Getting your MBA Resume Right

[AskAnshul]

Isn't making the resume the easiest of ALL things during the admissions cycle? Of course, you might not have written probing essays or sought recommendations for a while, but you must be having a resume ready. Right?

But are you sure this is the resume that will work for admissions as well? Think again. To start with, the person evaluating you here is probably not from your industry or function. That might mean that a lot of what is written in there is Latin to her. Most professional services & industries - Doctors, Accountants, Software Developers, Defense Personnel, etc. - use a lot of jargon to represent their skills / ranks / achievements which they are extremely proud of. Unfortunately, very few people outside the profession understand those. So, if you have a CISSP or CCNP Certification or you are a Master Mariner with the Navy, there is no surety if your evaluator understands that. And everything not understood is ignored. So your first step should be to decode everything 'technical'. Explain the meaning of the item, its importance and its impact. Make it as simple to understand as possible.

Next step is to get it reviewed. Yes, you know your have to get your essays reviewed but getting your resume is just as important. Everybody has a certain perception about themselves and what they have achieved. Hence, while you mention each of your achievements, you might believe them to be impactful. However, that could completely be driven out of your perception. The best practice is to get this evaluated from a 'neutral' evaluated. By neutral I mean somebody without the baggage of perceptions. The evaluator should help you with WHAT all to write and HOW to write for maximum impact. The evaluation should be able to conclusively answer all of the following questions:
1. Is the profile and achievements presented in simple language?
2. Are the achievements quantified well to bring out the impact?
3. Does your job profile explains the challenges and learning opportunity that it offers?
4. Does your resume cover all aspects been evaluated by the school - academics, leadership, extracurricular, diversity etc.

Finally, let me say that your resume is very important part of your story, told predominantly through the essays. It should gel well with your essays and the rest of your application. It is typically the first section that evaluators pick. This is your chance to make a great first impression.

I hope the points mentioned here were useful. All the best.

Anshul Gupta