, you'll still need to ask yourself how much you know about consulting...and ultimately, why do you think you'll want to go into it? If you don't know much about it just yet, why do you think you would like to join these firms?

3. Right now, people are still feeling the recession and we're barely coming out of it. But unfortunately (and the nature of the beast) is that there are people with fulltime jobs who are willing to take on something they probably dont' want to for the rest of their lives. Why? Well, to pay rent; to pay for food; to have a leverage to get into b-school, that sort of reason. Whether you want sales or not, that's your call. If that's the only job you can find right now, why not take it? Remember, you need a full-time job to get into business schools. And with an MBA, you then have an option to get into the top consulting firms.

4. You can build an alternative transcript if you'd like, but this is strictly for business school talking. Again, not trying to down your self-esteem or anything, if you're building an alternative transcript thinking that it may help you get into M/B/B, you're look at probably 0.001% chance of getting into the firm. I'm really not trying to be harsh or a d*ck, but I just want to make sure you understand the reality and expectations of these firms.

Please evaluate/revise my resume

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