MBA Resume: Your Guide to Creating a Perfect Submission

MBA Resume Samples

MBA Resume Sample #1

Jane Doe

Senior Marketing Director

Phone: 555-555-5555

Email: [email protected]

Portfolio: [LinkedInProfile]

Profile Summary

Driven marketing executive with 4+ years of experience in overseeing digital product launches. Developed and launched 7 online campaigns for Deluxe products that resulted in 40% increase in revenue. Increased customer retention by 56%. Seeking to leverage Harvard’s knowledge framework to innovate new marketing solutions for the evolving digital landscape.

Experience

Marketing Manager

Zyna Deluxe, Houston, TX 

Apr 2019-Present 

• Managed a team of ten to develop and execute successful social media campaigns resulting in client revenue gains of 40% 
• Implemented a successful multi-platform SEO campaign that improved organic hits by 50% and brought 10,000 new subscribers in 1 year 
• Increased conversion rates by 30% by innovating targeted campaigns based on qualitative data analysis models 

Marketing Analyst

Zyna Deluxe, Houston, TX

May 2017-Apr 2019

• Created TV and print campaigns for the perfume division that resulted in revenue increase by 30%
• Published a white paper in the Content Marketeers Associate Quarterly on “Qualitative Data Analysis and Targeted Advertising in the Digital Age”

Education

BA in English Literature, Minor in Business – UCLA, CA

Sept 2013-May 2017

• GPA 3.8, high honors
• Winner of Dean’s Award for collaborative research paper “Evolution of Privacy in Advertisements and the Impact on Social Media Business Practices”
• Selected for the Adam Wright Business Leadership Program

Additional Achievements

• Presented at the AMA Annual Conference 2019 on the topic of Growing Cross-Platform Social Media Engagement via Quantitative Data Analysis
• Led the UCLA Sparks Collegiate Gymnastics team to victory at the 2016 NCAA tournaments

Skills

• Affiliate marketing
• Ideation leadership

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Here's a formatted version of this MBA resume.

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MBA Resume Sample #2

John Doe

Regional Sales Director

Phone: 555-555-5555

Email: [email protected]

Objective

Driven sales managers with 4+ years of experience. Developed and launched 3 annual sales campaigns which resulted in a 35% increase in revenue. Recruited, trained and managed sales team which became company’s top sales team in 2019. Seeking to expand managerial skills and knowledge of changing digital business landscape.

Education

Bachelor in Communications – University of Notre Dame

Sept 2012-May 2016

Work Experience

Regional Sales Director

Ambrosia Luxury Foods, Chicago, IL

June 2018-April 2020

• Recruited and managed a sales team of 15 sales associates
• Sales team was recognized as #1 in company sales in 2019
• Developed annual sales campaigns in accordance with company budgets
• Assisted in launching an online company store which increased profits by 10%

Sales Associate

Ambrosia Luxury Foods, Chicago, IL

August 2016-June 2018

• Increased company’s territory sales by 112% on average, annually
• Developed and designed product packages which reduced sales time and saved customers time and money
• Rapidly promoted to sales director after 12 months as top sales producer

Key Skills

• Team leadership
• Ideation leadership

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MBA Resume Sample #3

MBA Resume Sample #4

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What is an MBA Resume? 

An MBA resume is your chance to showcase your business impact, leadership potential, and collaboration skills within a brief, 1-page document. It is an initial screening tool composed of a concrete list of your achievements and experiences that tell a story about your suitability for business school and why you have chosen to apply to an MBA program.  

Before reading your MBA admission essays, or any other application components, admissions’ committees will first review your resume. They want to see if your general background, profile, and achievements make your application worth considering. Additionally, MBA interview questions are often based on the content of your MBA resume.

An MBA resume needs to be carefully crafted to maximize your chances of impressing the admissions committee; it is NOT the same as a regular resume you’d prepare. It doesn’t matter how impressive your application is, whether you’ve recently graduated from one of the best undergraduate business schools or achieved amazing professional success, a stellar resume is essential to getting an acceptance letter from the best MBA programs.

According to many MBA admissions consulting services, a lot of applicants focus on the other components of the MBA application process such as their transcripts, GMAT/GRE scores, letters of recommendation, application form questions, or interview prep, while ignoring the unique nature of the MBA resume. To put it simply – you’re MBA resume is important!

How to Write and Format an MBA Resume 

The admissions committee won’t spend more than 5 minutes scanning your resume, and within the first 30 seconds, they will form an impression that’s difficult to change!

Let’s go over three key factors that can ensure the perfect look of your MBA resume.

1. MBA Resume Formatting

Let’s start with the basics of how to correctly format your MBA resume. The key here is to create a clean, professional, compact, well-organized document. The following list captures important considerations to keep in mind: 

2. MBA Resume Layout and Sections

Your MBA resume should highlight your business acumen and communication skills with a clear, logical layout. Admissions committees often scan resumes quickly, so structure your information in reverse chronological order for easy readability. Keep the document concise and well-organized, using minimal bullet points to avoid clutter.

Key Sections for All Applicants

Contact Information

• Include your name, phone number, email, physical address, and (optional) LinkedIn profile.

Resume Summary or Career Goals

• Provide a brief overview of your professional background or future aspirations in 2-3 impactful sentences.

Education

• Highlight degrees, institutions, and graduation dates.
• Recent graduates may emphasize academic achievements.

Professional Experience

• List roles in reverse chronological order, focusing on measurable results, leadership, and impact.
• For applicants with limited experience, include internships or part-time roles that demonstrate transferable skills.

Additional Achievements

• Include awards, honors, certifications, volunteer work, or major projects.
• If you have numerous accomplishments in one category (e.g., certificates or projects), create a separate section.

Skills

• Highlight relevant technical and soft skills, such as leadership, collaboration, or industry-specific tools.

Notes for Specific Applicants

• Experienced Applicants (6+ Years): Focus on professional achievements like product launches, exceeding ROI goals, or leading major projects.
• Recent Graduates (<2 Years): Prioritize academic accomplishments, internships, and leadership roles in extracurricular activities.

3. MBA Resume Writing Style 

Admissions committees view an MBA resume as a reflection of your communication skills, so make it clear, concise, and impactful. Use bulleted lists with 2-3 lines per point, focusing on measurable results and action verbs like "achieved," "created," or "increased" to highlight leadership and impact. Avoid listing functional responsibilities; instead, emphasize achievements and long-term results that build a compelling narrative.

What to Include in Your MBA Resume 

OK, so now you’ve got a great MBA resume template. What do you include? This part might seem obvious – if you’re thinking of applying for an MBA, you likely have an impressive list of business and/or educational achievements. You’ll just add it all in, right? Not exactly!

When it comes to writing your MBA resume, what you leave out is as important as what you include. You can’t just blindly stuff in a list of every single thing you’ve ever done. You’ve got to carefully curate what information to add and how to communicate it. 

Let’s go over each of the MBA resume sections.

1. Contact Information 

List the following:

• Your full name
• Your professional title (experienced candidates) or educational degrees
• Phone number and email
• Portfolio or LinkedIn link (optional)

2. Resume Summary or Profile

Your profile should be a concise summary of your experiences, goals, and key achievements, designed to grab the reader’s attention and showcase what sets you apart. Use this format:

Adjective + Professional/Educational Title + Years of Experience (if applicable) + MBA Goal + Top Achievement + (Optional) Key Contribution

Example:

Driven Marketing Executive with 4+ years of experience leading digital campaigns. Launched 7 successful projects that boosted revenue by 40% and increased customer retention by 56%. Seeking to leverage Harvard’s framework to innovate digital marketing solutions.

Write this section last, after completing your resume, to effectively highlight the most significant aspects of your profile. Focus on concrete results, not excessive adjectives, and keep it succinct.

Psst! If the above statement caught your eye because you are applying to Harvard, make sure to check out Harvard MBA personal statement examples to learn what is expected if you.

3. Work Experience 

For experienced applicants, this is a key section that should compromise about 2/3 of your MBA resume. As explained earlier, your professional experience should ideally be listed in reverse chronological order, starting with the most recent experience.  

Remember that this section should highlight your upward career trajectory and industry growth. So, start by adding the company name, position and time spent at each company as a sub-heading and underneath that, mention promotions as separate levels. Remember you also need to be able to explain gaps in your MBA resume during your interview, if any, so be prepared to provide some context.

Under each sub-heading or level, cover only your most significant work achievements that distinguish you, expressed in precise bullet points, no more than 5 per level. As this is a resume to demonstrate your suitability as an MBA applicant, avoid talking only about responsibilities; instead, focus on concrete achievements that highlight your leadership and impact on business. The more specific details can be highlighted in your MBA application essays, MBA statement of purpose or MBA motivation letter, and MBA interview.  

4. Education 

The education section should include details of every degree you hold, such as the degree name, university, graduation date, major/minor, GPA, honors, and achievements.

• For applicants with extensive work experience: Keep entries brief, focusing on key achievements, research, or projects that highlight leadership or business qualifications.
• For applicants with less experience: Expand this section to showcase key projects, research, coursework, and extracurricular achievements that demonstrate your potential.

It is highly recommended that you add your GPA for each degree, especially if it’s impressive. You can consider dropping it from your resume only if you have a less-than-average GPA that you’d rather not highlight or if you have obtained extensive work experience that proves your capabilities. However, most recent graduates will not have this option, as their GPA is a key indicator of their abilities. If you need to know how to explain a low GPA in an MBA application, you can mention the difficulty level of your coursework to provide context around your GPA. You can also include other key achievements to mitigate a poor GPA.  

Don’t add details of your education prior to your undergrad degree. This isn’t a high school resume; details of your school life are not likely to be relevant to your business achievements at a later stage in life. If there are any significant achievements from this period that you wish to highlight, you can do so in your MBA personal statement or essay, but only if they are relevant to your application.

5. Additional Information and Achievements 

This section is where you highlight your most significant extracurricular achievements. Don’t just add any and all MBA extracurriculars – focus on adding high-stake accomplishments and a robust variety of activities that show your focus, ability to apply yourself, strong work ethic, leadership potential, and collaboration skills. Every point added here should be impressive and unique. These entries should also be verifiable and back up the contents of your personal statement, essays, and other components of your application. 

These are some of the key significant achievements and experiences you can highlight in this section:

• Business relevant certifications
• High performing projects
• Associations/clubs with leadership roles
• Media pieces where you were positively featured
• Publications
• Awards
• Conferences where you presented
• Industry blogs/vlogs with a significant readership you were featured in
• Languages and sports/hobby achievements or recognitions

6. Skills 

This should be a bullet-form list of your key skills. Prioritize adding industry or business skills and avoid adding generic soft skills or functional/role-specific skills. 

Here are a few examples of what you can add: 

Remember, do not include too many skills or it will look like you’re just trying to stuff your resume. Only add the ones that are easily verifiable via your experiences and achievements.

7. Optional Sections 

Optional sections like Volunteer Experience, Awards, Certificates, or Key Projects can help showcase unique aspects of your profile if they are substantial.

Volunteer Experience

Highlight measurable achievements (e.g., “Improved outreach by 30% through a new data system”) and link them to business impact or MBA program values.

Awards and Certificates

Create a separate section if you have standout recognitions, like academic honors or industry awards.

Key Projects/Portfolio

Include impressive creative, academic, or professional projects, or add a portfolio link to your contact information.

Optional sections are not mandatory but can make your application stand out when relevant. For unique contributions, consider adding a tailored MBA cover letter to complement your resume.

Top 10 Tips for an MBA Resume

Here are a few additional tips and tricks to help you refine and perfect your MBA resume! 

1. Avoid irrelevant job descriptions: Focus on measurable, results-oriented descriptions that demonstrate your value, such as “Improved workplace productivity by 40% through training gap analysis”.
2. Quantify achievements: Use numbers and specific examples to grab attention, e.g., “Increased SEO traffic by 35%, leading to a 20% sales boost in 3 months”.
3. Highlight Your Contributions: Emphasize your unique role and impact, e.g., “Reduced project timelines by 3 months through cross-functional collaboration”.
4. Ditch the Jargon: Focus on universal achievements and avoid technical terms that might confuse non-specialist readers.
5. Focus on What Makes You Unique: Showcase accomplishments or skills that set you apart from other applicants.
6. Showcase Variety: Highlight a balance of education, professional experience, and extracurricular achievements for a well-rounded profile.
7. Be Honest: Ensure all claims are verifiable and demonstrate integrity—admissions committees value authenticity.
8. Proofread Thoroughly: Keep your resume clean, simple, and error-free. Follow submission guidelines and consider having an expert review it.
9. Use Approximates When Necessary: For confidential information, use generic terms like “top fashion brand” or percentages instead of specific figures.
10. Prioritize Recent and Relevant Experiences: Highlight your most recent achievements and professional experiences first, focusing on those with the biggest impact.

FAQs

To your success,

Your friends at BeMo

BeMo Academic Consulting 

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