First, let’s get into the “What” of your bullet points, as in what types of information, projects, etc you should include in your resume. Contrary to popular belief, when it comes to information in a resume, more is certainly not always better. A clean resume with a decent amount of white space doesn’t necessarily mean that you lack experience, but rather, that you have created a reader-friendly resume recruiters will want to scan. Whether you lack experience will be determined from the information in your bullet points, not how much space you can take up on the page. Now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s focus on what should be included.

In short, you first want to do a bit of homework, if not on the company, then at least on the field/position in question. If, for example, you are pursuing an IB analyst position, check out some job descriptions and see what they’re customary responsibilities and projects will entail and the skill sets required. Next, take an honest look at each of your experiences and ask yourself what you’ve done there that would be relevant, applicable, helpful and/or useful to the position. From there, you will have the basis for what you should include in your bullet points, listing the most relevant and/or impressive first, since many recruiters will only look at a bullet point or two per experience, so you want to lead off with your best foot to inspire the person to read on.

So this highlights what should be included in your resume in general, but let’s take a few minutes to cover what should be included in your resume specifically for targeting IB (and similarly for consulting, S&T and buyside, though there may be some tweaking). First and foremost, any types of projects that involved valuation, financial modeling, or analyzing company financials should be included in your resume. While it is very easy to say that without IB-type of experience you won’t have any of this sort of experience, that isn’t the case. In fact, operations and control, middle office, all of the above positions and even things like PWM can involve projects that are comparable to these types of projects. For example, while in F500 operations you might not be valuing companies for acquisition opportunities, you can very well be using excel to forecast budgets, check internal financials, etc, which can all be included on your resume as relevant experience.

Next on your list you can look towards projects that involve research, particularly on specific industries and companies so that you can point to detailed evaluation and a strong knowledge base for the field – this will be particularly useful if, for example, you are researching technology and applying for a position in the technology space or technology IB or just interested in working in some capacity within the field going forward. Although not as important on the surface as the first and second points, this next point is still relevant and worthwhile to include: documentation work. Having a strong written proficiency is both a welcome and essential quality of a successful analyst, associate, and up the chain. Therefore, work that you have done involving drafting information books, presentations, distribution materials, primers, etc, are all welcome additions to your resume – provided of course, it doesn’t consume the entire resume at the expense of the other points listed here. Finally, and although listed last is definitely not least important, are projects for which you took on more of a leadership/managerial role or even a proactive role going beyond what was asked of you. This is a vague category and for good reason as it can be combined with any of the above points or, depending on the experience, can involve something else entirely demonstrating leadership.

So now that we’ve ran through what should be included in your bullet points, let’s go through the construction (or components) of a bullet point regardless of category. I like to break each bullet point into up to three components (I say up to three since you might not always have been responsible for or need to include all three): 1) what you did (which is explained above), 2) how and for what purpose you did what you did, and 3) the result or impact on the group as a result of the work you performed or project you worked on.

We’ve already covered the “what,” so now let’s jump into the “how” and “purpose.” It’s very easy to form a bullet point as follows:”Built a DCF model and performed comparable transaction analysis.” Unfortunately, this doesn’t do anything more than tell me at the very least you worked on a DCF model and spread some comps for fun or as part of a test assignment – maybe, if you’re lucky, it was for a deal that didn’t go anywhere. Now if that is the case, then it is fine to leave the bullet as is. However, if you performed this task for multiple projects (mandated or closed, for example) in a specific industry, that adds another level of importance to the bullet point and gives me a much better understanding of what you did, learned and can contribute to your next team. A new bullet point, yet still simple, can look more like this: “Built DCF and comparable company models for several pending transactions in the oil and gas space.” As another example, if you performed some research for an information memo you put together for a deal, instead of simple stating that you research the oil and gas industry for deal X, you can also include your utilization of Bloomberg, Cap IQ, etc to highlight how you fulfilled your project, while at the same time showcasing your proficiencies.

Finally, we come to what is possibly the most frequently forgotten aspect when constructing a bullet point – the result and/or impact. Now there is a good reason why this aspect is often not included: simply put, it is not available, meaning there is either no readily quantifiable result or the result doesn’t enhance the experience (for example, the result was just another data point used in a sample). Going back to the DCF bullet point of the previous paragraph – “Built DCF and comparable company models for several pending transactions in the oil and gas space” – we see a bullet point that is strong and perhaps strong enough (but this depends on the actual result). If, for example, the tasks you performed for one or more of these deals led to the decision to increase the purchase price range by 15%, that definitely adds a significant amount of credit to the point and, if included, to the bullet point. The new bullet point can look like this (on a simplistic level): “Built DCF and comparable company models for several pending transactions in the oil and gas space, which resulted in a 10-15% increase in purchase price range for two late-stage deals.” While this is a simple exam, it is merely meant to show the importance of including each of these three attributes (when applicable) in your bullet points. Before closing this article, I just want to touch on a few quick points that are often overlooked by people when constructing their resumes.

A few final points to keep in mind when constructing your bullets are: 1)contrary to popular believe, bullets do not need to be full sentences – as in they are quick points, not complete sentences and although they need to of course make sense, they do not need to start with a proper noun, include all necessary articles, etc, 2) along the same lines, each bullet points should lead off with a past tense verb, and 3) along the same lines again, bullet points do not end with a period, since that would imply a full sentence.

That’s it for now; keep an eye out for some fresh articles and a new product on its way that will certainly help you with your upcoming interview!

I don’t have a great answer for my “greatest accomplishment” as a college student. How should I answer this question in interviews?

Essentially, go with something, whether incredibly impressive or not, that challenged you and allowed you to learn a valuable lesson, grow as a person and/or build useful skills. At the end of the day interviewees get hung up on words like “Greatest, worst, biggest” and so forth, and they don’t need to. These are words used to make you sweat, to scare you and so forth. In reality, go with what you know, what you are comfortable with and what you can show growth from – the accomplishment needs to be important and impressive to you, it needs to matter to you, the interviewer will be impressed with what you got out of it and how hard it was for you to achieve, not the weight of the accomplishment itself.

Here’s some more help with your upcoming interviews:

Prepare for your interview with some coaching now

Crack the interview code with my Survival Guides

I have some questions on the interview process and what employers are looking for when asking certain questions: 1) how do I prepare for the “pitch me a stock” question, 2) what are they really looking for out of the behavioral interviews – do I need certain answers to impress them, and 3) how should I answer the greatest accomplishment or biggest challenge overcome question?

1. Do your research – find 2-3 stocks across 2-3 industries that you like and have an interest in. From there, do some general research on competition, the market, news, etc. From there, dig into the financials of the company a bit to pull out some ratios and stats relative to competitors. From there, form your opinions – you don’t need to go crazy, but I always recommend stocks in different industries so that you are prepared to pitch a stock outside of your interviewer’s industry.

2. It means you aren’t an asshole, you’re not a tool/obvious suck-up, and that you are decent to talk to. In short, the interviewer (and his/her team) can and wouldn’t mind dealing with you (working with you) at 11pm, when you’ve still got a few hours of work ahead of you.

My main interest is hedge funds and private equity, but from what I understand I have no shot at this straight from undergrad unless I go to wharton. Will other schools help me break into PE or HF and, if not, how do I go from IB to PE? Do I need to get an MBA and then get into PE or HF?

That’s not entirely true – any of the top schools give you a shot – WHYPS and a few others, but it is VERY tough. The best ways to break into PE and HF are either going to IB from u grad, then b school, then PE or HF, OR going from u grad to a solid BB IB position directly to PE or HF. You don’t have to go to B school to get into PE (PE especially) from IB, you can make the direct move – especially if you are targeting PE in general and not elite/top megafund PE. From any solid semi-target you will have access to many of the big banks and from an analyst position there you can break into PE.

I wouldn’t bother going to NY unless you’ve got something lined up. At your age, your best bet will be found by searching for unpaid positions, or positions that are PWM, boutique research or back office. While they are not IB, they will provide you with some resume building experience and make for a nice stepping stone into more attractive internships going into your junior and, ultimately, senior years (rising junior and rising senior summers, respectively).

Regarding cold calling, you should definitely take that step, but given your age, you should probably stay local and push more for an opportunity to build your resume rather than a dream opportunity.

Additionally, it’s always a good idea to call on contacts, but you should only call on those you are very close with. Given the positions you are targeting, your age, experience, etc, you don’t want to reach out to all of your contacts so soon. For now, use friends and your closest contacts, then reach wider once you’ve built a bit of a profile/resume for yourself going into next summer or so.

Finally, while you will certainly find more luck heading down the previous avenues I’ve mentioned, far be it from me to squash someone’s go-getter attitude and drive. Absolutely cold call and send some inquiry emails to IBs as well – ideally smaller/boutique shops, merchant banks, and so forth that as local, but definitely take a shot. With a simple cold call or email the worst that happens is you don’t get the position – they won’t remember you next year if you show an interest again – no harm no foul, but with plenty of upside potential.

If an MD wants me as an spring intern (fall, spring), but HR is claiming they don’t do that, should I follow up and make another push? If so, how? Can MDs overrule HR?

MDs often have some clout, but not always enough to go bringing on interns. If you don’t need pay, one option would be to reach back out and ask if you could intern unpaid – essentially just for the experience. That could absolutely set you up for a nice SA position next summer as well.

Otherwise, perhaps there was some sort of a miscommunication either between you and MD or between the MD and HR or you and HR. I would re-trace my steps and touch base with the MD – briefly thank him again for his time and quickly explain what HR told you – then allow him to clarify or express his confusion and look further into the matter.

Why do you suggest removing “Dean’s List” as an honor from your resume if it is your only honor?

Although Dean’s List is an honor and something you’ve achieved, as a standalone it just takes up space and isn’t necessary since anyone with a 3.7 or so or better GPA is on the dean’s list. In other words, it’s not something you’ve been given or something you are being recognized for, but rather, it’s pretty much your status based on your GPA. The fact that you have the GPA is the accomplishment, not that you’ve made the dean’s list. If you have another honor, then feel free to mention it since you’ve got the line anyway, but otherwise, leave it out. You are better off with more free space and since it is implied based on your GPA, it won’t really do anything to help your candidacy.

As a DCM Investment Grade analyst, I want to move on to P/E, but without much modeling experience, how do I sell myself? I have structure knowledge and have worked on numerous deals, but as is the case in Investment Grade DCM, I haven’t dug that deep into them – the mile wide but inch deep saying comes to mind.

Without seeing your resume, the easiest general advice will be to focus on 2 things: 1) big deals you worked on even though the work will be more of the inch-deep in terms of modeling work, and 2) deals and projects you worked on that did involve modeling, strategy and documentation drafting. Investment Grade DCM is known to not have a ton of modeling work, so you will want to show modeling where you can. Specifically, showcase your limited modeling work, documentation work and so forth around your structuring knowledge to illustrate credibility to you claim and capabilities. Beyond that, you want to highlight some big deals in your resume and even cover letter, simply because this is a prestige business. Even though the work won’t be terribly substantial, doing some sort of quality work will aid your cause and if you can get an interview, you are well on your way – then it’s just a matter of selling yourself from a technical (which you seem to have despite limited modeling) and behavioral (no modeling necessary here) perspectives.

I’ve heard that boutiques are usually shadier than BBs and not as desirable to work for – is this true?

Boutiques are not “shadier,” although they are quite different than standard BBs. While a small boutique will not carry the same brand name as a BB, obviously, the work experience can still be very strong (and the experience can be very strong as well in terms of deal responsibilities: modeling, documentation work and so forth). MM shops are highly reputable, similar to that of BBs, and Elite boutiques (such as Lazard and Blackstone) are considered stronger than most BBs excluding GS and MS (although they are on the same level).

In short, if you are looking for a FT IB opportunity that will set you up to move out of IB and into P/E or other buyside, you are better off with BBs, elite boutiques and some MM shops. If you are looking for FT IB to stay in IB, then all are good and smaller boutiques could easily be preferable to many candidates given their interest in retaining and growing talent, rather than the 2-3 and out of traditional BB IB classes. Finally, for an internship, while name brand definitely helps, any IB is solid, especially before junior year summer, and even for junior year SA opportunities, a small boutique IB internship with relevant experience is better than zero IB experience.

Do I need an MBA to break into P/E from IB? Also, is the idea of pre MBA associate to MBA to post MBA associate reserved only to the Mega PE funds or are MM/boutique PE firms less rigid in their hierarchy?

For P/E, you don’t need an MBA if you come out of a strong IB. Whether a solid MM, or preferably, a strong BB or elite boutique. In this case, you can break into PE after your analyst stint and then it is up to you to grow and advance.

It’s not reserved to anyone, but if you don’t come from a top school and top elite boutique or BB, it will be very hard to break into megafund PE without the MBA. That said, it will be very hard to break in with an MBA as well – especially if your MBA isn’t from H or S.

For smaller and mid-sized P/E shops, it is possible to break in from a wider range of IB positions, but if you can’t find an avenue or want an MBA, it is possible to break into P/E from a top B school program as well. Additionally, those B school students who have previous IB or P/E experience will have, at least to an extent, an upper hand in P/E and V/C recruiting given their relevant backgrounds.

I want to get a letter of recommendation from my current MD from my internship for B school. The problem is I won’t be applying for a few years – should I just get a stock letter now?

Most top business schools don’t just require a generic “letter.” Instead, they have a series of questions that they want answered by the recommender. Although I’m sure your employer really likes you, it is just an internship and in 2-3 years time you should be able to find 2 people to recommend you that can call on more recent experiences.

Additionally, if you want to hedge your bets, simply keep in touch with the guy and if you want to use him, then just ask him and provide him with your accomplishments, and rough answers/information to answer each of the questions. For now, you can write a summary of your accomplishments and projects to keep for a few years down the line – if you decide you want to use him as a recommender, you can call on this summary to refresh his memory as to what you’ve done (assuming you’ve kept in touch). Here’s a bit more on B school to keep in mind as the time gets closer.

Now that we’ve covered what exactly the application-less position is, let’s jump right into the best strategy for not only applying to the companies, but also how to find the shops and how to reach out to, ideally, the right bankers at the shop. This question comes up quite a lot from my readers, so I’m just going to jump in and tackle the issue at hand. No, it’s not just a matter of praying for the right opportunities, but if you follow these steps, you’ll be well on your way:

Where Are The Firms?

First, you need to actually find some boutiques/shops in your area, a big city you are close to, or where you are planning to be or can be over, for example, the summer (assuming you are looking for a summer internship). Once you know where you will be spending your summer (or other internship period), you need to perform a broad Google search to find boutiques and shops in the area that you’re interested in applying to and ideally interning with. To be blunt, this will be the vast majority of shops that you find through your search in your area since, at the end of the day, your best bet, as is often the case, is to cast a wide net. Beyond a Google search, you can search popular IB forums and ask friends, your school career center, etc.

Who Do I Reach Out To?

Now that you’ve built up a sizeable list of boutiques to contact, you need to spend some time on each of their websites and find out a few things. First, you need to know what the boutique focuses on – what industry, types of transactions, size and so forth – not necessarily to be used on this step, but during later steps you’ll definitely want to know about the company you are claiming to have an interest in. Beyond the basics, search through each of the websites for any career sections, employment sections, internship postings, etc. If you happen to find any positions, take the opportunity to submit an application that way – if not, it’s time to move on. Keep in mind that even if you find an opportunity this way, you can still pursue the following steps as a means of further getting your name in front of some of the bankers of the company – showing enthusiasm is a good thing as long as you don’t take it too far thus becoming a nuisance.

Since the article is about the application-less application, I’ll assume most of you have sailed right past the closing point from the previous paragraph and are ready to apply despite the lack of an online application or website career section. Assuming the opportunity is not posted online, you should look for the company directory or “team” profiles link on their website, which usually, at the least, shows names and often contact info for VP bankers and up – which is what you need when you are considering submitting a letter of inquiry to the firm.

Now that you’ve found the list of bankers at the firm, and, ideally, some contact info (or at least a contact standard for the firm so you can deduce the email address for a particular banker) for the bankers, you need to go through each of the bankers’ bios provided by the firm to learn of any common ground you might have with them. For example, did you attend or do you attend the same undergrad he/she attended, have you interned in a field they previously explored, have you interned or do you have an interest in the same industry they focus on, if there are any hobbies listed, do you have any common hobbies, are you both from the same hometown or have dwelled in a similar (and unique) place (meaning, if you both lived in NY, who cares, but if you both come from a small town in Tennessee, for example, that is a common point). Essentially, you should be looking for anything that is a mutual talking point to establish some sort of a connection in that initial email with the banker – something to hopefully get him at least marginally intrigued and interested in sending a reply to you.

Now that you’ve searched through the database, there are two scenarios: (1) you found at least 1 person that you have something in common with, or (2) no luck finding the “link” person. If you can find someone who has something in common with you, that person should be your first contact person. If there happens to be more than 1 person, then the most recent common point is the best to touch on – for example, if you both have the same alma mater and you are currently a junior, then that is a better common point than a common employer 2 years ago for you and 10 years ago for him/her. If, on the other hand, you find yourself a victim of scenario (2) and can’t find anyone with anything in common with you based on the bios (which is often the case), then, in a matter of speaking, you will have to pick out the friendliest looking face, haha (which I’ve also done) – essentially aim for someone in a junior-senior role, meaning a VP or early D, and, if possible, someone that has grown in banking (meaning rose from associate up the ranks), as they might be a bit more receptive as they too would have been in the recruiting scenario at that point. In either case, whether you have a person to reach out to with some common points or not, you will want to reach out to the person of your choosing through an inquiry email (a letter of inquiry in the body of an email) and attach your resume. Yes, in this case, you should attach your resume.

I Really Include My Resume? What About The Inquiry Letter?

Here’s the thing; although I don’t usually recommend attaching your resume to the first email for numerous reasons, in this case there is no disguising your intentions. Simply put, you want an internship with his/her firm and need to not only put your best foot forward through a strong letter of inquiry, but also deliver a complete representation of yourself through a neatly pressed resume. Without attaching your resume to the email, you are only sharing a small snippet of your candidacy with your potential employer and hoping he/she is interested enough to ask for more instead of including your resume and giving your potential employer a more thorough, if not complete, picture of your candidacy. In the case of cold-emailing and applying to these types of positions, you have less than a first impression, you have nothing more than a faceless first virtual-impression, which absolutely requires putting your best foot forward.

Moving into the core of the application-less application, the inquiry email, you will want to treat it just as you would a well-crafted cover letter for an advertised opportunity you are interested in, but instead of applying for a specific position, you are targeting the letter to the broader goal of working for the firm. Essentially, just as you would in a cover letter, you will highlight your interest in the firm and why you are interested in it (attributes based on your quick research on the website), your professional and/or academic highlights, any extras you’d like to include and, finally, a reaffirmation of your interest in working with the firm, a thanks and expressing an interest in speaking to discuss potential opportunities (internship, analyst, IB, etc).

What If The Banker Doesn’t Respond?

Now as fantastic as your letter of inquiry highlights your skills and sells your candidacy, you are obviously not always going to receive a response (positive or negative since whether good or bad, a response lets you know which direction to take next). If, or rather, when, you don’t get a response from the first person you reach out to at firm X, you shouldn’t give up just yet. After several days (preferably a week to 2 weeks), you can try reaching out to 1 more person at the firm. If the boutique is a bit larger, you should send the letter to someone in a different group; if it is a tiny shop, then just take a chance and email someone else on the team, but especially in the case of the small shop, you need to be sure to mention to the second person that you had already reached out to person X (the first person you reached out to) without success, but you understand how busy schedules can become.

The application-less application is absolutely the toughest application path to tackle with success, but it can absolutely be done. Send me an email if you have any other questions. If you need assistance on cold calls, networking calls, and so forth, be sure to consider an interview and networking prep session. As always, leave comments below.

There is no need to beat around the bush or try to be coy. Simply put, you want to work at Firm B, so tell Firm B that Firm A has made you an offer that is exploding by X (give yourself an extra 1-3 days at least just for a cushion) and although it is a great opportunity you feel the fit and experience will be much better at their firm, firm B. Then let them know that you appreciate their consideration and want to know if there is anything else they need ahead of making a final decision on your candidacy. Something along those lines (give or take a sentence or 2) should suffice and get you a response.

Remember, just as with everything, being tactful is very important – don’t pressure them, just let them know of your situation and they will either be unable to accommodate, or provide you with a decision – either way, you can move on and make a decision.

I had a really short and kind of disconcerting phone call with a banker that I was referred to. On the follow-up email, I made a few typos – did the typo screw my chances?

It’s not an interview, just a networking conversation – a few typos won’t kill you by any means. However, if the conversation was really bad (and not just short because the banker was busy or suddenly got another call, etc), then that would be worse than making a few typos.

Forget about the typos. If the banker responds positively, you are in good shape and keep it going. If he doesn’t respond, try to work on being more comfortable over the phone or having more questions/dialogue in the hole (if either of those were your problem) and move on. If you need help with cold calling or networking over the phone, you can consider my Prep Service as well.

Which looks better to recruiters – Finance Major or Finance and Accounting Concentrations (which require a few less courses than a typical major)?

If the question is resume-related, then state your degree on the title line, and under “Major: XXX” it would look better to write “Concentration: Finance and Accounting” rather than “Major: Finance.”

That said, the difference is very marginal and your Relevant Coursework matters more than what your concentration is – the slight exception to this is regarding complete non-target business schools. In that case, you want to showcase your finance and accounting degrees and coursework as much as possible in your education.

In short, whichever is easiest for you to obtain and maintain the highest GPA is the option you should go with. From there, relevant coursework will cover any questions on the material you know and having a finance major or finance and accounting concentrations will send the same message – “business student who should know his technical crap.”

How do associates and analysts decide who orders dinner, goes to pick it up, etc. Is there a hierarchy, does the hated analyst go, is there something implied by the decision?

First, there are far more important issues to worry about than who makes a phone call or visits a website to order dinner. That said, here goes: someone either orders everything online or makes a quick phone call. Order is placed. Food arrives in lobby. Random analyst, usually the one who had a minute and placed the order runs down and brings it back up. Food is charged to a card, admin is told next day who the charges covered – done.

When people actually go out, it could be a bunch of guys getting their own stuff, or a few analysts running out to pick some things up and head back – again, not a big deal. It’s not a community hanging session; just get a few guys who have a few minutes, run out, grab food, and you’re back.

If a company specifically requests a resume, cover letter AND transcript, what would happen if I do not include a transcript?

If you were specifically told to include your transcript, they will either be nice and send an email to ask for it, or not be as nice (and rightly so since they made the request clear) and just pass on your resume.

That said, they could overlook the lack of transcript and give you an interview major anyway. If you happen to get the interview and go all the way to the end, before getting an offer, they will want your transcript. If there is anything on there that would keep you from a position, you will not getting one whether you submit now or wait all the way until the end. If it isn’t that big of a deal, then just send it now. The big things they are looking for are GPA, relevant coursework and, if your graduated or are about to graduate, truth on your resume in terms of dates and courses – nothing really to sweat over.

Does it help to have a Series 7 and 66 license ahead of FT recruiting? I have them and want to know if I should put it on my resume, or if it could hurt me.

It doesn’t hurt to have it, but it won’t help much either. Analysts in IB at least, and any S&T I know, don’t require you to have it and, if down the line (months, year+), you need it, they will just sponsor you to take it. Since at some point, you will need to have it, it won’t hurt you (especially if the bank was planning to sponsor you sooner rather than later), but it won’t help you much either. Put it on your resume, but don’t expect anyone to jump out of their seats and demand to see you because you have it. Oh, and no, it won’t hurt you at all either – this isn’t “Boiler Room” (great move, by the way).

First, in terms of “other details” that really depends on the details – if you are referring to number of employees, for example, you don’t need that on your resume – use your best judgment here.

Moving past that, in terms of industry and AUM, you can include those if you’d like to, but the only place you should list them in is in the brief description you give for the company below your position title, but above your bullet points for said position. If you don’t include a brief summary of the company (don’t want to, don’t have room, etc), then don’t bother including them since it really won’t make much of a difference one way or the other – your personal experiences matter much more than a few details on a small shop. Additionally, if the prospective employer cares, he/she will either look it up or simply ask you during the interview.

Should I apply to BB SA internships as a sophomore or is it a waste of time? Also, will it hurt me if I reapply next year as a junior?

While your time might be better of spent elsewhere – depending on how long it takes you to put together and submit an application, it definitely won’t hurt you to apply to BB SA internships as a sophomore, although you will obviously be a long shot. Additionally, as can be implied from not hurting you, it will not have an influence at all on your applications for SA positions during your junior year. In short, if you’ve got the time, go for it. I wouldn’t exhaust my contact list until junior and then senior years, but it definitely won’t hurt to apply – and if you get an offer, awesome. If not, no harm done.

I’m currently in the process of updating my resume to include this past summer’s experience. I interned at a BB and got a return offer, so should I put that I “received a return offer in the Investment Banking Division” as one of my bullet points?

This question has been asked quite often, but essentially there is nothing wrong with putting it in your resume, but there is also nothing great about it. It is perfectly understandable that you want to showcase your success and that you received an offer – as well as not wanting to leave it to chance that an interviewer just assumes that you didn’t get the return offer and draws his/her own conclusions.

However, if you are coming from a good shop, it doesn’t matter if you got the return offer or not, as long as the new group likes you – additionally, if the new group cares, they WILL just ask you and ask you about your experiences with the old group.

If you are coming from an unknown shop, then it won’t matter either way, as your experience – modeling, transaction and such will be the only things that matter – and again, if they care what happened with the old shop, they WILL ask.

Remember, by putting it on your resume you are inviting the interview follow-up questions of: what was your response (did you accept or reject), why are you interviewing elsewhere, what didn’t you like about the shop, and so forth.

Although it looks good to show that you are in demand, you don’t want to end up backing yourself into a corner – where you’ve accepted an offer and are now looking to renege or that you’ve got poor things to say about your past bosses.

If you’ve got the room on your resume and don’t mind fielding the questions, then go ahead and put it on there. If not, then leave it off and if your new employer wants to know, they will just ask. Additionally, once something is in writing it is there, to be proved or disproved, to help you or hurt you.

Either way, you landed a return offer – it’s a job well done and congrats – now focus on landing that FT offer.

As a SA, I worked in a group where offers were made on a group-specific basis, not for an incoming class. I didn’t end up getting the FT offer – am I screwed come FT recruiting or is there a way to explain it?

While it definitely helps to get the return offer, it doesn’t necessarily hurt you to not, especially since your group was only giving offers to certain groups and for that specific group (in other words, no mobility). In this case, you will want to focus on your experiences and essentially let interviewers know that when speaking with your group, it was understood that you weren’t interested in coming back FT and since the offer was group-specific, it made sense to not extend an offer to you and instead give an offer to someone interested in coming back to the group. Then be ready to explain why you didn’t want to work in the group FT and what you’re looking for out of a FT employer (and a FT industry – ideally the new employer will be in a different industry as well).

This should help you to alleviate your lack of an offer, while still highlighting your candidacy. Additionally, this point of an offer or no offer should only come up during an interview – in other words, there should be no mention of this in your cover letter or resume – why give non-positive news without being in person where you’d have the opportunity to defend and explain it.

I’ve taken definitely a bit of a break over the past month or so to catch up on things outside of my site. That said, I am back, beginning to ramp up again and will certainly be firing out everything that all of you have come to expect of me. Leave your comments below and send me some emails – let me know what you want to see, what you need to see and what’s missing!

Rather than charge my readers for this guide, I came up with a better idea to help show my appreciation. Since now is the time for everyone to revise their resumes and brush up on their interview skills, instead of charging for this guide, I will simply give it to everyone who purchases one of my other services – in other words anyone who purchases either a resume revision package (Here) and/or an interview prep package (Here) will receive this guide in my follow-up thank you email.

That’s it!

There’s no code to enter, no special message, simply purchase a resume revision service package or an interview prep package and receive this 4-question guide for free. Although you will definitely be asked more than 3-4 questions during your interview, most, if not all of your interviews will ask you at least 2 of the questions in this guide, if not more.

Pick up your resume revision package or interview prep package now and start remedying more than 1 concern at a time!

I truly mean it when I say thank you to all of my readers, customers and subscribers who help keep this site running and help me to see that this site does help people break in – I know it’s a tough road, but it can definitely be done.

Thank you for all of your support and stay tuned for more articles (including an article specifically for those readers interested in Sales and Trading), another new product and much more! As always, comments go below and emails can be sent Here.

Parameters:

Let’s get right into the basics here. First and foremost, the cover letter should be, in total, 1 page. This means that from the address/heading down to the signature (and mention of attachments, if necessary), you should be no more than 1 page in length. I’ve seen cover letters that span over 2 pages, and let me be the first to tell you, straight up, this is way too long, and no one is going to read it, nor will anyone be excited by the amount of effort and/or information you’ve included in it. Simply put, this looks like you don’t know what to include and have therefore included way too much. So, we’ve got the 1 page down, but how should the 1 page look?

As you can imply from the name, the cover LETTER, is exactly that, a letter, and, as such, whether it is a separate attachment or the body of an email, it should resemble that of a letter. Start by including the basic information – essentially, your contact information and name at the top, then to whom you are addressing the letter – you don’t need a full address here, although if you’ve got the room, you are welcome to include it (this opening information can be left out if you are writing the letter in the body of the email, instead, just start with the next point, your greeting). Next, insert your greeting/opening – Dear Mr. XXX, or Good afternoon Ms. XXX (for non-email cover letters, you can also include the date just above this line if you want to and/or have room).

Moving past the opening and greeting, we get to the body of the letter. The body should be 3-4 paragraphs, although the last paragraph is a short paragraph, but we’ll get to that in a second. Paragraph 1 is the introductory paragraph, essentially, an introduction to you (school and major/current employer and role, etc – high level details only) and why you are interested in the specific opportunity with company X (the company and role to which you are applying).

Once you’ve got paragraph 1 done, you have paved the way for paragraph 2, which is essentially a continuation of the “introduction to you” in paragraph 1, but now with all details you want to highlight. Paragraph 2 should highlight your experiences with school and/or with your current/past internships/FT positions. Additionally, while you are discussing your experiences, you should briefly highlight their relevance to the position to which you are applying, especially if the relevant isn’t perfectly clear. For example, running the financial modeling of a closed deal as an IB analyst is obviously relevant to another IB position; however, being an engineering major, or even Finance major, or perhaps working in a corp fin role might not be and might warrant a quick few words on how the experiences are useful to IB.

Next, we come to our optional paragraph, paragraph 3, the extra stuff. Paragraph 3, just as the name implies, highlights other aspects of your candidacy that you feel are relevant and/or important to your candidacy, albeit not related to your professional or academic (major/coursework) experience. Paragraph 3 is where you will want to highlight your leadership, club involvement and non-profit experience. Paragraph 3 is a great opportunity to set yourself apart from other candidates and possibly even find some common ground with your prospective employer. Paragraph 3 can definitely be useful for those candidates applying to consulting positions, P/E and even smaller boutique IB shops in that these positions often look for what you’ve done besides grades and work, assuming, of course, grades and work are up to par. Additionally, paragraph 3 is often useful for those candidates that lack work experience, but have strong leadership experience, especially within relevant student organizations. Finally, while paragraph 3 can be helpful, it definitely isn’t necessary since: 1) you might not have enough room for it on your single page and you definitely don’t want to cut out important academic and/or professional experience to highlight something that is probably on your resume already anyway under a leadership or extracurricular section, 2) you might not have much leadership experience and you definitely don’t need a bunch of fluff in your resume and 3) many positions won’t really care that much about your EC experience and can find out what they need to know from your resume or from you in your interview – therefore, you can let your cover letter be a bit shorter and leave paragraph 3 out.

Finally, after all is said and done, we come to our last paragraph, paragraph 4. Paragraph 4 is a very quick paragraph in that paragraph 4 merely thanks the reviewer, mentions your attachments and contact information (phone and/or email) and closes out the letter.

With paragraph 4 done, you have your final lines starting with your closing remark (Sincerely, Best regards, etc) and then your name. If you want to, you can include an italicized line, 1 or 2 lines below your name (again, you want to keep it to 1 page) and call it “Attachments” or the like, and mention your resume – Ex. “Enclosure: Résumé”

Include it:

Now that we’ve covered the parameters and highlighted the major fields of your cover letter, let’s quickly run through what you should include in your cover as far as content is concerned. If you are a student, first and foremost you want to include some basics from your academia including your school, your grade, your major and any relevant coursework you have taken. When referring to relevant coursework (see Here for more), I am referring to the same coursework you would include in your resume – any finance and accounting coursework is at the top of the list, followed by math/statistics coursework, economics coursework, and, finally, any interesting strategy/leadership coursework. Moving beyond your undergrad basics, you want to include your club involvement, with a focus on those clubs that you have taken more of a leadership role in (especially those clubs relevant to IB – such as a Wall St. club, a Finance club, an IB or P/E club, etc). Finally, we come to your internship and non-profit experience. You definitely want to highlight any relevant work experience that you have as well as the interesting projects that you have worked on while there. If you have more than 1 quality internship on your resume, you can definitely highlight more than, but for each position/internship you list, you should include a little less experience/project responsibilities from each to keep the cover letter balance. For non-profit experience, I am referring to anything that is important to you or that you have taken a leadership in (for paragraph 3) and anything that is relevant to IB from a quant/analytical perspective (in paragraph 2 or 3 depending on how much additional work experience you have).

Now before anyone gets crazy, the previous paragraph is referring to undergraduate students or students in Master’s programs who don’t yet have FT work experience. Once you are a graduate, and have some FT experience under your belt, you want to change things up a bit. As a grad, you don’t need to include all of the information from your undergrad that you included as a current student unless you are applying for a position outside of your current FT role and your undergrad studies are relevant (meaning you work in IB and want to go into something completely different or the opposite). Assuming this exception isn’t the case, you don’t need to highlight all of your relevant coursework (although you can still keep it in your resume) and you only really need to mention your school, when you graduated, how you graduated (if it was with any honors) and what you majored in (although this last point isn’t necessary if it isn’t relevant to the position). From there, you want to delve fully into your current work experience first, and depending on how long you’ve been there and how many projects you’ve worked on, take the necessary space to highlight the position properly. After your current experience, you can briefly highlight one or 2 of your internships, again, if they are relevant, as well as a bit on what you worked on while there. The balance between FT and internships will, of course, vary, based on how long you’ve been at your FT role. Before I close out this article, let’s cover 1 last point – essentially, what not include in your cover letter.

Save it for the interview:

This section covers those points that, whether interesting or not, should not be included in your cover letter as they will be seen as more fluff, filler, or, at the very least, not relevant and when something is not relevant, it should not be included – remember, shorter is usually better (unless we were talking about a 3 sentence cover letter, in which case I would make an exception to the rule). First on the list is non-relevant coursework – essentially, if I haven’t listed it above, it is non-relevant. Yes, your history courses might be interesting, but they are probably not relevant. Therefore, if you want to discuss them, save it for the interview (see Here for help preparing for your next interview) and only if you are asked – don’t randomly go off on a 10-minute history course tangent. Next on the list would be non-relevant work experience. Included in this list is work experience that doesn’t involve leadership, analytical/quant skills or strong written skills. Essentially, you want to always be highlighting those experience that showcase the relevant skill sets sought after by bankers/potential employers. Finally, we come to the big no-no of cover letters and that is the dreaded overstatement (essentially, beefing yourself up too much). While you definitely want to be selling your candidacy, you also don’t want to pretend like you’ve done WAY more than you have, or taken on WAY more responsibility than you have (the same is ABSOLUTELY true for your resume). As a quick example, one of my friends from college was interning with a boutique IB shop the summer of his junior year and into his first semester. While he had an interesting experience and enjoyed his time with the firm, he really didn’t have much exposure to modeling – he spread some comps and such, but never really built any models. He had, however, seen some models and had taken some coursework in M&A and learned a bit about financial modeling and such. Well on his resume and in his cover letter, he figured that he knew enough to beef it up and decided to say that he built several DCF models and worked on several LBO models during his internship. While this seemed like a good idea at the time, he landed an interview with a BB and his first round interview was a technical interview and he got absolutely hammered on this experience and his financial modeling including his supposed DCF and LBO work. Suffice it to say that he did not do very well and did not get called for a second round.

That about does it for this article – as always, comment go below and emails can be sent Here!

Let’s quickly go through the basics and then hit what appears to be a nerve for many students. I know that there are many interesting courses in marketing, english and the sciences (biology, physics, etc) and while the skills learned in those courses might very well be applicable to banking, they are not relevant to banking as far as bankers are concerned. When I ask for relevant coursework, I am looking for accounting and finance courses first and foremost. Next on the totem pole, I am searching for math courses (including stats), since those will at least show me that you are quantitatively inclined and economics courses. Finally, I am looking for an occasional management course – something displaying some form of decision making, strategy or leadership as a means of potentially expressing your ability to see the big picture, analyze situations, etc. Outside of these types of courses, there is very little extra that I am terribly interested in seeing.

Moving past that, we get into the slightly more painful aspect of this section – the other side of what not to include. While, for example, many students like to include micro and macro economics courses on their resumes, you should not. Intro courses, excluding, perhaps an intro accounting or finance course (if you are not a finance or account major) should not be included on your resume. Showcase more advanced relevant coursework to separate yourself, rather than taking up space with courses every econ/business major has to take.

Moving past coursework, there are a few general resume faux pas that I recommend staying away from and/or correcting before considering adding them to your resume:

Mixing dates: Although there is nothing technically wrong with writing “Summer 2008” for one experience, “Jan. 2009 to May 2009” for another and “August 2009 to December 2009” for a third, simply put, it looks sloppy. Keep your dates consistent – if you want to use “Summer 2008,” then cite each experience as “Season Year.” If you want to write out the dates (which is my preference), then simply write them out – “August 2009 to December 2009” for example. At the risk of being a bit nit-picky, date abbreviations is my least favorite simply because months like May, June and July are rarely abbreviated, while December becomes Dec. – again, it’s just a matter of consistency.

GPAs: There are two quick issues that I have encountered with student GPAs (here’s a few more pointers on reporting your GPAs) that should be avoided. First, unless you are from another country where schools do not typically grade on a 4.0 scale, you do NOT need to include the “/4.0” after your GPA – it will be implied.

Second, and more importantly, there are two types of GPAs that are acceptable on a resume – the cumulative GPA (of course) and the major/concentration GPA. Breaking GPAs down to a more granular level than major GPA – whether that means citing specific courses, excluding certain courses (for whatever silly reason) and making up your own GPA – such as major GPA (plus courses X, Y and Z) – should not be done. The more specific you break down your GPA, the more red flags you will raise in terms of why you needed to break down your GPA in this manner and just how bad is your cumulative GPA. In short, if neither your major nor your cumulative GPAs (and you can list one or the other, not necessarily both) are at least above a 3.0, then don’t even bother listing your GPA at all – just leave it off.

Work Experience Positions: While there are certainly a number of position titles in the professional world, you don’t want to make up a title that is completely off the wall or deceiving. When it comes to listing your function/title for your position on your resume, it is usually best to go with the most basic, albeit descriptive title. For example, if you work in investment banking for a M&A boutique as an intern, then simply put “Investment Banking Intern” or “Investment Banking Intern – Mergers and Acquisitions” – you don’t need to call yourself an analyst (even if they refer to you in that manner), nor do you need to break it down further into industries you work on. Your title should briefly cite your position or your position and function; that’s it. Remember, even if your group refers to you as an analyst, you should still include the word intern in your position. Including the word intern will not hurt you and it will definitely clear up any small confusion that could occur.

Stay tuned for future posts on a Day in the Life, interviews with past bankers and much more! Comments go below and emails can be sent Here.

Although along the same line as many of the GPA questions, I encounter a large amount of questions related to, most commonly, these 3 standardized tests: the SAT, GMAT and LSAT. For those of you that don’t know, the GMAT is the test individuals take when preparing for business school, the LSAT for law school and the SAT, of course, is for undergrads (nothing terribly earth-shattering here, I know). Definitions aside, the most common questions regarding these exams involve their impact on bankers, which scores are high enough and not, and when you should list one, the other, both, all 3, etc.

Let me start off with the LSAT and let me be the first to shout that achieving a 170+ on the LSAT is impressive and well-done without question. Now, let me also be the first to tell you that bankers don’t give a damn. Yes a 170+ is great, but the LSAT, for those of you that forgot what you read a few sentences ago, is for law school, not business school and certainly not undergrad (the 2 places where IB recruits). While the score clearly shows that at the very least you are a good test taker, it also shows that you have an interest in law school, or at least are not certain if you want to go to law school (which also probably would lead them to believe that you don’t know if IB is for you). As a general rule of thumb, I would not include the LSAT in your resume, since it will open up way too many questions without any benefit.

Now let’s move on to the GMAT. With the GMAT, there are two sides to the coin or two situations to consider before we even consider schools. The first situation involves a current business school student (or alum). In this case, the GMAT is perfectly acceptable to put on your resume (provided you’ve got a score good enough to include) and I would definitely advise you to do so.

The second situation is a little stickier in that you have not yet attended business school. In this scenario, you might have taken the GMAT as a backup, with the intention of going next year, or with the intention of going in 3 years. In any case, if that GMAT is on your resume, you will often be asked “well are you planning to go to business school soon” during your interview. Remember, if you are applying for jobs after (or during) your initial post-U grad position, many employers will be looking to bring you on for longer than a year or 2 – therefore, you probably don’t want to outright say that you are gunning for business school, even if you are. You will need to develop an answer that puts their fears to rest (even if valid) if you want to have a good shot at landing the position (check this and this out for more help with nailing the interview. That said, if your SAT score is not that great, and/or if your GMAT score is really pretty strong (and you’ve crafted a good answer to the aforementioned question), then you should really consider including your GMAT on your resume in the education section as it will definitely help you to check off that ever-looming standardized test question (SAT or GMAT), especially if you are a few years out of U grad and with a less than top notch SAT score.

Now that you should be able to figure out when to include your GMAT, you need to know whether you should include it. Although you can get into business school with a wide range of scores, and a 650 is a very respectable score, generally speaking, I would recommend that you only include your score if it is a 700 or better (for investment banking – for other fields, I think a 660-670+ would definitely suffice). Don’t get me wrong, I’ve seen strong resumes with a 680 GMAT listed, but as a general rule of thumb, the 700 is that magic check-the-box number, where, if a recruiter sees that, they won’t question it – it’s a really good score, check, and move on. As a side note, if you’ve got a 690 GMAT and a weaker SAT, it might not be a bad idea to include the GMAT score since the 690 is more current and still a very good score.

Next, when listing your GMAT score, don’t break out any additional details outside of your AWA IF, and only if, it is a 5.5 or better (personally I don’t think anything lower than a 6 should be listed, but I’ve seen enough 5.5s to know that it isn’t a terribly big deal). By breaking out details I am referring to your individual verbal and math scores. Listing a 720 is good enough – you do not have to go into your 49 in math, since you will be only calling attention to your verbal score that is a bit weaker – instead, just give me the great combined score and if the interviewer has additional questions, let him/her ask them.

Finally, we come to the ever-popular SAT. Where including the GMAT can result in questions, NOT including the SAT can also bring up questions. For students in business school, outside of U grad for several years, or who have taken the GMAT (outside of U grad, that is) and have a strong GMAT score, not including the SAT is not a big deal – occasionally a recruiter will want to know, but it is so long ago that it isn’t going to be a big deal breaker either way, even if you don’t remember. For undergrads, however, the SAT is often a recruiter’s easiest way to weed out several candidates in one push. While many recruiters won’t care about your SAT, many will and not including will raise a flag of “well how bad did he/she do” even if you did not do badly at all and just forgot to include it. That said, including a score that isn’t great for a recruiter that isn’t really looking might provide him/her an easy way to drop a quick ding. Therefore, knowing whether to include your resume is important.

As a general of thumb, scores less than a combined 2100 (1400 or so for those that took the old exam) do not need to be highlighted/included in your resume. In general, these scores are considered the “start” of the highly competitive scores and at this point and above, it would be silly to not include your score, since it will be seen as a positive or at worst a neutral (rather than no score, which could, on occasion, be seen as an implication of a negative). Scores below this threshold do not need to be included in your resume, although borderline scores (mid 2000s or high 1300s) can be included provided that the weaker aspect is not in your math section. Once you dip into the low 2000s (1300s) and below, you are no longer really helping your candidacy much by including your score and could be hurting it. What I mean by hurting it is not that your score is necessarily bad, but it isn’t great either and by giving it up outside of the interview or when they specifically request it, you are giving away non-beneficial information without providing them with as much beneficial information (interview skills, etc) first. In short, a 2100+ can and should be kept on, and anything lower than the low 2000s can be cut from your resume to keep the focus on your, hopefully, strong GPA.

Stay tuned for my next post on what exactly constitutes relevant coursework and titling your summer analyst and FT banking positions, a fresh product on the way and much more! Comments go below and emails can be sent Here!