On the Importance of Research and Fit

Moving on to grad school or a new job is a big transition in life, and to make the changeover to your new situation as smooth as possible it helps if you are very familiar with where you are going. This is important at all levels: from choosing the right school or company to target in the first place, to demonstrating how you can fit in and contribute to their cultures and systems during your interview.

So..  do research!  For jobs, that means getting a feel for who works there, what the company does, what it sells, and how it differentiates itself from the competition.  For schools, it means understanding (among other things) how its culture and curriculum are different from other programs.  Not only are individual MBA programs very different from one another, but also they are constantly evolving to the forces around them. On that last note, here are a few places to get you started on reading about how the MBA curriculum at different schools is unique and evolving.  

1. Harvard Business School

Field of Dreams: Harvard Business School reinvents its MBA Course

This Economist article highlights the addition to HBS of a new practical learning opportunity, called FIELD (Field Immersion Experiences for Leadership Development). 

2. UCLA Anderson

UCLA Anderson School of Management Announces new MBA Curriculum

This article demonstrates the importance of having clear career goals BEFORE applying to the program, as there is now greater emphasis on the internship, and how it will lead you to achieve that short-term goal upon graduating. If you don't know what you want to do, how can you choose an internship that will give you meaningful experience? This is something applicants should consider as they write their goals essay.

Here are some additional details from the UCLA Anderson MBA Admissions Blog.

3. Carnegie Mellon Tepper

Tepper School Introduces new MBA Curriculum

According to this article, there will be a greater emphasis on developing analytical decision-making ability and preparing students for the workforce.

Clear Admit offers a writeup of CMU's changes here with additional links.

4. Georgetown McDonough

New MBA Curriculum Prepares Global, Innovative, Principled Leaders

The article states that, "From the very start of the program, the new curriculum is filled with both classroom and experiential learning that will develop Georgetown McDonough students into innovative, principled, and entrepreneurial leaders with a global perspective to make a substantial impact on business and society."

These are important attributes Georgetown is looking to instill in its students. Of course, if you possess such skills (like the ability to drive innovation or bring an entrepreneurial view to a problem) as an applicant and can highlight them in your application, than this could wok in your favor. The same applies to all schools above.  Show in your application that you already possess some of the attributes they are looking for, and that you can fit in to the culture they currently offer, or want.

I have these and other links at my delicious page. Not everything is related to your next steps, but there are lots of links to topics such as MBA, LLM, employment, the interview, and even the topic of fit.

John Couke
john.couke@gmail.com

Should a resume be 2 pages or 1?

Your resume is one of the most important documents you have, and requires constant attention and updating, even if you are not looking for a job or applying to grad school.  How long should this document be? Look around on the internet and you'll see people advocating for a 2 page resume, especially if you have a lot of working experience or a lot of academic accomplishments like written publications. Others swear that the only good resume is a 1 page version, where you limit and focus the content on just that which is most relevant to its audience.  Which is right?

My short answer is that the 1 page resume is the only document which should be used in your job or school application (except for those positions that very explicitly ask for a detailed and complete curriculum vitae, usually involving lengthy detail on academic accomplishments).  But that doesn't mean there is no use for a longer version.

I recommend regularly maintaining and adding to a 2-4 page resume, that is inclusive, and documents all of your positions and accomplishments. When you decide to apply for a job, or grad school, or anything else that requires a resume for that matter, then you can take this long resume and cut it down to a final 1 page version that is highly presentable because it shows a focused and strategic version of you.  For the purposes of this article, let's call the long list of accomplishments the "master" resume, and the 1 page version the "finished" resume. There are several benefits to be had from such a system.

Benefit #1: You can keep everything, without having to show everything.

For many, it is hard to cut their 6th consecutive M&A deal from a resume, especially when they all seem to be so interesting!  But the reality is that this level of duplicity is rarely necessary in a finished resume.  So, keep the master resume as a comprehensive list, while the finished resume can be a more focused version that contains just those contents that are most relevant for the job or application.  This is a great way to fulfill both urges people feel when they make a resume: 1) they want it to reflect absolutely everything, and 2) they want to feel that it is focused to the individual reader. It is hard to accomplish both with just one document, so don't even try.

Benefit #2: Content which is cut from the final version doesn't disappear.

I used to keep just a 1-page resume, and so when I decided to add something, invariably something else had to be cut.  This is fine of course, but what if one of those cut accomplishments may have some level of value in a different, future situation? If all you are doing is continually refining and juggling the content in your 1-page resume, then once you cut something you may forget about it - and it may be useful later.

Benefit #3: The master resume can be easily adapted into a finished resume that is targeted for specific situations. 

I've mentioned here that the finished resume needs to focus the reader's attention on the details of your background that are most relevant for them. Given this, a finished resume for your application to the MIT Sloan MBA program (where, by the way, they require a resume that is not "more than one page in length (up to 50 lines)",  is not necessarily going to be the same resume you would submit for a job as a domestic sales manager at a fashion retailer. Your finished resume should instead be catered to fit each individual need to which it may be applied. 

Note that as you finalize resumes for different purposes, you are not only cutting the volume of material so that it fits 1 page, but you may also be tweaking the word choice within bullet points to highlight different skills that you may aim to highlight for different purposes.

But why is it so necessary to make all of these painful cuts in order to arrive at my finished 1 page resume? Wouldn't a 2 page version just be easier to make? Why do I have to carefully go over all of my accomplishments in order to find just those key ones that are most representative of my skill-set, and that are most relevant to the reader? In asking these questions, you are giving yourself the answers: you need to make all of these decisions and evaluations of your resume content, so that your reader doesn't have to.  Your 1-page resume is the movie trailer of (the relevant parts of) your life - it is short, to the point, and gets the viewer interested in wanting to learn more.  Can a two-page resume do this? In most cases it can, but a one-page resume does it better, because it foes it more succinctly. There is a reason why movie trailers are only 2 minutes on average. It is not because there is anything wrong with a 10-minute trailer. The reason is because 2 minutes is all that it takes to make you understand, and get you interested in the story being told.

Here's a quick summary of the benefits of having a 1 page resume:

1) A 1 page resume offers the strongest initial impact, and makes it easy for the reader to quickly scan your background and be impressed.

2) A 1 page resume has only the most highly relevant and impressive content, because you have taken the time to select which bullet points to include.

3) A 1 page resume doesn't require the reader to go back and forth between pages or have to hunt for what they are looking for. Everything is laid out clearly.


John Couke
john.couke@gmail.com

Poets&Quants Demystifies the GMAT

In this article, Poets&Quants features a Kaplan graphic demonstrating several interesting GMAT trends. It's worth a read to simply learn more about the new integrated reasoning section that will be featured beginning on June 5th of this year. But one of the best sections shows the results of a poll conducted by admissions committee members about what element of an application is most likely to be an application killer. A full 58% cited a low entrance exam score - meaning (presumably) either the GMAT or TOEFL.


John Couke
john.couke@gmail.com

The First Post

Hello, and welcome to my new blog. I intend to make this blog relevant for those interested in taking the next step; whether it be applying for an MBA, LLM or other graduate degree, or starting the process towards a new career. I will be posting about events, opportunities, ideas, people, as well as my own opinions on a range of topics related to both education and employment.

The start of this blog coincides with my own next step from one phase of my career to the next, a step that I am sure will be an interesting one.  I live in Tokyo, but aim to write to an audience based not only in Japan but all over the world.


John Couke
john.couke@gmail.com