Creating a Resume for Mba Applications

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    C R E A T I N G A R E S U M E

    FOR MBA APPLICATIONS

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    Reating a ReSume FoR mBa aPPlicationS

    2011 Stacy Blackman conSulting inc. """.S!#B. all RightS ReSeRved.

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    2 0 10 S T A CY B L A C K M A N C O N S ULT I N G I N C . w w w . st a cy bla ck m a n . co m A L L R I G H T S R E S E R V E D.

    T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S

    CHAPTER 1: Background 3

    The Purpose of the MBA Resume

    The Resumes Role in MBA Admissions

    The Audience Who is Reading the Resume

    CHAPTER 2: Format 5

    The One Page Resume

    Margins

    Font

    How to Save Space

    CHAPTER 3: Section 1 Contact Information 7

    CHAPTER 4: Section 2 Professional 8

    Why This Comes First

    Which Jobs to Include

    Information to Include

    Formatting

    Content of Bullet Points

    How Much Detail do you Need?

    What Not to Include

    Action Verbs

    Quantifying Results

    Remembering Your Audience

    Demonstrating Progression

    Transforming Bullets from Blah to Winning

    Translating Technical Jargon into MBA Language

    CHAPTER 5: Section 3 Education 17

    Goal of the Education Section

    What to Include

    Format

    What Not to Include

    CHAPTER 6: Section 4 Additional Information 20

    Goals of the Additional Information Section

    Information to Include

    What Not to Include

    EXHIBIT A: Action Verbs 23

    APPENDIX 24

    Sample Resumes

    ABOUT STACY BLACKMAN CONSULTING 31

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    CHAPTER 1: Background

    THE PURPOSE OF THE MBA RESUME

    In general, the purpose of the resume is to provide someone (a decision maker) with a quick snapshot of who you are,professionally. A well designed resume should be easy to scan, and should tell a chronological story of an individuals

    professional and academic development. If you understand the purpose of the resume, it makes it easier to design one

    well. A resume should not be an all inclusive, comprehensive look at everything you have done. Details can be explored

    in interviews, essays and follow up conversations. The goal of the resume is to help someone quickly get up to speed

    on who you are and what you have accomplished. It is a quick reference piece to hold on to in an interview, or something

    to orient or jog the memory as a decision maker sorts through a pile of applicants.

    It is important that a resume demonstrates progression and highlights significant experiences and accomplishments

    rather than everything you have ever done. These accomplishments and experiences should illustrate what a given

    job or educational experience has encompassed.

    The resume can highlight important aspects of an individual and help an applicant to stand out a bit. Sometimes, adetail on a resume can serve as an icebreaker, or enable conversation in an interview.

    THE RESUMES ROLE IN MBA ADMISSIONS

    For most MBA programs, the resume is part of your written application. Even if you are not including your formal resume

    the application will ask you to put the contents of the resume into the data form of the application. Being able to distil

    your experiences down to a few meaningful lines of text will be imperative, regardless of whether you submit your forma

    resumes or transfer that text to the schools unique form.

    The resume will also play a role in your MBA interview. It is not uncommon for an interviewer to have a copy of the

    resume prior to the interview or to ask for a copy when you meet. This is because, once again, it is a visual way for them

    to easily keep track of your story. With resume in hand, an interviewer may start off an interview by asking you to walk

    them through your resume. This is helpful for them as they are trying to take stock of where you are, where you have

    been, and understand all of that in the context of your goals for the future. For someone who needs to very quickly get

    up to speed on you, a well designed resume is an important and useful tool. Keep this in mind as you design your resume

    Think about how you want to walk someone through your resume, and design your resume to meet your needs.

    The resume can be an important first step in the MBA application process, because it forces the applicant to take stock

    of his or her progression and think about how to articulate that in a very succinct way. Going through the exercise of

    developing a resume is useful in helping an individual organize thoughts and pull out most significant experiences and

    accomplishments. The resume is the skeleton of an application, and it can be a guide for moving forward. The meat o

    your application will be how you fill in and reveal your personality through essays, interviews, recommendations andinformal communications with the admissions committee.

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    THE AUDIENCE WHO IS READING THE RESUME

    Just as it is important to consider the role of the resume in your application process, it is vital to keep in mind your

    audience. The reader of your MBA resume will be different than the person hiring you for an investment banking job o

    an engineering position. The MBA reader will be looking for things that are important to an MBA program. In mos

    cases this does not include skills such as programming in SQL and Javascrpit and wisilywug or creating highly complex

    technical financial models.

    MBA programs are looking for individuals who will be successful as leaders and in highly collaborative work environments.

    They are seeking skills that are transferable to success in any industry. When you are seeking job in a certain industry

    there is a good chance the hiring manager will want you to be experienced with a certain type of real estate software or

    accounting technique. But these specifics will not be of interest to an MBA program. In fact, an MBA interviewer o

    admissions committee member might not even know what these things are.

    When you draft a resume for an MBA program, it is likely that you will change aspects of it that are too industry specific.

    You will want to focus on three key goals. In addition to telling the chronological story of your academic and professiona

    career, much of your information should be focused on supporting these things:

    1. Showcasing leadership

    2. Showcasing other MBA relevant skills such as teamwork, collaboration, innovation

    3. Demonstrating growth and progression

    A R VA R D B US I N E S S S C H O O L E S S A Y G UI DE

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    CHAPTER 2: Format

    THE ONE PAGE RESUME

    There are certainly those who will disagree, but we fervently believe that in almost every case, the resume should be onepage only. Many applicants have too many jobs to fit on a page, or have lists of publications, patents or othe

    accomplishments that they want to include. However, when a resume becomes too long, it defeats the purpose of the

    resume as described above. Quick snapshot, quick reference point, skeleton of the application. While we would like

    to think that members of the admissions committee have time to pour over a four page resume in detail, this is not the

    case. The goal for your resume should be to convey important information about your self efficiently, and to make it easy

    for the decision maker to digest. Why would you make them read more than one page? It is highly likely that eyes wil

    start to gaze once a page is turned.

    Certain formatting conventions will also make the resume easy to read and digest. Squeezing an enormous amount o

    text into one page by reducing margins, font and spaces also defeats the purpose of the easy to read resume. You wil

    want to adhere to specific format rules in order to make your resume clean, clear and user friendly.

    MARGINS

    One inch margins are ideal, but margins are one area where you can play around with spacing. If the resume is clean

    and does not look too cramped, you may be able to reduce your margins to as small as .75. Use your own eye as a guide

    If it looks cramped or if you are questioning it, stop questioning and increase the size of your margins.

    FONT

    Typical fonts for a resume are Times New Roman, Verdana, Cambria and Arial, with Times New Roman being the most

    common. The business resume is not the place to experiment with fancy fonts. Keep the fonts and format conservative

    You can allow your personality to shine through in other parts of your MBA application package. A clear, readable size

    for resume font is 10pt. This will ultimately depend on the font style you select, but benchmark at about 10pt.

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    HOW TO SAVE SPACE

    Adhering to a one page resume admittedly can be challenging when you have several years of work experience or a

    long list of accomplishments you want to highlight. Some applicants try to squeeze it all in by reducing font and

    eliminating margins. This is a good way to ensure that your resume is not reviewed! No one wants to go blind scrutinizing

    resume number 207 of the day. The first step to creating the one page resume is taking the time to assess each entry

    on the resume and decide if it really adds to your story. If it does need to be included, you can trim any resume verbiagejust as you will likely need to decrease word count in your essays.

    There are also very simple techniques that can help you to reduce the amount of space you are using. We often start

    with the contact information at the top of the page. It is not unusual to see the top of a resume looking like this:

    STACY S. BLACKMAN7162 Beverly Boulevard

    Los Angeles, CA 90036

    323.934.3996

    [email protected]

    Compare that header to this one:

    STACY S. BLACKMAN7162 Beverly Blvd, LA, CA 90036 ~ 323.934.3936 ~ [email protected]

    This approach looks just as polished and professional, but takes up about one third of the space. Small tweaks like these

    are perfectly appropriate when trying to conserve as much space as possible.

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    CHAPTER 3:

    SECTION 1 : Contact Information

    The first section of any resume should be Contact Information. For reasons that are hopefully obvious, you want to leadwith your full name and make it slightly more eye catching than the rest of your resume. This way, your interviewer can

    easily spot your name and avoid any awkwardness! And admissions officers with piles of resumes can easily sort and

    organize. Contact information does not need to be comprehensive. In most cases, your permanent mailing address

    home phone number and personal email address is all you need. Avoid including all of your phone numbers or multiple

    addresses it is just not necessary and can even be confusing. If you are deciding which phone number to include, we

    recommend that you include your home line. You do not want to be caught off guard by a call to your cell phone when

    you are at the grocery store or can barely hear. In some cases, a phone number and email address is enough.

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    CHAPTER 4:

    Section 2 : Professional

    WHY THIS COMES FIRST

    The second section on your business school resume will be the professional section, which summarizes and

    chronologically illustrates your career. Some people place the education section first, but this is generally incorrect. The

    information on the resume appears in reverse chronological order, so if you are currently working, you should place the

    professional section first. In most (not all, but most) cases, the career progress is also most important to MBA admissions

    representatives and that is what they will want to focus on and discuss. This order will flip as soon as you are in business

    school, interviewing for summer jobs. At that point, the education section will precede the professional section.

    WHICH JOBS TO INCLUDE

    Even a young applicant just a few years out of school may have several jobs, starting with part time jobs during schooland developing into full time jobs after graduation. Some of these jobs may have lasted less than a year. In todays

    environment, an applicant could have four or more internships and part time jobs in college, and two to three full time

    jobs in the three years after college. If you are older, these numbers quickly rise.

    So, how does one decide which experiences to include on the resume, and which ones to axe? There are several key

    questions to ask your self when considering this question.

    1. Is the work meaningful? Can you leverage this position to illustrate a specific skill set that you acquired

    or an accomplishment that is important?

    2. Does it support your career path? Does it support your future goals? Does it make sense for your overal

    story? Or was it just a way to make some extra money? An unpaid internship doing marketing outreach for

    a university department will be more important to include than that paying job working in the cafeteria that

    you held for four years during college. (Note that holding a job during college is impressive, and it should

    be noted elsewhere in your application but it does not need to be in the Professional section of your resume.)

    3. How long were you at the job? Once you graduate from college, it is important to account for your time

    If omitting a position from your resume will create a year long gap, then it can be in your best interest to keep

    it on, so that the reviewer can keep track of your progress through the years. Conversely, if you were at a

    job for only a very short period of time (a couple of months), even if it is an all-star position, it generally wil

    not make sense to include it.

    4. How recent was it? The longer you have been out of college, the more it makes sense to omit early careerpositions. Even if these positions took up several years, it is okay to omit them. If you have been out o

    school for ten years, and have some meaty experiences filling the last five years, the first five years of your

    full time experience may not be necessary.

    It is impossible to apply a blanket rule to this process. However, an applicant can combine some judgment with answers

    to the questions above and you should be in good shape. Beware of becoming too attached to any one line item. You

    will need to scrutinize each one and be willing to cut when and if it makes sense.

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    INFORMATION TO INCLUDE

    You will need to include some basic information for each position that you list on your resume. The information to be

    included is as follows:

    1. Name of company

    2. Location (of your specific job, not company headquarters)

    3. Your job title

    4. Dates of this position (start and end)

    5. Bullet points outlining key responsibilities and accomplishments

    This information needs to be clearly displayed for each position. If you have more than one position with one company

    you will need to include dates of each position, responsibilities that are specific to each position, and detail location of

    each position if that changes.

    Some applicants like to include information on their company, such as general mission of the company, common activities

    of the company or annual revenue. This company-level information is not necessary. After all, anyone reviewing your

    resume cares about what you have done, not what the company does. The bullet points under each job description

    will describe your specific activities and these will be much more important than anything at the company level

    Company information can even confuse or mislead. For example, if someone is working in a marketing function at a

    financial services company, or in a CFO position at a consumer products company, the two descriptions (company and

    applicants job) will be extremely different. In summary, keep the focus on you!

    FORMATTING

    While there is no format that you absolutely must adhere to, the following format is recommended because it keeps the

    audience in mind. It is easy to scan, it helps to highlight job progression and in general it is clean and easy to review.

    2006 2008 CHARLES SCHWAB San Francisco, CA

    Senior Product Manager 2007-2008

    I led a team

    I made millions for the company

    Product Manager 2006-2007

    I crunched numbers

    I assisted with market research

    The key to this format is that the dates and locations stand alone so that a reviewer can easily piece together the story

    of your career. It also makes it very easy to see how you have progressed in your career.

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    CONTENT OF BULLET POINTS

    The bullet points that you list under each position should provide the reader with an idea of what you do in your job

    highlighting specific accomplishments. If done effectively, the reviewer can develop a good grasp for your abilities and

    responsibilities, and he or she will be able to understand how you have progressed in your career as they review the

    transitions from one job description to the next.

    Some applicants have very traditional pre-MBA jobs. If you have been working as a Staff Consultant at Bain, or as an

    Analyst at Goldman Sachs, chances are the admissions committee will go in with a pretty good feel for your overall job

    description. While you will want the bullets under your job description, to confirm and bolster their preconceived notions

    of what you are doing in your role, this is also an opportunity to illustrate the things that you have done that may set

    you apart from the typical analyst. So, in addition to outlining some of your standard activities, you may want to include

    that you trained a newly hired analyst, led college recruiting efforts, or organized an office-wide volunteer initiative

    These activities may have taken less of your time, but they are a bit outside of traditional responsibilities and give great

    insight into how you have made a difference for your firm.

    HOW MUCH DETAIL DO YOU NEED?

    This question will be largely answered by the amount of space you have. You are forced to be succinct by the one page

    format. Certain details are truly unnecessary; as they provide background information that does not really help to

    explain what you did. As always, be sure to keep the focus on you.

    Some jobs can be summarized with just a couple of bullet points. Others need many more, perhaps ten bullets to

    summarize all of the diverse responsibilities. If you have been in a job for a long period of time, it is likely that there is

    a lot to say about it.

    You certainly do not need to explain every task ever completed in a certain role. The bullets should be activities that

    you spend a great deal of time doing, or activities that do a good job of highlighting important qualities or skills.

    The bullets should be very brief, as short as one to two lines long. Keeping in mind that the reviewer will likely do a quick

    scan, you will want to keep everything brief, and easy to digest. At the same time, you do want to make sure that you

    are complete.

    It will be a balancing act trying to keep your verbiage succinct while still communicating all important points.

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    WHAT NOT TO INCLUDE

    1. SALARY Salary is generally asked for in the data forms of your application. Salary can be a good indication

    of the level of responsibility in your job. It also demonstrates progression when your salary increases ove

    time. Thus, this information is valuable to admissions representatives, but it should not go into your resume

    2. REFERENCES References are required as part of your MBA application and will play a big role in yourcandidacy. However, there is no need to include them on your resume. You do not need a line such as

    References available upon request or a listing of reference contacts.

    3. REASON FOR LEAVING A JOB Whether you were laid off, fired, decided to try something new, or were

    offered a huge promotion these explanations do not belong on your resume. Some schools will ask for the

    reason you left a job as part of their data form. And there is certainly opportunity to explain these things

    in your interview, recommendations and essays, if you want the reasons to be known.

    4. MISSION STATEMENT Many applicants include a mission statement at the top of their resume: Seeking a

    challenging entry level marketing role at a financial service company. However, in the context of the MBA

    application process, everyone has the same objective, and it is to go to business school. Thus, the mission

    statement is irrelevant.

    ACTION VERBS

    Every bullet should lead with a strong and interesting action verb. Imagine scanning a resume and spotting words such

    as Was, Did, and Made, as opposed to Managed, Spearheaded and Created. The latter set is composed of stronger

    more interesting words and they can really set the tone for your resume. We have included a list of Action Verbs in

    Exhibit A. As you develop your resume, refer to this list and think of ways that you can strengthen the language in you

    resume by utilizing words from this list. Sometimes the same task can be described in different language, creating a

    completely different impression for the reviewer.

    For example consider these two statements:

    A) Filing system was upgraded by my team

    B) Initiated and managed complete overhaul of company information management system

    The second statement showcases an individual who is proud of his/her work and is injecting it with confidence and

    personality, right down to the description on the resume. Also related to this is the fact that the resume should utilize

    the active tense throughout. Avoid passive language as much as possible in your resume and throughout the application

    Not only is it better grammar to use the active tense, but it also conveys a more direct, driven and in control feeling from

    the resume.

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    QUANTIFYING RESULTS

    Another rule to keep in mind for every bullet is to quantify results as much as possible. While it is nice to know that you

    created a new marketing program, conceived of new revenue streams or led the analyst training program, it is also

    important to know that:

    the new marketing program increased awareness by 32%

    the new revenue streams boosted revenue by 18%

    the analyst training program halved ramp up time required by new analysts and tripled analyst productivity

    Again, consider the two bullets presented in the preceding section on Action Verbs. If you add a result to the latter

    statement, it becomes even stronger:

    A) Filing system was upgraded by my team.

    B) Initiated and managed complete overhaul of company information management system. Revamped system

    increased employee productivity by 16%, cut information management costs by 33% and was adopted at

    seven satellite offices nationwide.

    As you can see, including results catapults this bullet into an entirely different level in terms of how hard it works for you

    on the resume! While not all responsibilities and activities have quantifiable results, most are measurable in some way

    and it is always important to include results to the extent possible.

    REMEMBERING YOUR AUDIENCE

    When crafting your MBA resume, keep in mind that this audience is unique from the audience that will review your

    resume when you are interviewing for a job. While many of the resume conventions remain constant, the general contenof your bullet points should change in almost every case.

    When you are interviewing for a certain kind of job, such as investment banking, an engineering role, or a consulting

    position, you will need to include evidence that you are proficient in that type of role. You will need to demonstrate that

    you have a certain set of skills, are familiar with certain types of software, or that you have worked on certain types of deals

    MBA programs do not necessarily care about these specifics. Admissions representatives are looking for evidence of

    specific characteristics that can translate across any type of job, across all sorts of job categories.

    If you are being hired for a Lead Engineering role, you may need to show that you can code in Java Script. This will be

    an essential skill to getting this specific job done. Harvard, however, does not really care if you can code in Java Script

    Coding in Java Script will not specifically make you good at leading organizations, building great companies or innovatingworld changing products and services. They are much more focused on whether or not you are an effective manage

    and have strong leadership potential.

    When interviewing for a transactional banking role, many candidates will list out specific deal names with dollar amounts

    However, this type of detail will not be of interest to a school like Kellogg. Kellogg will be much more interested in

    understanding how you worked as a team to close these deals. They will be interested in your overall quantitative skills

    but beyond that, the fact that you collaborated with an international team across three time zones, or the fact that you

    developed and trained others on a new analysis technique will be more relevant.

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    When you consider which details to emphasize, keep in mind the general qualities that most business school programs

    are looking for. The qualities that MBA admissions committees are looking for are fairly well-known and intuitive.

    LEADERSHIP evidence of accomplishing things through others, challenging the status quo, instilling a vision

    facing challenges, standing up for whats right, prioritizing the needs of the organization above personal needs

    and uniting people behind a goal

    DIVERSITY- elements of background, values, experience, and personal qualities that prove the candidate will

    add something new, exciting, and different to their community

    SELF-AWARENESS Takes responsibility for actions; understands how those actions impact others

    INTELLECTUAL HORSEPOWER a love for learning and a desire for mastery of new subjects; ability to handle

    the programs rigorous academic demands; quantitative abilities

    INTERPERSONAL ABILITIES the ability to advocate, persuade, and negotiate compromise; charm, charisma

    and exceptional social skills

    EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE evidence of team work and team building; creating clear goals, building a sense

    of urgency, identifying the unique talents of team members, motivating teammates, managing a complex

    project, and resolving differences

    DETERMINATION- The ability to overcome setbacks and hardships; determination and courage in the face of

    adversity; drive; the desire to make an impact personally and professionally

    HUMANITARIAN VALUES- Service to a community, selflessness, generosity

    INTEGRITY/ETHICS a clear sense of principles and values; evidence of putting principles into action

    CAREER PROGRESSION evidence that you have distinguished yourself from your peers

    AMBITIOUS CAREER GOALS- Clear career goals and a convincing, achievable action plan for

    achieving career objectives

    GLOBAL POINT OF VIEW awareness of the global nature of business; evidence of adapting to new cultures and

    working effectively with a diverse group of people

    Getting too detailed with regards to industry-specific skills is generally not a good idea. Make sure that you are speaking

    the same language as the admissions committee; do not expect them to be experts in your particular niche. Of course

    most of the above qualities will come through in other elements of your application, in particular, your essays. Howeverit never hurts to keep these all important qualities in mind.

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    Sometimes you can illustrate your leadership or other important skills through examples that are tangential to your

    basic job responsibilities. We discussed this a bit in Content of Bullet Points above, but as you consider how to describe

    a certain job, dont forget to think about some of the following activities, that are all important in spite of the fact tha

    they may not be part of your core job.

    MANAGING OTHERS If you formally manage one or more people, it is important to discuss this. Even if youinformally supervise and mentor someone, it is worth including on the resume

    RECRUITING EFFORTS If you have taken a lead in recruiting, you are acting as the face of your company. This

    shows that leaders at your company respect you and trust that you will represent them well.

    VOLUNTEER INITIATIVES This highlights that you are committed to a balance between work and outside, and

    that you are enough of a leader to draw others into your initiatives.

    TRAINING OTHERS Training, teaching, mentoring and managing are all inter-related and all parts of being a

    leader. If you have played a role in training peers, subordinates or even those senior to you (perhaps on a new

    type of software), it is worth including on your resume.

    NEW PROJECTS Perhaps you spearheaded that new filing system, created a template for a new and essential

    report, facilitated relationships with an important partner or streamlined routine processes. Anything that

    demonstrates you identifying an opportunity and taking initiative is a great thing to include.

    All of the above examples can help to highlight skills that MBA programs value.

    DEMONSTRATING PROGRESSION

    It is always great to show that you are actually progressing in your career. You need to make it clear that over the courseof your career, you have picked up new skills, assumed new responsibilities, developed as an individual and that all of

    this growth has been recognized by others.

    It is relatively easy to demonstrate progression on your resume, when you are promoted while working for one company

    When you show that you were an Analyst one year, and then a Senior Analyst the next year, that is a clear progression.

    However, you need to show progression with more than just your title. The information in the bullets under your title

    needs to reflect the title change, and to illustrate how you have grown.

    For example, as an Analyst, you might be creating extensive financial models. As a Senior Analyst, you might be training

    others on modeling, you might be supervising direct reports, you might be spearheading new deals. The description of

    your responsibilities serves as a way to track your progress.

    It can be more challenging to illustrate your progress when you are hopping between jobs. Sometimes these jobs are in

    different functional areas, so you really are starting from scratch in a new position, as you learn the ropes. However, even

    if you go from learning about brand management to tax audits, you can show that as an employee you are gaining

    greater levels of responsibility and taking more initiative. As you mature, you may have to learn a new skill, but you are

    still more capable of running with and managing a project.

    The most difficult scenario is when you have been in the same position with the same company, for many, many years.

    In this case, you may have to distill five years of experience into a single list of bullets under that one job title. In this

    case, you can list your responsibilities chronologically; most recent first and can pepper the list with dates so that a

    reviewer can see when certain activities took place. Of course in the context of your full application, your interview

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    essays and recommendations will also work to show the story of progression. Here is the example of list of bullets fo

    someone who has been in a job for five years:

    Led development of business units 2008 advertising and publicity strategy, including marketing plan

    for introduction and design of website. Resulted in 32% increase in leads.

    Trained and supervised newly hired financial analyst.

    Developed western regions 2006 investment strategy and debt portfolio analysis.

    Priced and structured over $500 million in commercial mortgage transactions.

    Designed and negotiated an innovative shelf financing structure, which served as model

    for future company transactions.

    Responded to internal inefficiencies by creating software model that facilitated deal analysis and tracking.

    Model was later implemented in all field offices.

    Led legal counsel, engineers and environmental consultants in completing due diligence work.

    TRANSFORMING BULLETS FROM BLAH TO WINNING: EXAMPLES

    To inspire you, we are presenting you with examples of how to make even the most mundane tasks shine. As you wil

    notice, adding specific details makes the information come alive and helps to clarify the writers role. All of our blah

    examples were taken from actual first drafts of resumes (with permission):

    BLAH:Responsible for updating weekly deal pipeline.

    WINNING:

    Overhauled and managed weekly communication which ultimately facilitated internal knowledge sharing and enhanced

    external client relations.

    BLAH:

    Helped with new software implementation.

    WINNING:

    Spearheaded software upgrade in the San Francisco field office by coordinating with software developer, leading training

    sessions and facilitating implementation schedule.

    BLAH:

    Assisted new hires with learning company processes.

    WINNING:

    Created and managed training program for new hires, which significantly decreased average ramp up time. Program has

    run in two offices for past three years.

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    BLAH:

    Analyzed new product prospects for go/no go launch decision.

    WINNING:

    Led cross-functional team in strategic assessment of new product launch for summer 2008. Developed and tested new

    product concepts and conducted preliminary analysis of pricing strategy, volume projections, packaging, promotions

    budget and trade spending.

    BLAH:

    Drafted competitive overview with recommendations and presented to management.

    WINNING:

    Prepared a competitive analysis for the convenience store channel by assessing competitive marketing strategy and

    analyzing competitive merchandising, media and pricing activity. Presented to Senior Management along with

    comprehensive defense plan. Plan implementation led to 8% growth in market share in just two months.

    TRANSLATING TECHNICAL JARGON INTO MBA LANGUAGE

    As we have mentioned above, it can be particularly difficult to summarize job responsibilities and accomplishmentseffectively if you become mired in the technical jargon associated with your role. While this is especially common with

    engineering positions, it can really happen in any industry. Beware of specific computer programs, programming

    languages, company acronyms and other lingo that will cause a reader to tune out or become confused.

    The following what? examples are taken from real resumes. We think you will be just as confused as we were when

    we first read these.

    Our winning examples show how to make the content more accessible and understandable to an MBA admissions

    audience.

    WHAT?

    Created VA1 Business Acquisition.

    WINNING:

    Devised and launched outbound communications plan for our premier voice activated product. Product was well received

    and became cash flow positive within 14 months.

    WHAT?

    Worked on Project Type Top

    WINNING:

    Conducted market research in order to gather requirements for complex translation program. Led product team in

    prioritizing and implementing all audio requirements related to the award winning product.

    WHAT?

    Assessed PY capabilities for inefficiencies.

    WINNING:

    Assessed seven shared features of a major gas utility for process inefficiencies through user research and competitive

    analysis, identifying over $6 million in monthly savings.

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    CHAPTER 5:

    Section 3 : Education

    GOAL OF THE EDUCATION SECTION

    The Education section should include very basic information about your educational background. It should show a

    chronology of schools attended, areas of study and significant activities and accomplishments. As with the rest of the

    resume, it should be easy to scan, so that someone who is becoming acquainted with your background can very easily

    identify names of schools and dates and start to piece together your background.

    Keep in mind that while it is necessary to include an education section, the MBA resume is first and foremost, a

    professional document. Thus, the education section should be brief, and you will not go into the level of detail in this

    section that you do in the professional section. You can feel free to elaborate on anything that is important in your

    essays and interview. Your academic transcript(s) will also help to develop a complete picture of your academic

    experience.

    WHAT TO INCLUDE

    You will need to include some basic information for each educational institution that you list on your resume. The

    information to be included is as follows:

    1. Name of school

    2. Location

    3. Years attended

    4. Degree obtained

    Other information is frequently included, but not essential. You must use your judgment and decide if it makes sense

    for you to include.

    1. Overall GPA, Major GPA For an MBA resume, it often does not make a lot of sense to include the GPA. Your

    GPA will be on your data forms and official transcript. No need to present it again. But if you have the

    space, and you have a high GPA, it also does not hurt to include it.

    2. Major - This can be helpful, especially if your major sheds further light on your career path. For example, i

    you earned a BS Economics, with a major in Marketing, and then went on to pursue a marketing career, that

    major in marketing helps to connect the dots. If the reviewer only saw that you earned a BS Economics, the

    early interest in marketing may not be as clear.

    3. Activities, Offices held There is no need to list all activities, but it is certainly worth including meaningful and

    interesting ones. It is definitely worth highlighting elected or appointed leadership positions within activities

    that were important to you. However, it may not be necessary to include any more than the position title.

    You can elaborate on interesting experiences or responsibilities in your essays. The primary goal of the

    resume is to describe your professional background so go light on this section even if you are tempted to

    explain everything you did. Dont list every club of which you were a member as an undergraduate.

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    4. Part time jobs Part time jobs can take up a lot more space than they really require. As we discuss in the

    Professional Section above, if a part time job helped you to gain relevant skills and meaningful experience,

    you may want to briefly include it. If it was just a way to make money, no need to list the jobs at all.

    5. Explaining that school was self financed - Rather than describing the actual jobs that you held to self finance

    school, you can include a statement such as, self financed 85% of education by working 30 hours a week

    throughout college. This conveys the idea that you were very motivated and that you successfully juggledacademics and outside commitments. Or if your GPA was low, this can provide some insight into why.

    6. Academic awards, such as Deans List Your decision to include these awards depends on the actual award

    They will undoubtedly be listed elsewhere in your application, so if you do not have the space, you might cut

    these out completely, or at least consider abbreviating a long list.

    7. Scholarships As with the awards, you will have to leave it to your judgment to decide how prestigious and

    important your awards are.

    8. Study Abroad This can be a helpful item to include. It shows that you had an interest in learning about

    another country, and learning another language, and it may be a good tie in with the story of your career

    progress to date or your future goals. In general, it is appropriate to include this in the education section,

    although it does not need to be given a great deal of space nothing more than a mention.

    9. Classes taught Teaching positions can be a relevant data point to include since leadership, and subsets o

    leadership such as teaching, mentoring and managing are all very interesting to an admissions committee

    It also shows that you are respected by professors, you have strong communications skills and could

    command the respect and attention of your peers.

    It generally makes sense to include at least some of these details. Many of them will drop off your resume the longer

    you have been out of school.

    Again, remember that many of these things will be repeated elsewhere in your application. GPA will appear on youofficial transcript, and you will self report it in your data forms. Items such as awards and scholarships will be listed in

    data forms as well. As you decide what to include, space will, as always, be a consideration, as will the story you are trying

    to tell. Is it really essential that the admissions committee knows you were a member of the ski club, in a fraternity, or

    that you co-authored ten white papers on a topic that is not relevant to your post-MBA goals? Quite possibly not

    especially if you are tight on space.

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    FORMAT

    The format for the initial, essential information should be consistent with whatever you have used in your professional

    section. You will highlight name of school, location and dates in the same way you did for your jobs. Beyond that, you

    will briefly list out additional information in simple, hopefully one line, bullet points. Anywhere from two to six bullet

    points is reasonable.

    WHAT NOT TO INCLUDE

    1. Lists of courses taken When you apply for a job, it can make sense to list out very relevant coursework that

    will help you get the job done. However, when you apply to business school, remember that the school

    already will have your transcript, and it is not necessary to detail the classes or types of classes taken.

    2. Specifics of part time jobs taken to pay tuition As detailed above, if the skills utilized in the position are no

    relevant, you can skip going into detail.

    3. Description of school Some candidates write a brief description of their schools, especially in cases when

    the school is not well known: Small pre-professional college which is consistently ranked in top 10 of

    engineering programs. This type of description does not belong on your resume. If you feel strongly about

    providing this information, you can incorporate it into optional information sections on your application or

    perhaps in an essay, interview, or a recommender can incorporate it.

    4. Every program attended If you took a few classes at a local college one summer, or did some sort of

    exchange with a school close to your home university, no need to outline every one of these experiences. Al

    of your credits will show up on your transcripts and it really is not necessary to list out several schools on

    your resume, unless you attended full time.

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    CHAPTER 6: Section 4 Additional Information

    GOALS OF THE ADDITIONAL INFORMATION SECTION

    This is a brief, informal section which basically encompasses everything that you want to include on your resume thatdoes not fit into the first three sections (Contact Information, Professional, Education). Some people have a lot they wan

    to squeeze into this section. Unfortunately, it should be very brief, not more than five to six lines at the bottom of you

    resume, at the most, with two to three lines being more appropriate.

    If you do not have essential information that you are anxious to include, you can use this section to outline activities and

    interests. It is not uncommon to see two sentences at the bottom, such as this:

    Interests include skiing, surfing, drawing and world travel. Speak Mandarin and Spanish fluently.

    This may not add a ton to what you can offer professionally, but it does add some color and depth to who you are as an

    individual. It also helps to break the ice in an interview. It is not uncommon for an interviewer to scan your resume

    and find something interesting in that bottom section, that helps both of you ease into the conversation. A mutuainterest in tennis, or an intriguing hobby about which the interviewer is curious, can make for a nice introductory

    conversation.

    In summary, the goals of this section are:

    1. Show that you are multi-dimensional, reveal a bit more about who you are

    2. Help break the ice in an interview, facilitate some easy conversation

    3. Allow you to insert miscellaneous information that you want to include in the document,

    that does not have a home elsewhere

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    INFORMATION TO INCLUDE

    The following is a list of the types of information that you can consider including in this section:

    1. Published papers, books

    2. Patents

    3. Interests such as cooking, reading, writing, painting, athletics, travel

    4. Hobbies such as stamp collecting

    5. Athletic teams

    6. Languages spoken

    7. Awards won

    8. Scholarships received

    9. Unique facts about you: I climbed Mt. Everest, I have traveled to every continent,

    I have participated in seven triathlons.

    10. Volunteer involvements

    11. Computer skills

    While much of your resume will be focused on highlighting your professional activities, it is okay for items in this section

    to just show off a fun, informal and personal side of who you are.

    We have had clients submit resumes with full page sections entitled, Volunteer Activities, Leadership Activities

    Publications. We have then omitted these sections and filtered all of the contents into one of the three standard

    sections. Much of the material might completely get the axe. If there is something that is really great but does not fit

    into Education or Professional, the Additional Information Section is the perfect home for it.

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    WHAT NOT TO INCLUDE

    Always keep in mind that this is the extras section, and as such it should be kept very brief. And it is still part of you

    professional resume, so remember to not get too informal.

    While this may seem obvious to some readers, we have reviewed resumes that boast of titles such as Beer Drinking

    Champion. This type of content is not desirable for your resume. The following is a list of what not to include:

    1. CONTROVERSIAL POLITICAL AFFILIATIONS It is okay to state that you worked on the Democratic

    presidential campaign, but you may want to steer clear of more controversial topics and issues.

    You do not want to risk starting off the interview with someone immediately knowing that you are pro x,

    when they are anti.

    2. DRINKING, PARTYING As mentioned above, dont boast about your ability to guzzle beer faster than your

    peers. Of course it is okay to say that you organized a fundraising party or that you were social chair for

    your sorority, but highlighting that in general you organize great, well attended social eventswell, use your

    best judgment.

    3. LONG LISTS OF ANYTHING A page long list of publications you authored can and should be condensed into

    authored over 70 publications on the heart, including The impact of alcohol on the aortic valve.

    4. TOO MANY HOBBIES OR INTERESTS How passionate can you be about 20 different hobbies? Be selective

    if you want to be taken seriously. It is much better to choose a few things that really interest you and show

    your commitment to them, than to provide a rambling list of everything you have ever tried.

    5. ANYTHING YOU CANNOT SUBSTANTIATE ON THE SPOT You know about 20 words of Spanish, enough to

    get by when you vacation in Mexico, and decide that it would not be too much of a stretch to write fluent

    in Spanish on your resume. Its all okay until your interviewer decides to test your abilities on the spot by

    conducting the interview in Espaol. The same goes for your interest in Asian Art, your golf game or your

    involvement with a community organization. If you are not prepared to speak to it with an enthusiasticinterviewer, its better to omit.

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    APPENDIX: Sample Resumes

    The following resume samples are all based on actual resumes of applicants who were successful in the MBA admissions

    process. They leverage a variety of styles, all of which are acceptable.

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    RESUME [email protected] ~ 510.657.8989

    EXPERIENCE

    2004-2007 JONES CAPITAL GROUP San Francisco, CA

    Senior Investment Analyst, 2006-2007

    Responded to internal inefficiencies by creating software model that facilitated internal deal

    analysis and tracking. Model was later implemented in all field offices.

    Designed and negotiated an innovative shelf financing structure, which invested $250 million

    and served as model for future Jones transactions.

    Led development of business units 2007 Advertising and Publicity Strategy, including marketing

    plan for introduction and design of Web page. Resulted in 12% increase in target awareness.

    Coordinated and performed financial analyses for over $500 million in prepayments.

    Trained and supervised newly hired Financial Analyst.

    Financial Analyst, 2004-2006 Spearheaded software upgrade in the San Francisco field office by coordinating with software

    developer, leading training sessions and facilitating implementation schedule.

    Led legal counsel, engineers and environmental consultants in completing due diligence work

    Developed Western Region investment strategy and debt portfolio analysis.

    Priced and structured over $500 million in commercial mortgage transactions.

    Performed property valuations, market studies and credit risk analyses.

    2003-2004 BANK OF ANGELO San Francisco, CA

    Associate, Securities Lending

    Created marketing presentation materials for potential clients.

    Designed and produced detailed informational trade reports for institutional trust customers

    Negotiated bond prices and lending interest rates with broker-dealers. Performed portfolio and investment profitability analyses.

    EDUCATION

    1999-2003 THE WHARTON SCHOOL, UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA Philadelphia, PA

    Bachelor of Science in Economics, The Wharton School, May 2003.

    Concentration in Marketing. Deans List, May 2003.

    Founding Member, Public Relations Director, Curator: Penn Student Art Gallery.

    Marketing Coordinator: University Department of Psychiatry.

    Tutor: West Philadelphia Tutoring Project.

    Study abroad in Madrid, Spain, Spring 2002.

    OTHER DATA

    Received Jones Community Champions Award for dedicated community service. Developed and published the first

    edition of the Smithsonian Institutes Air and Space Compendium. Participated in San Francisco softball league. Biked

    over 300 miles through Southern France. Alumni interviewer for the University of Pennsylvania. Interests include travel

    skiing, hiking and art.

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    RESUME 2(217) 733-9005 ~ [email protected]

    EXPERIENCE

    2007- present K. BUILDERS Minneapolis, MN

    Management and holdings in $50million in commercial real estate

    Co-Founder and Director of Strategy

    Developed business plan and assisted in set up of general operations.

    Managed all fundraising and marketing efforts for initial fund.

    2005 - 2007 MONTGOMERY AND COMPANY, INC Minneapolis, MN

    Business Analyst

    Designed Asian marketing strategy for a global technology company. Managed projects that

    focused on e-commerce strategy and general distribution issues. Led international teams of 32

    people in Bangkok, Tokyo and Beijing. Recommended changes in distribution strategy in orde

    to meet 18% growth in sales projections. Worked with private equity fund to develop and implement investment model identifying

    industry discontinuities and favored companies. Performed valuations to recommend a $750

    million portfolio of investments and M & A deals.

    Designed retail marketing strategy for deregulation of a utility company. Led client teams in

    identifying target markets and potential product portfolios.

    Created turnaround strategy for Childrens Museum in Cleveland, Ohio. Developed strategic

    assessment focused on building market awareness, increasing membership, and improving

    operating profitability. Worked with children to determine exhibit strategy. Recommended

    expansion of current museum.

    Founded and co-led Office Community Leadership Aspirations Project creating community

    involvement opportunities.

    Led Harvard Business Analyst recruiting effort.

    EDUCATION

    2001-2005 HARVARD COLLEGE Boston, MA

    Bachelor of Arts degree in American Civilazation.

    Honors: Beta Sigma Alpha Academic Honor Society.

    Womens Varsity Rugby Team.

    Director: Campus-wide Social Planning and Events Committee.

    Semester abroad in Paris, France.

    OTHER DATA

    Community Activities: Childrens Medical Center of Cincinnati, Angels Elementary School

    Young Friends Board Member

    YMCA youth soccer coach

    Other Interests: skiing, woodworking, travel, adventure sports (rock climbing, kite surfing)

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    RESUME 31745 Orrin Avenue

    San Diego, CA 60222

    (612) 866-9678

    [email protected]

    EXPERIENCE

    2004-2007 JASONS DEVVERS, INC.

    Start-up firm providing financial consulting on behalf of corporations involved in business litigation

    Manager, 2007 San Diego, CA

    Developed and maintained client relationships with attorneys and corporate executives.

    Led five-person team to complete quantitative analysis and compile report in 75% of the time

    specified. The study included tracing the $400 million fortune of an executive and determining

    methods of allocating assets in a high-stakes marital dissolution case.

    Senior Consultant, 2005-2007 San Diego, CA

    Supervised, trained and evaluated teams of Staff and Senior Consultants.

    Managed cross-functional teams consisting of clients engineers, project managers, and

    finance personnel to successfully develop and defend against lost profits and increased costs

    claims exceeding $500 million.

    Initiated and organized new Staff/Senior meeting program, which increased communication

    and interaction between staff and management by providing organized forum for discussions

    Designed and conducted Internet research and database management training workshops.

    Leveraged creative-problem solving to quantify financial damages under variety of circumstances

    including trademark infringement, business interruption, and breach of contract.

    Member of Start-up Team, Staff Consultant, 2004 Los Angeles, CA Assisted with start-up activities such as selecting office space and 401K plan.

    Created and organized original company recruiting program including development of recruiting

    guidelines and processes, design of print materials, and creation of presentation visuals.

    2003-2004 JOHNSON CONSULTING, L.L.P. Los Angeles, CA

    Staff Consultant

    Developed complex computer models to analyze financial impact of lost profits and increased costs

    Performed research and analyses on industries such as software, entertainment, and public utilities

    EDUCATION

    1999-2003 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO San Diego, CA

    Bachelor of Science in Economics, June 2003.

    Magna cum laude, Dean's list, Platinum Honor Society, GPA 3.65/4.0.

    OTHER DATA

    Worked with Lulu, a childrens clothing importer, during start-up phase. Volunteer weekly as a tutor in the I Have A

    Dream program. San Diego Goldworks community service volunteer. Volunteer kids camp counselor. Enjoy travel

    skydiving, fine art, and yoga.

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    RESUME [email protected] ~ (415) 676-3535

    EXPERIENCE

    July 2007 - Present Arrow International, Inc.,Reading PA

    Project Leader:

    Product manager responsible for Percutaneous Thrombolytic Device (PTD) catheter system

    designed to treat patients suffering from end-stage renal disease.

    Coordinated and supervised product team to develop innovative PTD system.

    Interfaced and built strong relationships with world-renowned physicians to meet the needs o

    the hemodialysis field.

    Organized successful clinical research studies to prove superiority of device over competitive

    technologies, gained 19% market share within 18 months.

    Developed strategic marketing plan to introduce product into international and domestic

    markets, launch exceeded forecasts by 17%.

    Trained and supported 150 person salesforce to effectively market productto health-care community.

    2005 - 2007 Project Engineer:

    Modified and enhanced design features of Pullback Atherectomy Catheter (PAC) system to

    improve treatment of patients suffering from coronary heart disease.

    Conducted extensive market research to better understand patient needs.

    Assessed competitive environment to create feature specifications.

    Summers LMT Swim Club,Yardley, Pa

    2002-2004 Head Swimming Coach:

    Managed and trained two top-ranked swimming teams with over 200 age-group swimmers

    aged 8-18 years. Conducted practice, swimming meets, and fund-raisers

    (raised $15,000 for American Cancer Society). Supervised four assistant coaches.

    Summers Magic Wok Restaurant,Langhorne, PA

    2003, 2004 Waiter: Provided waiter service to restaurant customers.

    EDUCATION Lehigh University,Bethlehem, PA.

    B.S. Mechanical Engineering, June 2005

    President of Gamma Delta Engineering Honors Society

    ADDITIONAL Enjoy running, computers and horseback riding. Launched program to provide support to

    families of patients at Philadelphia Childrens Hospital.

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    2 0 10 S T A CY B L A C K M A N C O N S ULT I N G I N C . w w w . st a cy bla ck m a n . co m A L L R I G H T S R E S E R V E D.

    RESUME 5225 South 18th Street #, Philadelphia, PA 19103, (123) 456-7890

    [email protected]

    PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

    MCKINSEY & COMPANY Minneapolis, MN

    Associate 2008-2010

    Identified revenue enhancement opportunities exceeding $300 million for a major airline joint venture.

    Isolated regional sales performance weaknesses and designed a plan to recover $50 million in revenues.

    Researched and analyzed various channel margins, identifying a $20 million channel improvement opportunity

    Identified $30 million opportunity to leverage existing data to pursue targeted offers and fill product gaps.

    DAVIS MARTIN CORPORATION, Information Systems Company Orlando, FL

    Senior Software Engineer 2006-2007

    Remote Editing Fingerprint Software, System Control and Database Lead Developed transaction-based system that enables police departments to access federal identification resources

    Led team of four in implementation of control system/database interface. Delivered 10% ahead of schedule.

    Performed requirements analysis, teamed with client to define object-oriented strategy to achieve objectives

    Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS), Integration and Test Lead, Software Developer

    Designed search capability enabling FBI searches against a 400 million-fingerprint database within two hours

    Performed detailed image scanner trade study and made recommendations that saved client 15% of future costs

    Developed and integrated graphical user interfaces for fingerprint editing and system control.

    Software Engineer 2005-2006

    Singapore Truck Driver Trainer Simulator System, System Communications Lead

    Engineered simulator to provide superior training, resulting in a projected 20% decrease in future driver accidents Managed team of three in implementation of graphical user interfaces for operator control and debrief stations

    Designed real-time software communication link between truck simulator and operator stations.

    EDUCATION

    UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL FLORIDA Orlando, FL

    Master of Science in Computer Engineering,Major in Computer Architecture May 2008

    VILLANOVA UNIVERSITY Villanova, PA

    Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering,Magna Cum Laude May 2005

    Full tuition Presidential Scholar; Academic Excellence, Meritorious Service, ECE Student of Year Awards

    Division I Volleyball Team Member/Captain, Athletic Scholarship, GTE Academic All-American Team

    ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

    Volunteer: Young Entrepreneur Program, Give Kids the World (Make-A-Wish), OASIS, and Community Care.

    Davis Martin Recruiter: Spoke at career events and conducted interviews for prospective employees.

    Interests: Beach volleyball, team sports, taking pictures, running, camping, and traveling.

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    2 0 10 S T A CY B L A C K M A N C O N S ULT I N G I N C . w w w . st a cy bla ck m a n . co m A L L R I G H T S R E S E R V E D.

    RESUME 6XX Second Avenue North, Suite 112 (323) 451.6767

    Nashville, TN 37201 [email protected]

    PROFESSIONAL

    Gable Capital Partners,Nashville, TN July 2009 PresentAssociate

    Sole associate in a $280 million, multi-partner private equity fund which invests debt and equity in later stage

    growth companies.

    Portfolio Monitoring Review monthly financial results with company management to prepare partner reports

    Provide financial, fundraising and operational analysis. Make strategic industry and capital markets

    introductions. Industries of portfolio companies include business services, healthcare services, IT services, and

    telecommunications equipment.

    Deal Origination Initiate, analyze and screen potential investment opportunities. Present investment

    opportunities to Gable Capital Commitment Committee. Assist in the structuring and issuance of term sheets.

    Perform due diligence. Negotiate terms and legal documents with potential portfolio companies and counsel.

    Fund Raising Wrote private placement memorandum, created marketing materials, and assisted partners in

    the solicitation of LP interests for the Gable Equity Fund, targeted at $100 million.

    TopKing Securities, Inc. Communications & Technology Investment Banking, Richmond, VA July 2008 July2009

    Financial Analyst

    Experience on a variety of equity, private placement, debt and mergers and acquisition deals at various stages

    in their development raising nearly $2.0 billion in capital for companies including Triton PCS, Traingl, Silkost

    Software and The InterCept Group.

    Constructed various company valuation models: Comparable Company Analysis, Comparable Acquisition

    Analysis, Leveraged Buyout, Merger models, and Internal Rate of Return calculations.

    Considerableclient exposure: participated in pitches, due diligence and drafting sessions and preparing FairnessOpinions

    Created and presented materials for Commitment Committee meetings, constructed company profiles for

    industry conferences and worked on a three-person team that wrote and developed the business plan for what

    became First Union Securities most profitable industry group Communications and Technology, InvestmentBanking Division.

    Additional experience in Real Estate Investment Banking through a three month rotation in the industry group

    Managed undergraduate recruiting at Duke University.

    James & Peterson, Raleigh,NC Spring 2007

    Tax Auditing Intern

    The Bank of Lafayette,New York, NY Summer 2006

    Corporate Banking Intern in the Latin America Division covering Argentina, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay

    EDUCATION

    James Univeristy, Providence,Rhode Island 2005-2008

    Cum Laude; Cumulative GPA: 3.5 / 4.0

    B.A. in Political Science with Minor in Economics, May 1998

    Vanderbilt University,Nashville, TN 2004-2005

    ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

    The Masked Ball - Co-chairman of the Late Party, Junior Achievement Teaching / Tutoring Program, Enjoy backpacking,

    Fly-Fishing, Golf, Hunting, Rock Climbing, Running, Soccer & Skiing., Board of Directors of the HighLand Fund, Board of

    Directors of James Alumni Association

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    ABOUT STACY BLACKMAN CONSULTING

    Stacy Blackman Consulting's mission is to help our clients achieve their most ambitious educational and professiona

    goals by making the MBA application process less stressful and more successful.

    Over the past decade we have helped hundreds of candidates with their applications to top business schools; our clients

    have been admitted many times over to every top MBA program worldwide.

    We offer Comprehensive, Hourly and Editing services, including:

    School selection

    Strategy development

    Essay writing assistance: coaching, review and feedback

    Interview coaching

    Planning for school visits

    Reference selection, preparation and editing Developing resumes

    Review of data forms

    Wait list and deferral strategy

    Assistance with extra-curricular involvements

    Coordinating school communications

    In addition to our consulting services, and online publications we have published a companion book entitled The MBA

    Application Roadmap.

    To learn more about our services and resources visit:http://www.stacyblackman.com

    For MBA news and admissions tips, updated daily, visit: http://www.stacyblackman.com/blog

    To see more Stacy Blackman Consulting products, visit: http://www.stacyblackman.com/products