MBA Resume

This is the #1 mistake I see while editing resumes of high-performing applicants. These are your typical Type A candidates who truly have achievements in the top 1 or top 5%, but they also have experiences as individual contributors that are not as significant. But it had a huge impact on the learning curve and their growth as a specialist.

I see 3 insecurities that are driving the exaggeration.

In the US, the immigrant population is still driving most of the startups in Silicon Valley. From an admissions perspective, schools must maintain diversity in nationality. The competition is between Permanent Residents vs. H1B visa holders, vs. International Entrepreneurs or startup candidates. And quite often, schools prefer those already in the US over someone from another country.

International entrepreneurial applicants and candidates with extensive startup experience understand this preference. They try to differentiate themselves and quite often make these two mistakes:

Essays build on the resume. 

Think of the resume as the Chapters of your story and the essays as the narrative.

In these 10 guidelines while editing the MBA Application Resume, we cover:

1) Responsibilities vs. Achievement

In this MBA Application Resume Tips, I will share about a strange but obvious lack of focus that I see among applicants who are programmed to think only with respect to their team.

In this MBA resume tip, I will share two approaches to position your resume into a traditional profile or a profile with leadership and entrepreneurial experience.

I want to start with an insight that not all schools want an entrepreneurial or a profile with diverse leadership experiences. Although if you have had such experiences, it is important to highlight them. Many top 10 schools want to see how you have progressed in a company or a function.

My uncle shared a story about a watchman who was overseeing a property, and there was a huge plumbing issue. In an hour, the apartments started flooding. In another hour, the hallways began flooding. Finally, when the Watchman reached out to the maintenance engineer, he asked, “Why didn’t you report the flooding earlier?” And the response was, “My job is to watch who enters and leaves the property and not to report on the maintenance inside the property.”

MBA Resume can be formatted into two broad styles – project-level formatting and strategic formatting. Before you make any drastic changes, you must understand that it is not just about the format that will give you attention. I remember having a conversation with a person running an accounting firm. And he was impressed with a 1-page resume format with two columns - work achievements neatly organized on the left and extra-curricular and volunteering on the right.

In today’s MBA Resume tips, I will share a common challenge I had while explaining Metrics Overload to Finance clients.

I have a question from a reader who asks, “Should I include my failures in MBA Resume.”

What should my MBA application resume look like? With the launch of the 2017-2018 MBA admissions season, this is a critical question applicants around the world will be asking themselves over the next 6-8 months. The good news is the answer is simple: your resume should be a forward-thinking advertisement that markets your strengths. Learn how to craft an effective MBA Application Resume.