By the time you sit down to write your resume for a business school application, you already know that you are targeting the admission people at those schools. You also know that they are looking at certain skills, length and breadth of experience and your fit with their school. Now it is easy to structure the content of your resume around business school requisites.

Critical considerations while crafting a winning resume:

Keep the write-up crisp:
Resumes are read quickly and the impression is made in initial few seconds. Ideally the resume should be one page. If you fail to list relevant accomplishments and responsibilities in a page, then only go for a second page. You have to be very careful for the language used. As far as possible, try to mention your achievements and roles in bullets and minimize the use of pronoun and use of passive sentences. Redundant details can take up a lot of valuable space on your resume. Also, get rid of non important details like marital status, age etc. They can also be conveyed through your application fields. Use relevant key-words: Doing a good job is important but you should also know how to present it. You should use small key-words to convey the meaning effectively and yet keep the sentence short.

Use of Numbers:
Consider this: Provided recommendations and increased productivity!! A better structure can be: Led a team of 5 to analyze the petrochemical business, provided recommendations which helped the productivity go up by 15%. Quantify your results wherever possible because it helps the admission committee measure your role played in improvement. Also mention the team size if possible as it shows your leadership and team skills.

Highlighting the different aspects:
Your resume should give a holistic picture of your personality. You should talk about your professional responsibilities and achievements, academic credentials, extra-curricular and co-curricular activities, initiatives and community work. You can go with the detailed chronological resume highlighting the latest job first. If you have worked for different job functions and have a diverse background, you can highlight the skills and not necessarily the work period. Mostly all schools want you to include all part-time and full time work experiences, research and project activities, extracurricular activities and community/civil activities.

Work Experience is important:
A business school looks at nurturing future business managers and leaders. They need to know what you have accomplished to have an idea of what you can add to the program and how can you gain from the program. Be honest in describing your accomplishments and still make the best out of it. Lying will not help and can take you to troubled waters if the Admission Committee comes to know about it. Do not try to include autobiography in a page: In attempt to make the best use of the space, we tend to fill up the space so much that it does not invite the reader. Only include the relevant strengths and make it look neat with proper format. Make sure to provide enough white space.

Format should be apt:
Use legible fonts and the font size should not be less than 10. Stick to professional fonts and maintain proper margins. Keep your resume short and crisp, preferably one page long.

Ask someone to proof-read:
You are the one who has experienced your college days, job roles and community initiatives so you may not make out if it is clearly conveying the experiences and accomplishments. Your readers can point out the areas which are difficult to understand, may be they are too technical or need sentence restructuring.

• Tips for writing resume
• Some Resume Keywords
• Our Resume Service