List relevant professional experience
Relevant experience is the biggest asset of your resume. Include your prior roles and internships, highlighting your primary responsibilities and top achievements. Describe each finance internship or job using bullet points, as this format is easier to read. Write five to six bullet points for your current position and three for past positions.
Don't forget to use numbers and percentages where possible, as quantified work experience helps hiring managers evaluate your scope of work (e.g. trained 7 associates, reduced fixed costs by 20%, managed hedge funds of $1.2M)
Emphasize brand names
Top investment banks and firms like to see big PE, banking, and school names in your resume. As the investment banking industry is ultra-competitive, they prefer to have the best candidates on board. Mentioning that you had an internship or worked for Goldman Sachs, Citi, or Barclays shows that you went through their intricate interview process and have strong skills for an investment banking role. The same goes for schools - if you went to Harvard, it will add you points in the eyes of the hiring manager.
Demonstrate a history of excellence
As an investment banker, you are expected to show a history of excellence in your resume. Investment banks want the best of the best, so don't forget to brag about your major accomplishments in school, at work, or in your extracurricular activities.
Students and graduates should list measurable academic achievements (such as a GPA of 3.9, a Dean's List, graduating Summa Cum Laude, or winning an internship). Include the Extracurricular section and list your campus activities, leadership experience, and volunteer projects with numbers where possible.
Experienced bankers should focus more on the financial results they delivered for former employers (e.g. increasing revenue by 24% by using cross-selling opportunities, preparing financial models for acquisitions resulting in reducing costs by 10%, or growing the average portfolio from $200K to $350K).
Use an effective format for bullet points
When listing responsibilities or achievements, use strong action verbs to emphasize your impact. Words like Implemented, Developed, Negotiated, Shortlisted, Pitched, and Performed highlight your focus on the result and your contribution.
Here's the formula for bullet points you can use:
- [Strong action verb] + [Your responsibilities] + [Measurable result]
Add valuable keywords
Whether you aim for a position in commercial banking, management consulting, or equity research, keywords will help your resume stand out. For human hiring managers, they help communicate your qualifications faster as they look through the resume. Plus, they help you pass the ATS screening as the software looks for particular words in your document.
Here are the top skills and keywords to include in your investment banking resume template:
- Financial modeling
- Private equity
- Financial analysis
- Financial statements
- Corporate finance
- Valuation
- Due diligence
- Venture capital
- Analysis
- Microsoft Access
- Comparables analysis
- Industry research.
Add your education
Place your education strategically depending on your career level. If you are a recent MBA graduate or student, put the Education section at the top. If you hold multiple degrees, list the most advanced one first.
List your major GPA and other achievements (such as the Dean's List or winning a case competition), and highly relevant coursework. To make your resume more finance-oriented, include any activities related to your target job, be it volunteering or finance student organizations. They will help you get noticed for an associate position if your paid experience is limited.
List relevant certifications
To showcase your interest in the finance industry, list relevant certifications and training. It will demonstrate your commitment to professional growth. Moreover, if you don't have a degree in finance, a certification will help prove that you qualify for the position.
List certifications under a separate heading or include them in your Education section. Here are some of the most popular certifications in investment banking:
- Investment Banking Certification (IBC)
- Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA)
- Certified Public Accountant (CPA)
- Financial Risk Manager (FRM)
- Certified Private Equity Professional (CPEP).
Include the additional sections
You may include additional sections in your resume if they help present you as a standout candidate for the finance industry. Here are the extra sections to consider:
- Technical skills: data analysis, programming languages, financial modeling, and risk assessment.
- Foreign languages: if you know Chinese, German, or Spanish, it can help you land an interview with an international organization.
- Software skills: proficiency with Excel, PowerPoint, CapitalIQ, and Bloomberg are a good advantage.
- Hobbies and interests: listing hobbies can help you connect with a hiring manager on a personal level.
Our free templates use a clean and concise format approved by hiring managers in the banking industry. Download them and make your resume shine! If you need further help to polish your resume or emphasize your achievements, our resume consultants will gladly help you. Chat with us to order a professionally written resume with a discount.
Rules for formatting investment banking resumes
Your resume content is important, yet if the document is poorly formatted, the initial impression will be spoiled. Here are the formatting guidelines to keep your resume polished and professional:
- Use the past tense for your achievements and previous jobs, and the present tense for your current position.
- Avoid personal pronouns on a resume, such as I or me. Write your resume in the third person without any pronouns.
- Keep the punctuation in bullet points consistent. You can add a period at the end of each bullet point or skip the periods whatsoever. The key is to keep the punctuation the same throughout the document.
- Use a popular font, such as Times New Roman, Arial, Calibri, or Tahoma. Keep the font size to 10 or 12 points for better readability.
- Avoid any graphic elements, such as photos, pictures, charts, or tables. They don't open correctly with the ATS software and can mess up the formatting.
- Keep the formatting neat, clean, and structured to make a professional impression instantly. Or, use our investment banking resume templates - they are already optimized and well-formatted according to the industry norms.
Create a Winning Investment Banking Resume
- Use a clean black-and-white resume template with no graphic elements or color. Such resumes are considered the industry standard and will increase your chances of success. You can find such templates above for free.
- Keep your resume to one page, no exceptions. If your resume takes more pages, consider removing old or irrelevant jobs or shortening job descriptions.
- Get feedback from professionals. Before you apply for a job, show your resume to hiring managers you know or a resume writer. Expert feedback will help you strengthen your application and get better results in your job search.
- PDF your resume before submitting it to investment banks to avoid formatting issues.