Q) I naively resigned from my job in December anticipating an acceptance offer for Round 2 MBA application. I couldn’t convert the interviews. Now I have a 3-month employment gap. Should I start preparing for Round 1 deadlines without a job offer in hand?

This is a common challenge applicants face post pandemic when the Consulting, and Technology industries couldn’t anticipate customers’ need to move out of their homes and explore activities outside the Technology ecosystem.

Consulting that depends on the Technology industry was the victim of this optimistic forecasting.

If you work in Consulting, the entry-level boom that the industry experienced in the past 3 years have come to an end.

Now, if you apply to Round 1 deadlines in September without a job offer in hand, there are two challenges you are likely to face:

1) Lack of Confidence

Even the best clients who had some setbacks in terms of employment gap from the department becoming obsolete or the project or product deprioritized from lack of funding or demand approached the admission process with a lot of skepticism. Such a negative attitude towards completing the deliverables could be noticed in the quality of the output in the essays and even how they coordinated recommendation letters.

One way to immediately build back your confidence from the employment gap is to join a non-profit and fully immerse in helping deliver for the underprivileged or those in the society who needs your expertise the most.

If you are from consulting, think how you can apply your consulting skills to build solutions, support beneficiaries with knowledge transfer and educate your peers about the best way to improve the efficiency of the team.

Even for the best candidates, it takes at least 2 months to get an offer in a down market that is at par with the previous job offer – in terms of salary package and the job title. This gap is expected. By joining a non-profit and dedicating at least 10 hours a week, you will build you confidence, access influential networks, and most importantly, you will have stories for your MBA application essays.

But the best solution to get back your confidence after an Employment gap is by getting a job offer at par with your previous role. Prioritize job search over Round 1 MBA application. You will have equally good opportunities during Round 2.

2) Recent Experience

The first update waitlisted applicants send to schools is about a recent promotion or an award. This is a big giveaway on what schools value. I had to edit so many essays where the first draft of clients all had mentions of experiences from a year or two year ago. This is a big red flag if you are targeting T10 or T15 schools.

Recent experience is valued over milestones from a year or two years back or even from college unless the milestones are truly in the top 1%.

You should be aware of this preference.

Get a job offer, lean into the onboarding process, and join projects where you can deliver for your new company in the shortest time.

With this strategy, you will have volunteering and impactful recent contributions for your Round 2 MBA application deadlines in January.

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