6 resume tips for MBA freshers

by Sonali Dheri

Congratulations! Your freshly-minted MBA looks great on paper! And once you’re done collecting the accolades for the achievement, it’ll be time to enter the professional arena and find yourself a job!

To help the first-time professionals and fresh MBA graduates, Shiksha.com will present a series of articles related to resume, interview tips and professional ethics. In this article, let us talk about Curriculum Vitae (CV).

Your resume will probably be the first thing the prospective employers will see and know of you. So it’s vital you make it count the very first time! It’s a self-endorsing document that presents you in the best possible light. It's not a personal document, not a confessional and certainly not a career obituary! Not to rattle your self-confidence, but it’s common for recruiters to receive over a 100 resumes for a single job posting. A lot of them not even being from eligible candidates, but still leaving a boatload of resumes.

Resumes for MBA graduates are actually no different in style or structure than any other resume. The only difference lies in the content. More than anything else, your resume post-MBA needs to project your business leadership acumen in the best possible way. It should be a cutting-edge advertisement that should market your strengths and give a snapshot of your professional competencies. But the execution of this simple yet powerful tool comes with a number of significant caveats!

So here are few things to keep in mind while perfecting the paper that can best summarise and sell your professional credentials.

1. Use STAR method in your formatting:

When you put pen to paper, consider your experiences in terms of Situations, Tasks, Actions, and Results. This structure, better known as the STAR résumé format, often works well for management graduates (if used properly). It's a great model and one of the most successful ways to communicate your achievements effectively. It’s a short narrative with a targeted opening, a short descriptive middle and a strong finish which clearly illustrates what all you can do for an employer. The blueprint lets you stress more on the accomplishments and less on the methods because employers are interested in seeing the baby and not the labour!

2. Sometimes, less is more:

There’s no specific answer when it comes to how long or short your resume should be. Since employers normally take 30 seconds to review a resume, it’s best to put the strong points first where they can be easily read. Your resume isn’t supposed to be your autobiography; its objective is to sell you for the exact job you want, therefore include information only which is relevant. Length and style mean nothing if your resume is hard to read. Keep the format simple and professional. Use a bold font, ideally Times Roman, to get the right attention and emphasise only significant job titles and skills.

3. Be obvious:

Start your resume by listing your name and including your new credentials. You slogged hard for your MBA so go ahead and flaunt it! Pick and choose two-three word phrases that best depict the key competencies you've gained through the MBA. Do mention public speaking, communication, leadership and so on. The idea here is to add significant assignments or group experiences that showcase your skills. Employers like to see that you are able and keen to converse effectively with employees, clients and stakeholders. If you were a part of a case competition or a B-school tournament or any other team activity, list them in bullets. But don’t include any experience if it doesn’t directly match to the job you’re applying to.

4. Add quantifiable, results-driven details:

Your resume should be a teaser and a conversation starter! It should leave employers “wanting for more”. Ideally, every line on your resume should be the kernel of a narrative that employers would want you to elaborate. Of course you would want to list your education first—that's why you got an MBA. But your qualification would mean nothing if you don’t add quantifiable, results-driven details. So exhibit how you’ve achieved incredible things, created cross-cultural tie-ups, acquired or managed resources proficiently—anything that demonstrates you're a terrific professional. If you went straight to a B-school after completing your graduation and your schooling outweighs your professional history, consider citing this after your career objective. But if you’ve been out of college for a year then give your career experience more preference.

5. Mind the basics:

Your resume is not just a laundry list of your qualifications; it’s also supposed to be an illustration of your finest, most careful work. A typo, incoherent spacing, or any other error reflects badly on you and might hamper your chances of getting an interview. So be wary and have few reliable friends or family proofread it for you before you send it to your potential employers.

6. Final Thoughts

And, while there’s no exact formula for creating a winning resume, there sure are things you can do to make your resume outshine. Distilling all of your personal and professional achievements into a single paper is far from easy. But with effort, you can fine-tune your resume into a powerful marketing tool to distinguish yourself from competition. Remember-it’s your calling card, better make it count!

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