Planning note — 10 September 2026: Follow each business school's current CV instructions before applying general formatting advice from this 2020 article. Your CV also needs to connect with your goals, essays and independent recommendations. Our MBA admissions guidance explains how to assess readiness, career direction and school fit before writing.
MBA applicants must understand that they are considering to pursue a program that is more experiential in nature than a specialized Master’s Degree program. While indicating the knack for conducting research and comparative studies, being brief and crisp in your communication is essential, and a good MBA resume must display those traits.
1. Follow the school's stated length and formatting requirements. Keep the CV concise and select details that explain your contribution, responsibility and impact. Where technical work matters to your record, explain its significance clearly to a non-specialist reader rather than removing it automatically.
2. Choose your action words or verbs carefully. Aspects of leadership (one can even replace that with initiative if there were no opportunities provided to display leadership at work), team work, business management, finance, accounting, risk taking and accomplishments must be highlighted using appropriate power-packed action words.
Some examples for reference are enlisted below:
- Management Skills: Administered, Analyzed, Chaired, Coordinated, Delegated, Organized, Planned
- Communication Skills: Addressed, Authored, Collaborated, Formulated, Influenced, Negotiated
- Research Skills: Critiqued, Evaluated, Inspected, Investigated, Organized, Remodelled, Solved
- Financial Skills: Allocated, Appraised, Audited, Budgeted, Computed, Projected, Researched
- Creative Skills: Conceptualized, Customized, Designed, Developed, Revised, Set up, Validated
- Helping Skills: Assisted, Counseled, Facilitated, Guided, Motivated, Rehabilitated, Trained, Verified
- Stronger Verbs for Accomplishments: Achieved, Attained, Conceived, Discovered, Expanded, Founded, Innovated, Launched, Pioneered, Upgraded
3.The experiences cited through the resume should help you look progressive in nature. Your choice of verbs should impressively reflect personal and professional contributions or development. Showing numbers depicting contributions to business growth helps.
