Do’s and Don’ts for your MBA resume
Posted: September 8th, 2014, 10:46 pm
[This is an article that we wrote for Pagalguy]
Among all the components that constitute your MBA application profile – GMAT score, pre-MBA academic grades, MBA Essays, Recommendations and the MBA resume – most applicants tend to ignore the poor little resume. Why?
Almost everyone who’s got a job in the corporate world (or for that matter, hunting for one) has a version lying somewhere.
So the common assumption is that it’s only a matter of pulling out the most recent copy of their CV and putting in a few new updates. And voila, one component out of the way!
Whether you are applying for a job or a bschool seat, the basics of how to write a good resume don’t change. However, when it comes to MBA applications, there are some specific aspects that you need to keep in mind.
Q1. An MBA applicant requested: A post for Do’s and Dont’s in Resume will be very useful.
It’s amazing how applicants are able to frame a questions (several weeks in advance) that come so close to the title of our posts.
MBA Resume Do’s
- Do be aware of what Admission officers are looking for in your resume
Track record of professional achievement, managerial abilities, leadership potential are some of the traits to focus on.
- Do give the Resume a formal look
The conservative resume has refused (to a large extent) to keep pace with the changing times. Simplicity still scores over creative aesthetics. Ensure that your formatting doesn’t distract the reader from the content.
- Do keep the language crisp and simple
Which means no business jargon, no technical acronyms and no bombastic words that’ll require a thesaurus to comprehend.
- Do share specific data that offers greater insight into your accomplishments
Numbers are a great way to quantify accomplishments and put them in the right context. If this isn’t possible, try to provide any other objective data.
MBA Resume Dont’s
- Don’t submit an epic
Generally a 1-page CV works best. With a little bit of effort and desire, folks with the most impressive accomplishments can still fit everything into a single page. If you think that’s impossible (and you’d better have a convincing reason for that), then you could go into 2 pages.
- Don’t try to exaggerate in the CV
There’s a thin line between self-promotion and showing off. Admission officers don’t want you to tell them you are great. They want to show them why you are great. Share facts and demonstrated skills that can help Adcoms form a perception about you.
- Don’t assume that MS Word will catch all your typos
The spell-check feature isn’t sophisticated enough to warn you if your resume says - “Won the Most Impotent Contributor award for 3 subsequent years”. The admission officer might give you full marks for transparency, but you’ll get very few brownie points towards your post-MBA potential.
- Don’t come across as an amateur in your resume
This one’s a little more difficult to catch than the rest of the points mentioned in this post. Get a knowledgeable and trustworthy person (a colleague, a friend) to review your resume and provide feedback that isn’t sugar-coated.
Unlike MBA essays, your resume will remain more or less the same, irrespective of the business school you are applying to. So start working on it right now. It might take a few iterations before you can get a version that works for you.
Among all the components that constitute your MBA application profile – GMAT score, pre-MBA academic grades, MBA Essays, Recommendations and the MBA resume – most applicants tend to ignore the poor little resume. Why?
Almost everyone who’s got a job in the corporate world (or for that matter, hunting for one) has a version lying somewhere.
So the common assumption is that it’s only a matter of pulling out the most recent copy of their CV and putting in a few new updates. And voila, one component out of the way!
Whether you are applying for a job or a bschool seat, the basics of how to write a good resume don’t change. However, when it comes to MBA applications, there are some specific aspects that you need to keep in mind.
Q1. An MBA applicant requested: A post for Do’s and Dont’s in Resume will be very useful.
It’s amazing how applicants are able to frame a questions (several weeks in advance) that come so close to the title of our posts.
MBA Resume Do’s
- Do be aware of what Admission officers are looking for in your resume
Track record of professional achievement, managerial abilities, leadership potential are some of the traits to focus on.
- Do give the Resume a formal look
The conservative resume has refused (to a large extent) to keep pace with the changing times. Simplicity still scores over creative aesthetics. Ensure that your formatting doesn’t distract the reader from the content.
- Do keep the language crisp and simple
Which means no business jargon, no technical acronyms and no bombastic words that’ll require a thesaurus to comprehend.
- Do share specific data that offers greater insight into your accomplishments
Numbers are a great way to quantify accomplishments and put them in the right context. If this isn’t possible, try to provide any other objective data.
MBA Resume Dont’s
- Don’t submit an epic
Generally a 1-page CV works best. With a little bit of effort and desire, folks with the most impressive accomplishments can still fit everything into a single page. If you think that’s impossible (and you’d better have a convincing reason for that), then you could go into 2 pages.
- Don’t try to exaggerate in the CV
There’s a thin line between self-promotion and showing off. Admission officers don’t want you to tell them you are great. They want to show them why you are great. Share facts and demonstrated skills that can help Adcoms form a perception about you.
- Don’t assume that MS Word will catch all your typos
The spell-check feature isn’t sophisticated enough to warn you if your resume says - “Won the Most Impotent Contributor award for 3 subsequent years”. The admission officer might give you full marks for transparency, but you’ll get very few brownie points towards your post-MBA potential.
- Don’t come across as an amateur in your resume
This one’s a little more difficult to catch than the rest of the points mentioned in this post. Get a knowledgeable and trustworthy person (a colleague, a friend) to review your resume and provide feedback that isn’t sugar-coated.
Unlike MBA essays, your resume will remain more or less the same, irrespective of the business school you are applying to. So start working on it right now. It might take a few iterations before you can get a version that works for you.