An aspiring management professional's long-term plan is to pursue an MBA and become an MBA candidate, more or less and for all the good reasons.
An MBA degree can help you change your job field or take on more advanced managerial roles, add to that the opportunity to develop your soft skills and explore new cultures in a dynamic environment, and you can see the allure of an MBA degree.
Painting an appealing self-portrait is difficult, but it is essential for writing a resume for an MBA program. A strong resume catches admissions officers' attention, which may lead to an acceptance letter.
According to some business school admissions experts, having an important-sounding job title at an influential company isn't required for a compelling MBA resume, but the amount and quality of work experience do.
The resume may be the most important part of the MBA admission application process for the applicant because it is not only the first thing the admission committee looks at when they receive your application.
As the saying goes, first impressions are everything, and a good resume should leave an impression on the admissions committee. This is especially important because Ad-coms typically scan hundreds of resumes in one sitting, giving you only a minute of their time, so you must put up a strong front and stand out.
It is essential to write your resume in a way that clearly describes your potential and how you are different and better than others in the queue. In addition, if you are applying for a job online, your resume must be accompanied by an MBA cover letter.
Perhaps the best way to show your professional accomplishments in the firms you have worked for is your MBA resume.
As a result, present numbers that you have influenced positively whenever possible. Some examples are if you have proposed a new product that increased revenue, mention the number of clients you have handled and if you have led a team of people.
Points to keep in mind while drafting the Resume:
1. One Page Format:
First, try to incorporate all the information in a one-page pattern. It helps Ad com to quickly go through the information provided. Avoid using designs, watermarks, colors, and other distracting elements; instead, use a standard format.
Experts suggest that a small number of misled MBA applicants send excessively extensive applications, which might overwhelm admissions officers. The resume should be simple, to the point, and simply scannable. In other words, you want to make the reader's job easier.
You can get help from websites such as myperfectresume.com, resumebuilder.org, and resume-now.com.
2. Font Sizing and Type
From the start of the strong MBA resume, the name should be highlighted at the top with a font size of 16-18. Then coming t the main body of the resume, keep the size of the font from 10-12. Try using a standard font like Arial. This makes Ad com go through the resume easily!
You can also choose fonts such as Times New Roman, Garamond, Calibri, Helvetica, Georgia, and Trebuchet MS. These fonts will help you give a fluid look and make your resume look unique.
- Keep a standard format throughout the resume
- Highlight or bold the name of the organizations you have studied or worked in
- Use italics, bolds, etc., to make the resume pleasing to the eyes.
- Keep the font size of headings, such as the company's name, institution name, etc., of the same size.
3. Contact Information
Write your name at the top of the resume, and then just beneath it, mention your email di and contact number.
Mention your phone number, the country code, and a relevant email address. Don't use irrelevant emails like smartkid@gmail.com. This might be taken as an act of lack of seriousness by Ad com. It's better to stick with an official-sounding variant of your name.
Apart from your phone number and email id, you can also mention your LinkedIn profile link.
Your address can be added to the footer of the page.
4. Educational Qualifications Background
In this section, elaborate on the details about your undergraduate, the name of the institution, the name of the degree, and what was your score. With that, also mention the time frame.
In the same pattern, mention details about your secondary and senior secondary education because some universities also ask for them.
If you have done a master's, you should mention that too. Master's student usually engages themselves in research papers and publication; you can mention information about publication under the master's degree. Keep in mind the chronological order, starting from the most recent qualification.
5. Bost about your Work Experience
Maintain a simplified resume. Experts advise that applicants with a lot of work experience should concentrate on the job description that is most important to their professional achievement. "When applying to a top-tier business school, you'll need to demonstrate a clear path of professional advancement to the admissions committee,"
While mentioning your work experience, make sure you mention your responsibilities clearly and also add what value you have added to the particular company by highlighting examples such as your teamwork skills, increase in revenue, handling customers and various clients.
- Mention the Designation, Name of the Company, Time Frame, and Location of your workplace in a single line when stating your work experience in your resume.
- Always list your professional experience chronologically, starting with the most recent and working backward to your first experience.
6. Highlight your Extracurriculars
Colleges are looking for people with diverse skills, who can contribute to the school's and cohort's diversity, and who have a wide range of life experiences. The section on Extracurricular Activities can help you gain that competitive edge.
It includes anything from organizational activities that demonstrate one's leadership potential to social activities that demonstrate empathy or effect. Many companies and institutes look for applicants with specific abilities rather than just a strong educational background; thus, it's critical to indicate these activities.
Examples of extracurriculars:
- If you have been a part of any club or society during your graduation, you can mention it here with the name of the club, what were your responsibilities, and how you contributed to the same.
- Any leadership skills and opportunities you have can also be mentioned here, showing the Ad coms your potential to be a good leader.
- Volunteer work and activities like helping in cleaning campaigns, organizing fests at college, managing events, and much more.
- Participation in cultural activities can also be mentioned.
If NSS has been a part of your life, mention your responsibilities and contribution in detail.
NGO Volunteer
Colleges get impressed by students who have worked for a social cause or have been a part of an NGO. They love seeing people having the zeal to contribute to society and help those in need. But, most importantly, clearly state what impact you have created by being a part of the NGO.
7. Optimize with Bullet Points
Bullet points are the most efficient approach to conveying information since they offer crisp MBA Resume Templates.
While explaining your work experience,
- Limit each firm to 3-5 bullets.
- Keep in mind that readers prefer to skim through information, so vast blocks of text will be ignored.
- Limit your bullets to one or two lines (ideally, about half or more of those bullets should be one line).
How should you get about a bullet point:
A bullet point should always start with an Action word.
An Action word will make the resume look more professional and goal-oriented. On the other hand, if you use words like I did this, was a part of, etc. will look very bland.
Action words sound more intriguing and powerful, and they might help you establish a tone for your resume.
For example:
I was responsible for managing events and coordinating with different teams.
Managed events and coordinated with various teams.
Which one of the two statements looks good among the? You have the answer right here.
Coming to the content that should be incorporated in a bullet point, Remember to discuss your responsibilities and put out the company's advantages as a result of your action plan and diverse life experiences.
a. "What's the big deal?" Test
For this, you can employ the "So What?" test.
Ask yourself how you made a difference here, and analyze your ability.
How much faster can you go? What did it use to be? How much money or time was saved as a result?
b. Taking "Meh" bullets and turning them into winning ones
We all appear to have average employment and have taken on and finished a flurry of ostensibly unimportant obligations. However, these seemingly routine responsibilities at work must be rewritten for an MBA application resume.
A good starting point could be to provide specific facts or completed actions to bring those points to life.
Now that you've mastered the fundamentals of writing an MBA resume, it's time to focus on the content. As you can see, adding facts and properly developing the idea can make a significant difference.
c. MBA Language over Technical Jargon
MBA applicants come from various areas of life, ranging from engineers to doctors. As a result, technical jargon must be avoided at all costs, as someone with a different background will struggle to comprehend it.
As a result, use caution when discussing specific computer programs, programming languages, company acronyms, and other terminology that could cause a reader to get perplexed.
Examine the following examples to see how you can make your content more understandable to the MBA Admissions Committee:
- Make sure you put yourself in the reader's shoes and write your views in a way he can grasp.
- Another thing to remember is that this part should be written in reverse chronological order. As a result, your present employment role takes precedence, followed by previous internships.
- Finally, ensure that all employment obligations outside your current position are written in the past tense.
- Nothing creates a negative impression like poor grammar.
- Note: If you are a recent graduate, your MBA CV may appear lacking. Examine any internships or freelancing tasks you've done and the abilities you've acquired.
8. Mention Certifications
In the resume, you have the freedom to provide information as much as you want which is relevant to your MBA goals. If you have done any extra certification courses apart from your academic degree, you can mention them here, highlighting your major learnings. This will positively impact the colleges, and take it as your step towards extra effort and determination to excel in the future.
9. Take out the Grammar Enthusiast in you.
Your CV serves as your first impression on the admissions committee. It's their first impression of you, and you don't want to come out as careless or foolish. But, on the other hand, resume grammar errors might severely damage your chances of getting into your dream school.
There are a few things you can do to give your CV an extra boost.
A. Active vs Passive Vocalization
The active voice refers to a phrase in which the subject carries out the verb's activity.
The verb acts upon the subject in passive voice phrases. Therefore, avoid using passive language as much as possible while writing a CV. Instead, use an active voice when writing the resume.
Using the active tense is not only better grammar but also gives the impression that the resume is more direct, driven, and in command.
B. Use the correct tense.
When referring to previous jobs and responsibilities, always use the past tense.
Likewise, use the present tense when discussing your current job and responsibilities.
10. Give a Thorough PROOFREAD
- Avoid making any grammar mistakes, check for every sentence, and make sure everything Is top-notch.
- Please do not rely on MS word spell check as it does not support context spelling.
- Online tools such as Grammarly and Reverso are also available.
- Check to see if any links to your LinkedIn or other web pages lead to the correct page when clicked.
- Check again to ensure that the fonts and sizes in your resume are consistent across all sections.
- Lastly, if you are confident that your resume is all set to go, still get it checked by your friend/colleague to be sure.
Conclusion:
A lot of work goes into drafting an MBA Resume, keeping in mind how important it is to draft the resume in a proper format. Unfortunately, many underestimate the time and effort required to create an effective resume.
As you may have noticed, a good MBA resume is more than just a sheet of paper with your profile data mentioned across it; it must be engineered to perfection, considering various factors.
If you follow the MBA Resume Format outlined above, we guarantee that your resume will outperform most of your competitors.
- Plan your MBA application strategy by understanding the purpose of each MBA application component.
- Your MBA resume should emphasize your leadership and other soft skills rather than your technical skills.
- Think of your resume is valuable real estate. As a result, make space on your resume to highlight the most important points you want to convey to the admissions committee.
- Provide evidence of measurable numbers demonstrating your professional and business impact.
- Consolidate bullet points to avoid repetition, and use white space sparingly to make the MBA resume more readable.
- Start with your most recent experiences and accomplishments. As a result, your MBA resume should ideally be in reverse chronological order.
