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Students applying for business school often spend much of their time perfecting their application essays and securing recommendation letters. In the process, most people forget about an essential document for the application process — the resume. The oversight can cost an applicant his or her admission chances.
According to surveys, the resume is often the first document that college admission officials review. In other words, it can determine whether or not the reader continues to go through the rest of your application. Therefore, it is crucial to make sure that you submit a resume that generates interest for your business school application. This article considers a few helpful tips on writing and formatting an impressive resume for business school.
- Keep the Resume Short and Concise
The general rule for resumes is to strive for brevity. The college admission officials will have hundreds of applications to review, meaning that each application will only get few minutes.
The best resumes for business school are restricted to one page unless the applicant has more than ten years of working experience. It is doubtful that you have a significant accomplishment that necessitates more than one page at this stage of your academic life. If you cannot create an impressive resume, consider getting assistance from a professional LinkedIn profile writing services.
- Start With a Summary of Your Qualifications
When applying for business school, you want your credentials to be the first thing the admission officials see. Use the summary of qualifications to showcase your most notable accomplishments and work experience. You could also draw attention to your summary by using bullet points or formatting using bold text.
Consider including a short professional or personal record as well as highlights of your key accomplishments. Also, remember to include any essential attributes that can set you apart from the pool of applicants. If you volunteered in a position that is in sync with the program’s philosophy, include it here.
- Leave Out Unnecessary Information
Unless you have specifically been asked for it, you don’t need to provide information on your high school achievements. Admissions officials have tons of applications to go through and will not enjoy spending their time reading through unnecessary details. They don’t want to read the information on your weight or date of birth.
If you consider your technical experience limited, avoid going into esoteric details that will only waste your reader’s time. Such information will not market you as an intelligent applicant. While it is okay to include a list of your interests at the bottom, only include items that can be used as icebreakers during interviews. You could also include your GMAT and GPA, but only if they are above the business school’s averages.
- Be Specific and Quantify Your Accomplishments
The best resumes offer clear and concise illustrations of specific achievements. Whenever possible, quantify your accomplishments showing the results you attained. Maybe you improved sales by a particular figure. Make sure that this is clear.
- Follow the Precise Business School’s Format
Schools have specific formats that applicants are expected to follow when creating their resumes. Consider researching sample resumes and resume books on the career websites of business schools. Go through the resumes, note the fonts used, the indentations, and the use of white space. Use these as examples to inform how you create your resume.
Remember that consistency is critical when creating a resume for business school applications. If you use bullets to list points in one resume area, don’t resort to dashes in another section. If you list the dates of your education history on the left side of the page, do not list the dates of your work history on the right.
- Prioritize Your Achievements Rather Than Responsibilities
The resume is your chance to impress the admissions officials. It is more likely to impress if you list what you achieved instead of what you were in charge of. Avoid filling up space by repeating your job title multiple times. Your resume is more likely to impress if you indicate what you achieved in your position.
- Emphasize Your Leadership
Showing situations where you provided leadership and built your skills will impress the admission officials. Don’t view leadership as merely being placed in charge of a project or holding a specific position. Instead, you show leadership qualities when you convince others to take part in an activity or task. Show how your leadership skills helped the organization.
Here, we have presented a few insights on how to create exceptional resumes. Make sure to proofread and edit your document. Most importantly, start working on your application early, and don’t be afraid to seek assistance.
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