How can I make my finance resume stand out to top employers?

Question

I’ve been applying to finance jobs for a while, but I haven’t had much luck getting interviews. My resume lists my coursework and a couple of internships, but I’m worried it’s not grabbing anyone’s attention. What can I do to make my resume stand out, especially when I don’t have much work experience yet? Should I be doing something different with how I present my skills or experience?

Thanks for your tips!

Answer 1

Hi,

I'm not quite sure exactly which finance jobs you are applying for, but I recently successfully applied for a job in IB and used tips from this article for my resume.

Also: little work experience is not an exclusion criterion in my experience, but it is important that you then highlight 2-3 relevant activities in the jobs you have had. It helped me to go through my activities again (whether daily, weekly or monthly) and then select the most relevant ones for the position I was applying for.

Hope this helps!

Answer 2

Great question. There are a few things that you can do to stand out:

Format: First off, ironically, you don't want to stand out on format. Make sure you have the Wall Street standard template (ping me if you don't have a copy).
Experiences: Ensuring that your experiences are framed in terms of quantified, specific outcomes will make you 100% more successful and interesting as a candidate.
Interests: Don't forget to show off a bit of personality! Include a section that shows who you are outside the office. Many interviews don't get around to talking about finance if your interests on the resume are engaging enough.

There are 10,000 other specific things to work on, though--let's set up a free intro session to talk through how you can rework your resume.

Answer 3

I’m in the same boat and found a few things that helped. First, try to highlight specific skills you’ve picked up, like financial modeling or data analysis, rather than just listing coursework. Also, quantify your achievements wherever you can (banks love numbers). I added a section for relevant projects (like case studies I did in class) to show I’m gaining practical experience. Lastly, tailor your resume for each job. It’s more work, but it made a difference for me.