Please give us a full description of your career since graduating from university. If you were to remain with your present employer, what would be your next step in terms of position?

Sample One

I have had a 10-year marketing career full of diverse experiences – from large multinational companies, to an international family-owned company, to my latest experience as an entrepreneur.

I started my career at Acme Corporation as Assistant Brand Manager (ABM). I developed a solid foundation in marketing - my data-driven decision style, structured way of working, and leadership skills are all reflections of Acme’s culture. I also started my international career when I was promoted to ABM senior in Canada to manage Widgets brand for the North American region, from Canada to Mexico.

I joined Computer Tech when my former Acme boss asked me to help restructure the Computer Tech Canada's marketing function. I started as Audience Manager for enterprise accounts, tasked with generating demand in the top 400 enterprises in Canada - a group accountable for 50% of the company's $300 Million revenues. Later, I was promoted to Marketing & Communications Lead, where I led a group of eight people in charge of generating demand.

My next position at House Goods further strengthened my leadership, analytical thinking, and people development skills. At House Goods, I was accountable for a 75 million USD business, and a group of seven people. My new responsibilities required me to develop new skills, such as negotiation, where I learned how to build win-win relationships when setting the monthly goals, business priorities, and marketing spending with third-party brand owners.

My family and I decided to move to Chile to pursue other goals. In Chile I started my own business. Because the positive worth-of-mouth that the first project generated, now I have two projects in progress and other three in pipeline. The next step will be to recruit professionals to attend all the leads generated and increase the revenue of the start-up.

Sample Two

While at university I studied economics and political science. As part of a junior year fellowship I worked with a microfinance NGO in Thailand, which set me on my career path. After graduating I decided to gain experience in finance by taking a job as an analyst at Goldman Sachs. The experience taught me how to evaluate investments and to perform thorough due diligence. While I enjoyed the challenge presented in my career at Goldman, I felt compelled to help others in the world more directly. After two years I decided to start looking for a position within the non-profit sector. Because of my finance background I decided to start within a finance role, planning to transition to an operational role at some point in the future.

I researched the organizations that managed operations across the world from a NYC headquarters, and ultimately took a job as a manager of finance at ILO, an organization that provides fundraising services for NGOs internationally. I was soon promoted to senior finance manager, overseeing all of the forecasting for our partner organizations. If I were to remain with ILO my next step would be Director of finance, which would be a similar function with more management oversight.