Bank on Banking

Whether a great market, an average employment environment or an absolutely horrible time to be a banker, one thing is always true: the stronger your resume, the greater the likelihood of landing an interview and, ultimately, securing the job.

If we think of getting a job, the job you want, as scoring a 100% on an essay exam, your resume is the question that always annoys students because while most questions are worth 10 points or so, this question was the one that was worth 50-60 points – in other words, get this question wrong, and you can kiss that 100%, or even passing the exam, for that matter, goodbye. Metaphors aside, I think everyone understands the importance of a resume, so I’ve decided to pull together an assortment of tips and notes designed to help each of you draft an impressive resume that can effectively highlight all of your strengths.

For many people, this article may just be reinforcing what they already know/believed to be true. For others, it will seem a bit out of left field and different from what they are used to building. Either way, I hope that these tips and explanations will get all of you on your way to creating phenomenal resumes that only a complete fool would pass on.

Quick note: The bulk of this short primer is designed with analysts and associates (junior positions for those outside of banking) in mind, and, as such, some aspects, such as many of the numerical limitations described below, will not apply to seasoned or senior employees. If you have any questions regarding your resume specifically, feel free to drop me an email. Without further delay, here we go.

Scream it loud, scream it proud – what your resume should convey

Leadership

This should not be surprising to anyone, right? Employers love to see leadership traits and qualities on an applicant’s resume. Whether through work experience, academics, extra curricular activities, or some combination of the three, pointing to concrete examples where you had to, or chose to, step up and lead the pack is always welcome, always appreciated, and always respected.

Team player

If lacking any sort of leadership experience is a red flag, thing of lacking any experience with being a strong team player as 100 red flags, 10 trumpets, and Paul Revere on his horse – in short, you need to show that you are a team player. Let me clarify, however, that being a team player does not mean that you had to have played on a sports team in college, or that you need to include your high school wrestling team days on your resume (please don’t, for the record). What I mean by being a team player is just that you have experience working in teams, and functioning very well in teams – whether through community service events, participating in a sport, large college projects, or working with a team at a previous employer or internship (i.e. sales team, or, for banking, working with your associate and VP on a few projects). At the end of the day, the employer just wants to know that you work well in teams, and that you can handle the give and take associated with being a team player – things are not necessarily done the way you want them to be done, and, at the same time, you need to be able to speak up when you are confused by something or think there may be a more effective way of taking on a task. Remember, you will be spending MANY hours per day, let alone per week, with these people, and if you can’t play nice, then there is no way that they will want to bring you onto their team.

Employee plus, plus

A strong employee and strong academic performer are absolutely beneficial to your candidacy when applying for an investment banking position (yes, I know I am stating the obvious). That said, too many people get carried away with employment and academics thereby forgetting to include a few lines near the bottom of their resumes for hobbies and community involvement. Whether applying to business school, or for a job, the resume reviewers like to see a well-rounded applicant. By showing off some of your extracurricular activities, you achieve two benefits: first, you show the reviewer that there is more to you than a job and a GPA, and second, you are giving the reviewer an opportunity to find common interests and hobbies with you – and having a common hobby definitely makes your candidacy, at the least, slightly more appealing, and, if invited to interview, makes for a much smoother and relaxed interview.

It’s in the details

Hopefully this is something everyone knows already, but whether it’s obvious is irrelevant; it is definitely worth repeating: Pay STRICT attention to detail, every detail. In other words, watch the typos, grammar missteps and poor styling (e.g. font consistency, line spacing, etc.), because if you don’t, you are essentially saying two things: 1) I don’t really care enough about whether I land this job to check my work, and, therefore, 2) move on to the next candidate.

Break it down one time – general section overviews

Extra Curricular Activities

ECs include community involvement and hobbies and should always find a small place in the resume towards the bottom of the page. I usually stick with a few general rules of thumb: 1-2 lines for hobbies, and 1-2 positions for volunteer/community work containing up to 2 bullet points per position. This gives the reader a chance to see that there is more to you than an education and a job, while at the same time not overpowering the true merit of your candidacy, that of your work experience and/or your education.

Education counts, but not that much

General rules of thumb: if you are in undergrad, it kicks off the resume; if you are out of school for a year with strong experience (and have an internship or two), then your education section falls just below work experience – essentially whichever area is stronger leads off the resume. Do not, however, allow your education section to encompass more than 2-4 bullet points (by points I mean lines, which includes GPA, major(s), awards and special projects – such as study abroad programs), as I have seen resumes with education sections spanning 10+ bullet points. Once you get into 5 or more bullet points, it becomes too much and starts to look more like filler and resume fluff, than relevant and candidacy-supporting information – odds are, your resume will be quickly overlooked.

Quick note: regarding B school job seekers (meaning those students who are about to graduate or who have just graduated and are looking for full time employment), I usually recommend that education only comes ahead of work experience if you are a career switcher without a strong internship in your desired field to support your candidacy, or if you feel the value of your school outweighs the value of your internship (attending Harvard, Stanford, etc). Furthermore, by career switcher, I mean someone who is drastically changing their career, not going from banking to consulting (which, although the two are very different career paths, experience in one will still hold up well against experience to the other). Once you start working at a full-time position, however, work experience should overtake education for the resume leadoff spot. While it is impressive that you attended Harvard and earned your MBA, your strong work experience is what will carry you to your next position – leading off with your education is a sign of poor employment growth, or lackluster previous positions – you need to take pride in your past employment, otherwise no one will.

Employment

Regarding your employment history, I recommend a 3 position cap (including internships and full time employment). Each position should include up to 2-3 bullet points, EXCLUDING your current or most recent position as this should be your flagship (or anchor, if you will) position, and pull the entire resume. The current position can have up to 10 bullet points (if you are including transaction experience bullets – for the bankers) or 5-6 bullet points without transaction experience. In my experience, resumes with 15-20 bullet points for a single position begin to appear redundant and often lack any real pop, therefore failing to make a strong or lasting impression – stick with fewer bullet points that have a far greater impact on the reader.

Little things that go pop – some general rules of thumb

Action verbs

Powerful action verbs – manage, design, implement, oversee – to mention just a few examples, all have a far greater impact on the reader than worked on, helped with, contributed to, etc. Own your projects and responsibilities – just because someone checked your work doesn’t mean that it wasn’t your work.

Bullet format

Ensure the bullets are justified, properly spaced, and of the same style (yes, I have seen resumes with different style main bullets before – primary vs. secondary bullet points do not necessarily have to be the same, but secondary bullet points should be indented further).

Consistent line spacing

The spaces between your lines should all be the same font size. While the difference between 30pts and 8pts is quite visible, the difference between 10 and 11, or 8 and 10 is not quite as easy to pick out. Go through your resume line by line and make sure your spacing is exactly how you want it to be and how it should be – if you don’t, someone else just may, and applicants have been passed on for far less than that in the past.

Font styles

Please, Do NOT overuse the bold, underline and/or italic font styles. I know that they are fun to play with, and help to call attention to different aspects of your resume, but they are also very distracting. Absolutely use the styles, but use them sparingly and consistently from section to section – the last thing a reviewer wants to see is a resume with every other word bolded, italicized and/or underlined. – less is more, and, as usual, moderation is key

Your name

Your name should be at the top of the page and typed in the largest font of the page – that is all.

Resume length

Here comes the argument, but I have to go here anyway. Keep it to ONE page, please. I know that a lot of people don’t necessarily agree with this, but unless you are a seasoned professional, there is rarely any strong reason for your resume to run over 1 page – I have seen people (analysts and associates) not even look at a resume STRICTLY because it was 2 pages and the student was just coming out of school (both Ugrad and B school). I know that there is a lot that you want to convey, but save some of it for the interview – remember, a resume reviewer spends an average of 3-4 minutes looking at a resume (although many of the people I know spent more like 1-2 minutes), so you want to keep it brief.

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