10 Steps To

A Winning
Resume
+ Free Resume Templates!
10 Steps To A Winning Resume

Contents
Your Resume Is Your First Impression 02
Resume In Numbers 03
10 Steps To A Winning Resume 04
Free Resume Templates 15
In our BusinessBecause Resume
About BusinessBecause 19
Guide: 10 Steps To A Winning
Resume, we tell you how to put
together a successful resume
that will help you stand out to
both recruiters and business
schools, with advice from
leading careers experts.

www.businessbecause.com BusinessBecause is a trusted source of information

and inspiration for worldwide business school
Content: Bethany Garner & Shannon Cook
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the business school journey.
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01
 10 Steps To A Winning Resume
Your Resume Is Your First
Impression—Make It Count
The average hiring manager
looks at your resume for just
7.4 seconds.
So, how can you communicate why
you’re a good candidate in such a
short time frame?
In our BusinessBecause Resume
Guide: 10 Steps To A Winning
Resume, we offer expert advice
02
The Resume: In Numbers
for standing out in this fast-paced
and competitive environment.
7.4 secs 77%
Is the average time your resume is looked Of hiring managers reject
at by the average hiring manager[1] resumes with typos[5]
You’ll find tips and tricks on what
to include, what tone to strike, and
how to best design
a resume.
489 75%
Plus, you can download our free
CV templates to help you craft words Of human resource
managers have spotted
your own winning resume. Is the average resume length[2] lies on a resume[6]
77% 43%
Of employers suggest
experienced workers should of CVs written in third-
use a two-page resume[3] person are discounted[7]
99% 76%
Of Fortune500 of CVs with an
companies use Applicant unprofessional email
Tracking Systems (ATS)[4] address are rejected[8]
[1]
LADDERS, 2018 [5]
The Motley Fool, 2018
[2]
ZETY, 2022 [6]
The Motley Fool, 2018
[3]
ZETY, 2022 [7]
TwinEmployment, 2018
[4]
JOBSCAN, 2019 [8]
TwinEmployment, 2018
03
 10 Steps To A Winning Resume
10 Steps To A
Winning Resume
In 2022
If you’re applying for a new role, promotion,
or business school program, having a strong
resume is essential.
This piece of paper, or PDF, is the first impression
you’ll make on a recruiter or admissions team,
and could make or break whether you’re invited
to an interview.
With so much at stake, creating a winning
resume is a real challenge. That’s why
BusinessBecause turned to career experts
for help.
We took their advice, and turned it into 10
simple steps for crafting a strong resume
that recruiters will remember.
04
1
Include only relevant information
When you have years of education and work
experience, knowing what to include in a short
document like a resume can be tricky.
Experts suggest starting with the basics: your
name, email, phone number, and LinkedIn profile.
You’ll also need to include any university degrees
and relevant certifications.
Next, the bulk of your resume should be dedicated
to work experience. In a one or two page
document, you won’t have room to detail every
achievement in every role—so be selective.
“Your resume is your first opportunity to show a
potential employer how your skills and experiences
make you a great fit for that organization and the
role you want,” says Kristin Altenburg, associate
director of recruiting, McKinsey and Company.
For each job or business school application, tailor
your resume. You can do this by looking at the
job or program description, and highlighting the
elements of your experience that match up best.
“Your resume is your first opportunity to
show a potential employer how your skills
and experiences make you a great fit for
that organization and the role you want.”
Kristin Altenburg, associate director of recruiting for McKinsey and Company
“For example, at McKinsey, we seek colleagues
who demonstrate strong problem-solving skills,
inclusive leadership, entrepreneurial drive, and
the ability to make personal impact,” Kristin says.
You can demonstrate these skills and traits by
choosing a few specific examples of relevant
accomplishments.
“Putting quantitative information in your
experiences allows your resume to reinforce your
professionalism,” suggests Isabelle Chevalier,
director of talent and careers at NEOMA
Business School.
If you haven’t been able to demonstrate
every relevant skill through your professional
experience, draw on your hobbies outside of
work. These can be a good way to showcase
skills like teamwork, leadership, organization,
and resilience.
05
 10 Steps To A Winning Resume
2 3
Avoid too many
personal details
Knowing what to leave out of your resume is
almost as important as knowing what to include.
“Age, marital status, referees—none of this is
necessary,” advises Margaret O’Neill, head of
careers at Cambridge Judge Business School.
The only personal details you need to mention
are your name, contact details, and in some cases
hobbies and interests. Everything else should
come back to your experience and skills.
“For most MBA-type jobs in the US, I do not
recommend including a photo,” adds Jerry Wang,
associate director of careers and leadership for
MBA programs at UNC Kenan-Flagler Business
School.
However, it’s worth noting that in Europe,
it’s quite common to include a photo, so
context matters.
“For most MBA-type jobs in
the US, I do not recommend
including a photo.”
Jerry Wang, associate director of careers and leadership
for MBA programs at UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School
06
Keep it to one or
two pages
How long should your resume be?
Margaret from Cambridge Judge advises keeping
it to one page if you have less than 10 years’ work
experience, or up to two pages if you have more.
“The resume is a marketing tool; it’s not your
autobiography,” says Stephen Rakas, executive
director of the Tepper School of Business Masters
Career Canter.
“To be effective, it must address the needs of
the reader, not the need of the writer to tell
everything about themselves.”
Sticking to one page can help you keep the
information concise and relevant, and helps the
reader understand your profile more quickly.
“The resume is a
marketing tool; it’s not
your autobiography.”
Stephen Rakas, executive director,
Tepper School of Business Masters Career Center
07
 10 Steps To A Winning Resume
4 5
Structure for
readability
Sticking to a consistent, logical structure
throughout your resume helps business school
admissions committees and would-be employers
navigate it easily, and quickly grasp your
accomplishments.
List the roles you’ve held—and how long you
were in each position—in reverse chronological
order, recommends Isabelle from NEOMA. After
this, do the same with any relevant qualifications,
such as a business school program, bachelor’s
degree, or professional body accreditation.
Including a summary at the top of your resume
will also help the reader understand who you
are quickly.
“This can be a great way to concisely show the
type of development opportunity or role you
desire and the skills you bring to the table,”
says Kristin from McKinsey.
“As long as [your resume] is clean and easy to
read, it’s good to go,” she adds.
“Including a summary at the
top of your resume will also
help the reader understand
who you are quickly.”
Kristin Altenburg, associate director of recruiting
for McKinsey and Company
08
Choose your words
carefully
To help your resume stand out, think carefully
about the language you use.
When noting your achievements, you can use the
‘STAR’ technique. The acronym stands for Situation,
Task, Action, Result, and helps you structure your
experience in a way that’s easy to understand.
“For example, specifying ‘participation in the
organization of three events that brought together
more than 500 people,’ is much more effective than
‘participation in the organization of events,’” notes
Margaret from Cambridge Judge.
She also advises candidates to avoid using ‘limiting’
words such as ‘quite’ or ‘some.’ Equally, be wary
of too many adjectives, such as ‘outstanding’ or
‘excellent.’
“The occasional adjective can add power to
a statement if used sparingly, but too many
superlatives are off-putting,” Margaret comments.
Abbreviations should also be avoided, she says.
These can make your resume more difficult to read.
Finally, be wary of technical language and acronyms
that people outside your organization might not be
familiar with.
“The occasional adjective can
add power to a statement if
used sparing, but too many
superlatives are off-putting.”
Margaret O’Neill, head of careers, Cambridge Judge
Business School
6
Remember you might be writing for robots
Many companies and recruiters use applicant If you’re unsure about the kind of keywords to
tracking systems (ATS) to speed up the recruitment use, or the job description itself doesn’t provide
process from the get-go. The ATS software can many useful keywords, you can try searching
scan, organize, and even rank applications received LinkedIn.
for a job opening.
“Take time to review LinkedIn profiles of
Since around 99% of Fortune 500 companies use individuals in the role to which you are applying
ATS software, it’s a good idea to create an ATS- to get a sense of how they have captured their
friendly resume that’ll ensure you’re top of the prior experience, as well as the work they are
applicant pile. currently doing,” says Beth.
To do so, Beth Briggs, associate dean of career By doing this, you’ll gain a good understanding
services at NYU Stern School of Business, of what the company wants to see in your
recommends aligning your resume content and resume and stand a better chance of acing
experience with the qualifications that are outlined the ATS—which is only going to become more
in a job description. prevalent in a digitalized society.
“Be sure to use keywords to capture your
experience so that in a scan your resume will meet
the criteria being used in the search,” she adds.
“Take time to review LinkedIn profiles of
individuals in the role to which you are
applying to get a sense of how they have
captured their prior experience, as well
as the work they are currently doing.”
Beth Briggs, associate dean of career services at NYU Stern Business School
09
 10 Steps To A Winning Resume
7 8
Create an easy-on-
the-eyes format
You should also ensure that your resume is
presented in a clean layout that can easily be
scanned by ATS software.
This involves using a neat, readable font (such as
11 or 12-point Calibri, Arial, or Times New Roman)
and avoiding any graphics, charts, or tables that
the automated software might struggle to read
properly.
“It’s recommended that you stick with a simple
format, with good use of ‘white space’ to help
the reader do a quick scan,” says Stephen from
Tepper School of Business.
Kristin from the McKinsey recruitment team says
that although they don’t have a preference on
the kind of resume format used, the information
should always aim to be concise, clear, and
consistent in structure.
“It’s recommended that
you stick with a simple
format, with good use of
‘white space’ to help the
reader do a quick scan.”
Stephen Rakas, executive director,
Tepper School of Business Masters Career Center
10
Simple is best when it
comes to design
Creating a high-quality resume design that’s
both ATS and human-eye friendly should be
your number one priority.
“To attract a recruiter, it is important to take
care of the form of your CV. The CV remains a
standardized communication tool so, even if it
should reflect your personality and your career
path, avoid graphics and effects,” says Isabelle
from NEOMA Business School.
The key is to create a design, or find an existing
resume template, that’s clear and orderly. This
might contain some minimal color, such as in the
top section where your name and title sit, but it
can also remain black and white, too.
Depending on whether you choose a more
colorful design or not might depend on the
industry you’re entering. For instance, if you’re
applying for jobs within luxury fashion, a stylish
design with minimal use of pastel color might
work well to showcase you as someone with a
creative eye.
If you do choose to add a splash of color, make
sure there’s a good level of contrast between the
color and text so that it can be easily scanned by
ATS software.
11
 Executive
10 Steps To
MBA
A Winning
InsightsResume

9 10
Don’t forget to proofread!
It doesn’t matter if you have a shining MBA or
master’s degree or plenty of work experience if
your resume is peppered with typos.
That’s why it’s a good idea to check, check, and
check again. Once you’ve done this yourself
(reading aloud can help) you might try asking a
peer to have a good look.
But remember, you should be intentional with
who you ask to proofread your resume.
“Approach someone familiar within the field you
are targeting—they will know the key experience
and competencies that should be evident in your
CV,” advises Margaret from Cambridge Judge.
She also recommends asking someone who
knows you well to proofread since they might
be able to quickly recognize what’s missing from
your resume. Then, ask someone who isn’t too
familiar with you, to see whether they can work
out what industry you’re targeting and how
you’re presenting yourself.
Asking multiple people to check your resume
will likely result in many differing opinions. Don’t
feel overwhelmed by this—instead, Margaret
recommends searching for commonalities
amongst the comments, such as whether it’s too
long, unclear, doesn’t contain many keywords,
or simply doesn’t reflect your achievements as
accurately as it could.
Show what makes you unique
To stand out among a pool of top performing
applicants, you’ll need to showcase how your
personal brand and unique talents can bring value
to the company in your resume.
This will take more than just listing your roles and
responsibilities.
“Saying you were ‘responsible for’ something
doesn’t tell the reader how good you were at
it--try to focus on the impact and legacy of
each role you had,” advises Margaret from
Cambridge Judge.
You can emphasize the impact you’ve created
by quantifying your successes. Google recruiters
recommend using the X-Y-Z method, which
involves stating what was accomplished (X), how
it’s measured (Y), and how you did it (Z).
“The mindset to have when drafting your bullets
is to try to show how you were elite at whatever
job you had,” says Jerry from Kenan-Flagler.
Don’t shy away from anything that could add
unique value to your resume and help you to
dazzle amongst a sea of resumes. You might
have been on the committee for a student club
or mastered a new skill like coding in your spare
time.
As long as you have a good story to tell when it
comes to the interview process, and how these
experiences might help you in your future role,
recruiters and employers will be all ears.

The trick is to differentiate yourself from many

other candidates with a similar profile and
background to you.

“Approach someone familiar

within the field you are
“Saying you were ‘responsible for’
targeting—they will know
something doesn’t tell the reader how
the key experience and
good you were at it—try to focus on the
competencies that should
impact and legacy of each role you held.”
be evident in your CV.”
Margaret O’Neill, head of careers, Cambridge Judge Business School
Margaret O’Neill, head of careers,
Cambridge Judge Business School

12 13
 10 Steps To A Winning Resume

Free Resume
Templates!
Use these resume templates—provided by careers
experts at three top business schools—to get a
head start on creating your own winning resume.
There are three templates to choose from:
1. Sleek and simple
2. Detail oriented
3. Eye-catching overview

7.4 seconds Download these templates

The average time your resume is to edit and use here.
looked at by a hiring manager

14 15
 10 Steps To A Winning Resume

1. Sleek and simple 2. Detailed oriented

STUDENT NAME FIRST I. LAST NAME

FirstName_LastName@kenan-flagler.unc.edu
City, Country
(Area Code) Phone-Number
Telephone No.
Email: linkedin.com/in/yourlink
linkedin.com/in/your-name-here
EDUCATION
UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA, Kenan-Flagler Business School – Chapel Hill, NC May 2023
OBJECTIVE/SUMMARY Master of Business Administration, Full-Time MBA Program
• Concentration in Function; Enrichment in Industry (see Formatting Examples) GMAT XXX [Optional,
The CV objective/summary is a career objective statement that clearly outlines your career path and only if 700+]
goals. Short: 4-6 sentences. Relevant: tailor it according to the job position you are applying. When • Scholarship/Activity/Achievement [Name of Scholarship – Full/Partial tuition and stipend]
you don’t have much work experience as a recent grad, a strong summary statement can help add
valuable context to your application. Use this statement to communicate the career track you’re UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA at Chapel Hill – Chapel Hill, NC May 2010
pursuing, any specialties from your education or personal projects, and how you will contribute. Bachelor of Business Administration, Finance, GPA X.XX [Optional, only if 3.50 or higher]
• Scholarship/Activity/Achievement
Education
EXPERIENCE
College Name COMPANY NAME – City, State [abbreviated e.g. NC] or City, Country [if non-US location] 2012-2016
Degree Optional, company descriptors are in italics to describe unfamiliar companies. Keep to 1 line
Graduation Year: Position (2012-2015): Dates needed ONLY if you held multiple roles with the same Company
GPA • List various positions under 1 employer with dates to show career progression if applicable
Work Experience • Begin bullets with a variety of verbs to avoid repetition (e.g. Led, Directed, Supervised)
• Open resume bullets with direct action verbs and AVOID “Responsible” or “Assisted”
Name of Organisation/Company Location • Use Times New Roman font; font sizes: Name, 16; Major Section Headings, 12; Text: 10.5
Position/Job Title Position (2011)
• Avoid resume bullets with “widows”, single words on the 2nd line
Experience (Description in bullet points) for example • Do not adjust margins or spacing between lines; do not use 2 pages for on-campus resume
• Use @kenan-flagler.unc.edu email address; remove any hyperlinks to your email or LinkedIn profile
● Conducted product and market research, analyzed data, and discovered new fashion trends to • Remove grammar or spelling underlines in MS Word and create .doc(x) and .pdf versions
anticipate customer needs
COMPANY NAME – City, State [abbreviated e.g. NC] or City, Country [if non-US location] 2011-2012
Skills Optional, company descriptors are in italics to describe unfamiliar companies. Keep to 1 line
Marketing Associate
List relevant skills that you have gained through your academic studies, coursework, internships,
• All numbers should be digits, not words [e.g. 8, not eight]
volunteer work or work experience. Position specific keywords from the job posting. See some • Numbers: K=thousands, M=millions, B=billions, +=more than [e.g. $50M+], <less than [e.g. <2%],
examples below: sf=square feet
• Currencies: Convert all foreign currencies to US Dollar as of 15 June 2015; use $, not USD
Computer Skills: MS Office, Photoshop, Illustrator [e.g. $120K]

Hard Skills: Program Management, Market Research, Data Analysis COMPANY NAME – City, State [abbreviated e.g. NC] or City, Country [if non-US location] 2010-2011
Optional, company descriptors are in italics to describe unfamiliar companies. Keep to 1 line
Soft Skills: Time Management, Problem Solving, Aesthetics, Detail-Oriented, Creativity & Innovation Marketing Analyst
• Include undergraduate internship only if you have <3 years work experience or it DIRECTLY
relates to target position
• Avoid multiple sentences in a single bullet point; the semi-colon is your friend
Certificates & Awards
ADDITIONAL
• See “Resume Review Checklist” for the types of items to include in this section. Some examples:
• “US Permanent Work Authorization” or “Work Authorization: USA – 3 year OPT starting May 20XX
Languages (STEM Designation)” For international students. [Replace “20XX” with graduation year]
• Technical Skills
• Professional Certifications and/or Hobbies/Interests
List the languages along with proficiency level • Languages and/or Additional Activities and Awards
• No more than 3-5 bullets under this section

Download Download
here here
Courtesy of GBSB Global Business School Courtesy of UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School

16 17
 10 Steps To A Winning Resume

3. Eye-catching overview

BB Business
Name
A. Name
Phone
Email
Location
Because
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In the context of my Masters at NEOMA Business School, I am currently looking for a role
as project manager in CSR. My ability to work on several different social and environmental
projects at the same time, my dynamism, and my societal engagement are the key qualities
school applicants, supporting you through
I will be able to bring to my future employer.
every step of the business school journey.
Professional Experience Education
Etam 2020-2022
Project manager for social and environmental responsibility. University name
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Spanish: Professional
Tom Tom
German: Good advice on GMAT and GRE prep.
Project manager CRS (intern)
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• Compare business schools and find out what the
the context of tht ‘TomTom Product Donations’ project Skills top schools—and employers—are looking for.
• Conception and implementation of a good practice
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procedure for donations
• Internet/intranet
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and maintenance of the intranet, CSR World (80 unique • Social media
visitors per week) (5k followers on Instagram)
• Master of ISO Standards
• CSR Culture
Interests • Project management
• Basketball (regional level)
• Thriller literature
• Horse-riding

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here
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