We all know that adcom looks for career progression, and promotions are a plus.
How do you signal career progression when it's not due to promotions but at different firms?
My career track:
-1.5 years back office (analyst) at brokerage firm
-0.5 years back office (associate) at I-Bank
-3 years front office (jr analyst) at buyside firm.
Now this progression is something many back office analysts would want.
But going from associate --> Jr analyst could raise the big red flag of a demotion, which would not be true.
How would I signify that I made career progression here? Would they just assume it due to my large bump in bonus + smaller bump in base, or do I have to waste an optional essay on it (when I'd rather use it on something else)? I wonder if I should just indicate "external promotion" (or whatever the term is) on "reason for leaving"
This will obviously depend on the school and the specific essays, but I imagine it can tie into your career goals somehow. Just about any description of post-MBA goals is probably going to include some explanation of where you are today, let alone a description of "why school X". Like anyone who does not have a "standard" career progression (BB IBD --> Buyside Associate, for example), you'll probably have to use another sentence or two to explain. For every school I'm applying to outside of Sloan, I have mentioned how my career has progressed, why it's time for bschool, and how my experience and school will get me to my short/long term goals.
I also imagine it would fit into your "Reason for leaving" for most schools, and will be implicit in your resume explanations. AdComs are well aware that Buyside is more preferable (and certainly more competitive) than back office at a brokerage firm or bank. I would think that your move from back office to buyside might be a tough enough move that it could be the topic for an essay (e.g. how you networked your way into it).
What do you mean by resume explanations?
Sorry, that was worded quite poorly. I really just meant that your resume bullets will probably show a clear career progression, even if the titles don't necessarily look like it. Resume bullets under your back office jobs will probably be a bit more bland (for lack of a better term) than some of your front office bullets.
Again, I would anticipate that this will make it into your essays somehow anyway. What's your post B-school goal? And why?
BO-->FO How well received is this accomplishment on MBA apps/interviews (Originally Posted: 06/16/2013)
I'm assuming there are a few folks in the WSO community that have overcome the back office and moved onto greener pastures.
How well received was this as an accomplishment/career advancement for your MBA profile? I know that adcoms often bulk together everyone in finance but we all know the difference between talent in BO/FO isn't comparable.
Interested to get some color. Much appreciated brohemians.
They'll look at your experience more so than fap to the idea of the move . Adcom won't think it's the golden chalice likeeveryone on here does but maybe you can work iit into an essay
Appreciate the insight
Don't have much insight on how much admissions really cares about these transitions but do know people that were working in the BO at places like GS/MS that ended up at INSEAD & Wharton w/o working in the FO...they had 3.7+ undergrad gpas at good universities and 720+ on the GMAT. So I don't think applying from a BO position to B-school will necessarily hold you back in the admissions process as long as your overall application is strong and your story makes sense.
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