Welcome to F1GMAT’s #askAtulJose series. I am Atul Jose. In today’s episode, I will cover a common concern about MBA resumes – Balancing white Space with performance metrics.

A few years back, an applicant reached out to me and shared his edited MBA application resume. This was after an iteration of editing from another admissions consultant. It was baffling to see so many milestones and crucial action verbs eliminated from the resume. When I asked why, the person told me that the consultant shared that to improve admission chances, there should be a lot of white spaces. I know that even now, a lot of consultants share the same best practice.

So here are three scenarios where you should reconsider the white Space best practice.

1) The Complexity of Your Projects

If you are from the manufacturing, construction, aerospace, automobile, or even some Finance roles like VC or Private Equity, the action verbs and the performance metrics required to convey your role in a project’s outcome cannot be fit in one line or even one and a half line in a resume. You could do that, but then you are risking being typecast as just another VC or PE or Engineering person with similar due diligence or technology solution entries. Some of the interesting milestones I have edited involved some constraint metrics or scale metrics, or complexity metrics either in technology, markets, or deadlines. You have to understand how your achievement was different. When you discuss with a consultant, make sure that you share all these constraints and background information with them. I have an IMPACT table template that we use while editing resumes. If you want help, you can Subscribe to F1GMAT’s Resume Editing Service

2) Older Applicants

If you have 5-8 years of experience, it is impossible to fit your resume into a 1-page format without some sacrifice on context. And you don’t have to do that for all schools. In their applications overview section, schools typically mention the acceptable length of a resume. If they mention 1–2-page length, use 2-page and increase the performance metrics for each entry in the resume. This is because schools, in general, are not looking to accept older applicants for a full-time MBA program. You need to sell a lot of contexts and constraints with each entry in the MBA resume for them to consider your essays seriously.

3) Non-Traditional Background

The admissions team typically reads resumes of Finance, Military, Consulting, Technology, Engineering, Operations, Marketing, Government, and Non-profit applicants. If you come from any function outside these specializations, you must assume that they have a limited understanding of your industry or role. In such cases, adding extra context to each entry will help with comprehension.
But as always, limit each resume entry to 2 lines, or if you had similar projects, the achievements could be grouped together as a 2.5-line entry. But ideally, avoid a 3-line entry for your resume.

If you need help with resume editing, Subscribe to F1GMAT’s Resume Editing Service

I am Atul Jose. See you in the next #askAtulJose series.