MBA Resume Examples and Format for a Job Application

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What Should I Highlight in an MBA Resume?

An MBA program is a great chance to network. That means you need to highlight the fact that networking will be a good opportunity for you and that you have something to offer in the networking process as well. You should also emphasize your experience and your achievements, as well as any awards that you have.

The Structure of an MBA Resume

The structure of your MBA resume will vary depending on the amount of experience you have. Typically, you’ll have all the same sections regardless of your experience, but you may need to mix it up a bit. If you have many years of experience, you should put your work experience first, but if you have less experience, you’ll typically move your work history beneath your skills section. Either way, here’s what you should put in each section.

Contact Information

Your contact information goes at the beginning of the resume. Its main intention is to provide basic information about you. You should typically include your full name, phone number, and any related portfolio links, such as LinkedIn. This is the information an MBA admissions team will need to contact you for an interview.

Resume summary or objective

The next section of your MBA resume is the resume summary or resume objective. This is a short paragraph at the top of your resume that’s typically 2-3 sentences long. It highlights the most impressive elements of your history, including professional experience, key skills, and anything you’ve proven in  professional experience. Quantify your achievements. For example, “Improved efficacy by 43%” is more impressive than “Greatly improved efficacy.”

Work history/Work experience

You typically attend business school when you already have an existing work history, which means you’ll likely include an experience section. Add your job title, the company name where you worked, and the years you worked there. Under more recent jobs, include key achievements as bullet points. These achievements might include skills and certifications.

Skills

The resume skills section shows recruiters that you have a lot to offer the graduate school that might accept you. Highlight transferable skills, like communication skills, leadership skills, and teamwork. You can also highlight common soft skills you excel in from your industry, such as conflict resolution or project management. To improve your chances of being accepted into an MBA program, highlight soft skills over technical skills.

Education

Typically, business schools require an undergraduate degree or an equivalent qualification before you can apply to their MBA program. That means your education section is likely to be fairly full already. Don’t list high school, as it’s assumed that you have a high school education if you have a college degree. You can include extracurricular or academic activities if they have a bearing on MBA work. This is also one of the few times that a resume can benefit from a GPA, especially for extremely competitive MBA programs.

Do’s and Don’ts for an MBA Resume

Here are a few ideas to keep in mind when writing your MBA resume:

Do:

• Use the ResumeHelp resume builder to create your MBA resume. Even though a job application serves a different function, resume tips can still help you with the resume writing process.
• Look at MBA resume examples before you write yours. Looking at someone else’s MBA application resume can give you an idea of how to write your own.
• Proofread your MBA resume. A typo can be a very embarrassing reason to not get a position in an MBA group.

Don’t:

• Make your MBA resume longer than a single page. A one-page resume is more likely to be read than a multiple-page document.
• Create your own MBA resume until you’ve checked the guidelines for the resume. Some MBA resumes require that you use the MBA resume format they provide.
• List every job you’ve ever held. You should limit your work history to jobs from the past 10 years.