Resume Revision

Essay writing is kind of fun for me. Writing has always come pretty easy for me and I've always preferred writing papers to taking exams. I feel that I have more control over the way I'm perceived in an essay, so I've already started thinking about anecdotes and stories to tell when I start my applications. As productive as essay brainstorming has been, I've been putting the cart before the horse because I should really try to refine and improve my resume so that I can get a better sense of what my perceived weaknesses will be. The resume in its current state needs a face lift.

Before I applied to MLT in September, my resume was essentially a list of my duties. I didn't really speak about my accomplishments whatsoever. When I prepared my resume for MLT, I tried to make my resume more achievement oriented by injecting sales figures. Lots of the bullet points still need refining, though.

When applying to jobs, I don't even include the first job I had out of college (3-month program with the United Way) or the internship I had after that. In my mind's eye, my pre-publishing experiences aren't really relevant, but I'll need to include at least a bullet point for these two positions and these bullet points need to reflect a major accomplishment. I have to reach back into the deep recesses of my mind to think of something to write about.

I also need to translate these accomplishments into general terms. It's difficult talking about my project that generated half a mil in revenue when other b-school applicants are talking about 15 million dollar accounts that they worked on. I need to think of points to contrast my accomplishments with. So I can talk about my 500 k project, but then I need to say that similar projects average 200 K or I need to talk about how I exceeded a goal. The resume will probably be the most painstaking aspect for me. Had I done my due diligence and kept my brag book up back 5 years ago, I'd have a record of my older achievements. Now, I'll have to make the best with what I have. Perhaps I can get in touch with my former supervisors and get some hard figures from them.