How to write a ‘best of me’ 1-page MBA Resume

Often the struggle in the mind of many applicants is - how do I fit all my work and accomplishments in a 1-page Resume! What is the right proportion of professional experience vs extra-curricular vs education? What do I showcase and what do I leave out? Here are some neat tips

Prioritize and eliminate redundancy

Not every project and every piece of work you did professionally or within your community matters. If you worked on multiple projects of the same type, refrain from writing them all. Aggregate them all instead. Alternatively, pick out and showcase the most challenging projects or the ones where your work created a significant impact. Another example, if you interned at multiple organizations while you were in college, not all of them need to appear on the resume. Choose only the ones that served as inflection points or the ones where you built an alternative skillset.

Showcase a diverse array of transferable skills

If your background is too technical or your role is of an ‘individual contributor’, refrain from showcasing too many projects that tout your technical skills. Identify those initiatives where you worked with a different set of people and highlight those. Share corporate development work, business development work or culture-building activities you participated in. This approach will help you break the stereotype of your role and bring out people skills and leadership potential.

Humanize the resume and highlight that you care about your community

As we mentioned in this earlier post - you do not apply to business school as a professional but as a ‘real person. Let the person in you shine on the resume! Showcase that you were active in your community during college or after. Carefully prioritize the contents of this section too. For instance, writing for your college newspaper is less important than leading a society. Devote more space to sharing the changes you brought about in the latter vs listing the former. Share the interests and hobbies you have pursued but do not to ‘laundry list’ them. Rather, pick two key interests or hobbies and write about them in detail. Devote at least thirty per cent of the real-estate on your resume to these personal elements.

If our thoughts inspire you, connect with us and get in-depth advice on writing a compelling resume your upcoming applications to business schools.