The job outlook for investment bankers is good for 2016. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that jobs for financial analysts will grow by 12 percent from 2012 to 2024. That’s good for you because your skills will be in high demand.
But that demand doesn’t mean that the most competitive investment banking jobs won’t have dozens—if not hundreds—of applicants. That’s where a solid, well-organized, and skill-based resume comes in handy. To even be considered by a live person, you’ve got to get your resume through an applicant tracking system (ATS), which scans every resume to see if an applicant’s document includes keywords unique to the job posting. So, to be a competitive applicant for sought-after positions, you need to craft a resume that gets through the ATS and then looks good to the hiring manager, too. Here, we’ll give you our top tips for creating a killer investment banking resume.
Include the information that employers expect.
In investment banking, it’s important to list your accomplishments, not your duties. That means focusing on measurable achievements, like how much you help your clients earn or percentages by which you grow stock portfolios. If you’re listing your proficiency in certain programs too, you want to be specific to stand out from the crowd. For example, instead of listing that you’re well-versed in Excel, say that you understand pricing formulas using the Black-Scholes Formula.
Compare your resume to template models.
Different fields prefer resume formats, so it’s important to have your resume looking like it belongs in the investment banking field. Colorful, cluttered, or creative resumes are looked on unfavorably, while streamlined and traditional resumes are expected in the investment banking world. See how yours stacks up by comparing it to successful resume templates.
Include skills and quality sought after in finance job postings.
Incorporating skills requested by a number of financial job postings into your resume is a good place to start. Finance job skills requested often include “compliance,” “equity,” and “insurance.” But simply using a one-size-fits-all resume for all of your applications won’t get you anywhere. You need to tailor your resume for each job by using targeted keywords, discussed below.
Use targeted keywords.
While you might have similar skills or qualifications to an investment banker job posting, you need to list them exactly the same way for the ATS to recognize your fit for the position. That means, for example, if the job posting wants you to “interpret and adhere to policy and procedure,” you need to use the exact phrase “interpret and adhere to policy and procedure” in your resume.
Think you’re close to this kind of exact matching of your resume to a job posting? First, put your accomplishments into an investment banker sample resume template. Next, run both the job posting and your resume through Jobscan’s resume optimizer. The tool matches the most important keywords from the job posting to your resume, and then lets you know how well-targeted your keywords are to the posting. Afterward, you can start matching keywords from the job posting exactly to those used on your resume.