5 Don’ts for your B-School Application Resume

On an average, an MBA aspirant spends 9 to 140 hours on their MBA application. In spite of all the time and dedication that one puts into achieving a perfect entrance exam score, writing the perfect essay and creating the right resume, there are still some dire mistakes that applicants continue to make over the years.

Remember that most b-schools base the admissions interview on the resume and not the entire application. This makes it all the more important for you to pay attention to this document and make sure you don’t make the following 5 common mistakes while writing a B-school application resume –

Focus Too Much on Responsibilities

If you have included a line in your resume stating “responsible for”, remove it right way. Remember that resumes are not about tasks, responsibilities and goals but about achievements. Here, you need to focus on things you have already accomplished as against things you were meant to accomplish. Make sure your achievement bullets are written in past tense and elaborate the context of the situation with regards to the action and its impact.

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Writing an Uninteresting Resume

It is important that the content in your resume is impactful and interesting to the admissions board. Each bullet should be able to answer not only what you have done but how it mattered or impacted your company. For instance, if you presented findings to a survey to the senior management, highlight if the recommendations were actually adopted. If you worked on an extensive analysis of the transportation industry in the EU, highlight how this analysis was used by your company or externally.

Prioritizing Quantity over Quality

It is not uncommon for candidates to pack up their resumes with information making it hard for the reader to actually focus on the important information. Admission committees do not have a lot of time looking at resumes, which can easily get repetitive and boring. Focus on quality of information over quantity.

A Resume Without a Story

Think of a resume as more than just a professional autobiography. A good b-school resume should be able to tell a compelling story about your experiences, skills and future plans. For instance, if you are interested in CSR but nothing on your resume highlights that through your work in philanthropy or social causes, you may not be able to make a compelling case to the admissions committee.

Aesthetically Bland Resumes

Finally, you should understand the importance of presentation and make sure that the font, spacing, formatting and style of your resume is minimalistic, organized and yet aesthetically appealing.

Avoid using flashy fonts, having too many section headings or using too many section headings to create a clean resume.

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