You finished your MBA, which means the hard part is done. All you need to do now is list it on your resume, which should be easy … right?

Right! Keep scrolling as we lay out exactly where to put an MBA on your resume (hint: start with the Education section), when an MBA has the most impact, and how to make the most of it beyond simply listing your credentials.

Where to put an MBA on your resume

The obvious answer for where to list your MBA is in the Education section, and that’s a good place to start — but that doesn’t mean you should stop there. Mentioning your MBA in other areas (like your resume title and summary) can help up the impact without a lot of extra effort. Here’s how.

Listing an MBA in your Education section

This is the most traditional place to list an MBA on your resume. Make sure to include any relevant specializations, coursework, or capstone projects. Here’s an example:

And here’s a text version you can copy, paste, and edit:

Stanford Graduate School of Business
MBA in Business Analytics
Specialized in predictive modeling and data visualization. Led a team project analyzing e-commerce customer data, resulting in a hypothetical sales increase of 20%.

Leading with an MBA in your resume title

Want to instantly grab a hiring manager’s attention? Put your MBA front and center in your resume title for instant credibility when applying for leadership roles.

Here’s an example:

Name-dropping an MBA in your resume summary

For extra impact, you can also weave your MBA into a resume summary, but exercise caution: It is possible to have too much of a good thing, so make sure you’re not beating recruiters over the head with your MBA. You should only have a resume summary if you actually need one, and you only need to mention your MBA there if it genuinely enhances your job prospects (for example, if an MBA is a must-have for the role and you specialized in an area that dovetails with what the company is looking for).

Here’s an example:

And here’s a text version you can tweak to make your own:

Tech Leader with an MBA specializing in Information Systems. 8+ years of experience leading cross-functional teams to design, build and launch products and solutions. Key achievement: Supervised 10+ market research and user analytics projects by communicating with 300+ prospective customers to identify key pain points.

Remember that your resume is a marketing document — you don’t want to undersell or oversell yourself. Every piece of information on it — including your MBA — needs to serve a clear purpose.

A good way to find out if you have listed your MBA in the best section of your resume, is to upload it to the tool below. It’ll scan your resume sections and provide suggestions for improvement.

When you should flaunt your MBA

Here’s an uncomfortable truth: Your MBA isn’t always going to be the asset you think it is. Sometimes, it makes sense to emphasize your MBA… but not always. Here’s the lowdown on what types of roles can benefit the most from highlighting an MBA — and when you should focus on other things instead.

Technical roles

If you’re applying for big-name companies, it might seem like an MBA is a must-have, but for technical roles like a Data Scientist at Google, an MBA might be seen as an interesting add-on but not a key qualifier.

Listing your MBA prominently for technical roles can signal that you’re more inclined toward management than hardcore data analysis. If the hiring manager is looking for more focused technical types, this could raise eyebrows or even cause them to pass you over.

This doesn’t mean you need to leave your MBA off your resume entirely, but mentioning it once in your Education section is enough. You should also make sure to balance it out with specific technical skills and qualifications so that recruiters are more likely to see you as a technical whiz who also has good soft skills.

If you’re not sure which of your technical skills to list on your resume, use the tool below to get a list of relevant skills and keywords.

Project management

If you’re looking for Project Manager roles, your MBA becomes a little more relevant. This is especially true when looking at tech startups, where breadth of experience is essential. Here, an MBA can be your trump card — use it to paint a picture of yourself as someone who excels both at the technical and business aspects of their role, with the technical acumen to guide projects and the business sense to navigate the wider context.

Senior leadership

If you've set your sights on a senior leadership role, your MBA should take center stage. This includes roles in management consulting, finance, or any kind of leadership role at a Fortune 500 company (for example, if you’re applying for an Investment Banker position at Goldman Sachs or Strategy Consultant at Boston Consulting Group).

These companies are actively looking for candidates with the qualities you’ll find in an MBA, like analytical and strategic planning skills. Even better if you got your MBA from a big-name school like Harvard or Wharton, which still makes a difference with more traditional employers.

Career change

If you're on the verge of a career change and looking to use your MBA as a springboard into a new industry or role, then your MBA is important — but not as important as demonstrating transferable skills.

In this case, it’s not enough to just list your MBA and expect hiring managers to do the rest — you need to connect the dots for them. You can do this by expanding on your MBA in your Education section or resume summary, for example:

MBA, Operations Management, MIT Sloan School of Management. Pivoting from a marketing role, focused MBA coursework on supply chain logistics and operational efficiency. Led a team project to streamline production processes for a manufacturing firm, reducing waste by 20%.

Explicitly addressing your career change here makes a huge difference. Add in your MBA as a key qualification for the new role and outline 1-2 relevant accomplishments to seal the deal and really grab a hiring manager’s attention.

How to highlight an MBA for maximum impact

An MBA is a prestigious qualification, but it's also increasingly common — online programs and night schools have made this once-rare asset much more accessible. This means that you can no longer expect your degree to do the heavy lifting for you — to really stand out, you need to transform your MBA into something more than just letters on a page.

Here’s how to make the most of your MBA.

Add specific focus and coursework

Like anything else on your resume, you need to customize your MBA to fit the job you want. Adding a short blurb after your degree lets you address essential skills and keywords you may not have covered elsewhere. For example:

X MBA in Finance from Columbia Business School.

√ MBA, Finance - Columbia Business School, with emphasis on portfolio management and corporate finance. Led a project on real estate investment strategies, earning top marks.

Showcase MBA-driven skills

The next step is to spend some time analyzing the job description itself. What skills are they looking for on an MBA resume? You can use relevant coursework and projects to address these. For example:

If the job requires: Supply chain management

You could write: Completed an MBA module on supply chain optimization and led a project simulating supply chain processes to reduce costs by 20%.

Articulate the practical value of your MBA

An MBA, more so than a lot of graduate degrees, is a practical qualification. Hiring managers want to see more than a string of letters after your name — they want to know what you’ve done with it. Make sure to include examples of how you’ve used the skills you gained during your MBA in real-world situations, for example:

Leveraged MBA knowledge in business strategy to lead a process optimization project at Company Y, resulting in a 30% improvement in operational efficiency.

Quantify the impact of your MBA

If you’ve gone all the way through your MBA, you know the importance of numbers. Try to quantify your accomplishments whenever possible, for example:

Bad: Completed MBA capstone project.

Okay: MBA capstone project — Devised a growth strategy for a struggling restaurant in a simulated business environment.

Great: MBA Capstone Project — Devised a growth strategy for a struggling restaurant in a simulated business environment, leading to a 40% increase in projected profits.

Above all, remember that your MBA isn't just a testament to your ability to handle academic rigor — it's a symbol of practical business expertise. On its own, it won’t do much for your resume, but alongside real examples and quantified accomplishments, it can turn heads.