This post comes to us from Igor Khayet, President and Founder of My Resume Shop.

As a former admissions interviewer for the Yale School of Management and owner of a career services company, I have seen hundreds of resumes targeted for admission into business school. Sometimes, all it takes to stand out from the crowd is simply avoiding the common pitfalls of bad resume writing. Do not take this process lightly — the resume is the only document in the application that summarizes your entire candidacy. Additionally, most business schools base the admissions interview on the resume and not the entire application.

Here are the 5 most common resume mistakes — and how to avoid them:

1) Focus on Responsibilities

If you have the line “responsible for” in your resume, remove it. Resumes are not about goals, tasks, and responsibilities. Resumes are about achievements. The achievement bullets focus on things you have accomplished as opposed to things you were supposed to accomplish. A good achievement bullet is written in past tense and discusses the context of the situation, what your action was, and the impact it had on the organization (see next paragraph).

2) Lack of Impact

Presented findings to senior managers. Wrote extensive analysis on European Transportation Industry. Participated in monthly project manager meetings. These three examples lack impact, which is critical to writing a great resume. Each bullet should answer not only what you did, but why it matters.  If you presented findings to senior managers, were the recommendations adopted? If you wrote an extensive analysis of the European Transportation Industry, how was the report used within the company or externally? If you participated in monthly project manager meetings, what was your role in the meeting? Great resumes focus on impact!

3) Quantity Over Quality

Most resumes are packed with so much information that it makes it hard for the reader to focus on what is important. Remember that people do not have a lot of time to review each resume and that looking at resume after resume becomes repetitive and boring. Your resume should focus on the quality of information included – not quantity. Three to five bullets per experience that are compelling, descriptive, and show impact are much more impressive than eight one-line bullets that are poorly written and/or do not show impact or clarify the context of the situation.

4) No Story

Your resume is not simply an autobiography of all of the information about you. A good business school resume tells a story of where you have been, what skills you currently possess, and where you want to go in the future. If you are interested in Corporate Social Responsibility but have nothing on your resume that relates to social causes and philanthropy, this will be a tough sell to the admission committee. Do not simply focus on professional work experience, but find other ways to bring out interest such as membership in professional organizations, participation in conferences and workshops, or volunteer work.

5) Aesthetically Unappealing

As a business school applicant, you should already know that presentation matters a lot. The presentation of the resume is no different. A correct use of fonts, styles, and format will make your resume easy to read, and serve as a great marketing tool. Alternatively, crazy fonts and an inconsistent use of style will instantly put you at a disadvantage. One common mistake is having too many section headings that do a poor job organizing the information on your resume. Stick to a simple format of 3 sections: Education, Professional Work Experience, and Additional Information and Skills.

Igor Khayet is the President and Founder of My Resume Shop (www.myresumeshop.com).  He is a former Admissions Interviewer for the Yale School of Management and a current member of the Professional Association of Resume Writers & Career Coaches. Connect with him on Facebook: www.facebook.com/myresumeshop and Twitter: twitter.com/myresumeshop

Welcome to the first installment of our “Business School Reading List” series. It’s all about recommended reading for prospective MBAs. The books we’ll cover are some of the essential texts for anyone interested in management and entrepreneurship — plus they provide some excellent GMAT-level reading practice!

This week’s pick: The Lords of Strategy by Walter Kiechel III.

Why it’s worth your time

This book is a  must-read for budding consultants out there as well as former McKinseyites and Bainies. Kiechel (former Editorial Director of Harvard Business Publishing) covers the birth of “strategy,” a paradigm so fundamental to business today that we can’t imagine corporate America without it.

What you’ll learn

The origins of an industry. Consultants will be familiar with BCG’s “growth share matrix” and McKinsey’s “7-S framework” and nearly everyone takes for granted the Kiechel’s structuring of the modern business world: as one in which outside parties influence senior leadership and help them gain competitive advantage in their respective spheres. However, Kiechel has a unique grasp on the personal narratives or the cultural climate surrounding the emergence of the multi-billion dollar consulting industry forty years ago.

Background on the big names. Key players in Kiechel’s narrative include Bruce Hendersen (founder of the Boston Consulting Group), Bill Bain (creator of Bain & Company) Fred Gluck (longtime managing partner of McKinsey & Co), and Michael Porter, groundbreaking professor at Harvard Business School. Comprehensive and even dry at a solid 328 pages, the book doubles as a short business history and a strategy textbook which explains concepts involving customer, costs, competition, and human capital.

The limits of one approach. Though Kiechel makes some effort to be even-handed in his assessment and does describe some consulting trends as less useful and more faddish, an underlying admiration for the “lords” shines through his occasional criticism. Chapters which address the role of consulting firms in corporate failures and the current economic crisis are not as comprehensive as one might expect. Reviewers have described the last chapter, “Where Was Strategy When the Global Financial System Collapsed?” as an out-of-place coda or tack-on.

Want to read more?

Those searching for a less scholarly, more critical stance on the value of consultants should look to The Management Myth by Matthew Stewart and debut memoir, House of Lies by Martin Kihn while those looking for general management expertise from former consultants should check out The Alchemy of Growth by Mehrdad Baghai and Creative Destruction by McKinsey veterans Richard Foster & Sarah Kaplan.

One-sentence takeaway

The opening chapters of Lords, which cover the intensification of capitalism and “intellectualization” of management during the latter half of the 20th century, should captivate anyone interested in business, history, or American culture.

Happy reading!

Here’s another weekly MBA admissions tip from our friends at Clear Admit. For more advice about the b-school application process, check out their blog.

With imminent interview invites for Round One applicants, we wanted to turn our attention to this important step in the admissions process and share a few very basic pointers on interview etiquette. Though the content of your application materials and comments during the interview are of paramount importance, it’s also crucial to put one’s best foot forward and make a positive initial impression. Here are a few guidelines for interviewing applicants to keep in mind:

1) Dress the part. Unless meeting with an alum who explicitly specifies a more casual dress code, assume that business attire is appropriate. We recommend that applicants dress conservatively, opting for a dark suit (pants or skirt are both fine for women) and a blue or white shirt. Steer clear of flashy brand gear and loud ties, and go easy on makeup and fragrances; you want to be remembered for what you say and who you are, not what you wore.

2) Be pleasant. This likely goes without saying, but we wanted to state for the record that in addition to fostering a friendly discussion with your interviewer, it’s also important to be polite to administrative staff and anyone else you might encounter while on campus or in your alumni interviewer’s office. Flippant comments to the administrative assistant at the front desk often find their way up the chain of command.

3) Be aware of body language. In addition to your comments about your experiences, interests and reasons for seeking an MBA, your interviewer will also be taking note of the way you present yourself. You’ll also want to avoid taking notes or reading from your resume; it can be fine to have the latter in front of you as a reference, but remember that you should be familiar enough with its content to focus on maintaining eye contact and establishing a rapport.

4) Follow up. Make sure that you get your interviewer’s card and take his or her contact information in order to send a “thank you” email within 24 hours of the interview. This is not only common courtesy, but could also serve as the first step in forging a lasting correspondence.

While these steps should help readers in one element of their interview presentation, we’ll offer some more content and strategy focused advice next week. Meanwhile, applicants who are curious about what to expect might want to check out the Clear Admit Wiki, which features first-hand accounts of interviews at all of the top programs and the Clear Admit Interview Guides, which offer in-depth, school-specific interview guidance for nearly every leading MBA program.

Good luck to everyone hoping for an interview invite! For personalized interview coaching and school-specific advice, feel free to contact Clear Admit at info@clearadmit.com.