The Application Process

Is it OK to use abbreviations such as PE, VC, DD, IM, SPA, etc. on your resume for MBA admission purposes? Clearly I use those terms when applying for finance jobs (spelling out Private Equity would be a little amateur!), but given the AdCom audience - who can not necessarily be expected to have a finance background - is it best to spell these things out?
Never assume, right?
On the other hand, unnecessarily spelling out things like "Sale and Purchase Agreement" takes a lot of page space on a CV!
I suppose this would apply to other industries as well - I, for one, don't know a thing about all those 3-letter IT acronyms!

EssaySnark here again - you keep asking such good questions!

You're right in this one - jargon and acronyms do not belong on the bschool resume. Sure, PE and VC might be acceptable (as would CEO, and ROI) - but that's about the extent of it. The terms that you've got are actually not entirely comprehensible (what is DD, IM, and SPA??). You need to rework it so that none of those will cause roadbumps for the reader who's trying to quickly scan.

Your goal is a resume that's completely easy to understand and written in lay language. An adcom member at a school like Wharton will certainly get that NPV, for example, means net present value - but why risk it? You're trying to *communicate* and so the easier you make it on the reader, the better. So, EssaySnark always recommends to go with plain English. We don't mean you should dumb it down - but it's really helpful to write in a way that anyone - even an exhausted adcom member who's spent the day reading applicant essays! - can easily grok.

Here's some recent posts on resumes:

https://essaysnark.blocked/2011/09/ ... -good.html
https://essaysnark.blocked/2011/09/ ... c-guy.html
https://essaysnark.blocked/2010/10/ ... chool.html

Hope this helps!
EssaySnark

Right, thanks.

How about website addresses on the CV?
Some AdCom panellists specifically told me to put the company/ community organization website under the company name (or alternatively, selectively include them in individual bullet points)
Others said that's unprofessional, and unnecessary (if they want it, they'll Google it).

Thoughts?


Thanks again,
S.

Hi S. --

URLs are unnecessary, and even a little useless in many cases - believe it or not, lots of admissions committees do all application reviews in hardcopy (yup, they print everything out, even though they make you submit everything online). Which means they're not even able to click on a URL. We agree with the adcom people who said if they want to see the company website, they'll Google it.

The company you work for is rarely the thing of most interest to them - they want to know what you did there. URLs are usually just clutter.

As with many things on the resume though, there aren't many strict rules, so if you wanted to put URLs it wouldn't be illegal!!!

EssaySnark

Another resume question (thanks for all the feedback so far, BTW!)

I have 2 instances in my career where I was on a 3-month garden leave following a job. What should I put on my CV as an "end date"? The actual last day at the office, or the end of garden leave period?
If I use the actual last day of work, it looks like a 3-month employment gap (twice, over the summer, no less; they'll think I have a habit of quitting in May, and taking a 3-month summer vacation...)
But, I'm worried about putting down the end of garden leave as the end date lest it come back to bite me in background checks later on.

Thoughts?

Thanks,
S.

Thanks

(That was quick! Are you on 24/7 duty?)