13 Impactful Tips to Write a Resume for MBA Application

A master’s degree in Business Administration is originally a general management course designed for students to prepare for their next leap in life.

They are educated in areas including finances, HR, Marketing, Strategic Planning and Business Management.

The major difference between an MBA and any other master’s degree is the peer-to-peer learning approach. It allows students to interact with business owners belonging to the diverse field.

Moreover, they all work along or collaborate with c-suite management of the different organizations for firsthand experience.

The degree is offered by numerous international business schools providing comprehensive knowledge and education instead of creating expertise in one area.

However, you can even select an area of specialization from the fields offered for advanced proficiency.

But most of these business schools have age criteria or require work experience for admission candidacy as an MBA prepares you’re the next step. You can become an entrepreneur and open up your successful venture.

Mostly, you need to build a creative resume to impress the admission board. It is quite different from other traditional job application resume.

Your CV/resume for MBA admission application is a brief overview of professional growth and personal skills. So, you should highlight features that are most relevant to your degree.

Crafting an Impressive Resume for MBA Application

1. Don’t go beyond one-page unless you’ve more than ten years of experience

Your resume should be precise yet concise to impress the admission committee. Typically, business schools consider single-page resumes being most effective at communicating the applicant’s efficiency level.

However, there are some exceptions to it; if a candidate has more than ten years of experience and major accomplishments to highlight, then s/he will require more space.

2. Summary of your qualifications should be at the top

You always highlight the best and most unique features at the top. Your resume is a true depiction of your work achievements and personal developments.

Therefore, you should place the notable and remarkable accomplishments at the top. In addition, increase its readability with proper formatting, such as using bullet points and bold texts.

It grasps the reader’s attention and persuades them to know more about you.

3. Highlight your achievements instead of entailing work responsibilities

Instead of emphasizing your job responsibilities, focus on how you benefitted the company with your extraordinary skills and creative approaches.

Typically, your job role explains your work responsibility, so use this space smartly and talk about what you achieved during the employment period—how it had helped the company and you to grow.

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4. Numbers speak louder than words, so quantify your impact on any organization

If you say certain actions caused the following results, then it’s best to quantify them. It helps the reader to assess and measure the level of impact you had on the company.

For instance, if you say your marketing plan boosted sales, then highlight by what percentage the sales were increased. It is always better to compare the current results with the previous ones to feature efficacy.

5. Focus on recent work experiences

You don’t want to sound outdated on your resume or someone who has lost his skills. So best, talk about your recent work experiences.

It will also stem from how adaptable you are to growing technology and changing business ethics.

6. Write down the names and dates of employment

If you’ve served multiple roles in an organization or received several promotions, discuss them all under the same employer instead of making separate sections or job positions.

It detracts from the impact that promotions can have on the admission committee.

7. Highlight your leadership skills wherever you can

Business owners need strong leadership skills. Having them improves your candidacy for admission.

Think of ways you took charge of previous projects and led it towards its completion. Highlight it in a way that showcases your skills being beneficial for the company.

8. Put your work experience on top

When applying to MBA schools, mention your work experience before your education.

Your application contains your academic achievements in much detail, whereas your resume bespoke your career and personal progression.

9. High School activities don’t credit much

Unless you’ve some major accomplishments, awards or successes during your high school, you shouldn’t use important space for minor details.

11. Keep the content readable

It is highly important to create a resume that’s easy to read. Follow traditional formatting rules to ensure words are legible, and there is enough white space to break the text blocks.

Therefore, you should always use bullet points for job descriptions instead of short paragraphs.

12. Highlight your unique features

Talk about your certificates, awards, internships, licensures and volunteer work in a separate section to highlight personal achievements.

In this way, you’ll be able to set yourself apart from other candidates.

13. Proofread and Edit

There is no doubt that mistakes are unavoidable. Hence you should always proofread after creating your resume to remove misspelled words, typo errors and other grammatical issues.

Quick Tips On Writing An Impactful MBA Application Resume

Now that you’re aware of the general rules for creating an MBA application resume, let’s give you some more tips for further enhancement.

  1. Less is always more
  2. Make wise word choices
  3. Minimize the use of articles, conjunctions and prepositions
  4. Try to limit the use of the word “and”
  5. Avoid pronouns

Drafting the “Work Experience Section”

  1. Showcase your accomplishments when writing job descriptions
  2. Do not use adjectives to highlight your work performance, instead use factual data
  3. Avoid technical jargons

Factors to Consider When Writing Achievements:

  • They always start in past tense verbs
  • Connect your feats with project goals
  • It should encompass “actions” you took to achieve those “results.”
  • Results should be based on specific numbers and facts
  • Use different sub-bullets for actions and results

There are four ways to present actions and results

  1. Use two different bullets; one for action and the other for the result. The first should be short and emphasize the results only. It is the best option when the results are impressive
  2. Place both the results and actions in the same bullet and connect them with words such as “that reduced,” “that generated,” “that resulted”
  3. Putting actions and result in the same bullets but use different sentences
  4. If the results are not impressive or quantifiable, don’t talk about them or put them in the second sub-bullet.

Marissa Letendre, SPHR, SHRM-SCP

Marissa Letendre is a senior HR leader and resume expert with over 12 years of experience. She has worked for both startups and Fortune 50 corporations and has helped thousands land jobs at top companies. Marissa has written on a wide range of topics, including employee engagement, career development, resumes, job searching, recruiting, and organizational effectiveness and has been featured on sites such as Slack and The Undercover Recruiter.

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