Copy This Investment Banking Resume Template to Break In (If You’re a University Student)
I get a lot of questions on how to structure your resume, how to write about your experience, what to focus on, and how much to write.
Rather than writing a giant Q&A on all these topics, I’m going to give you a resume/CV template that you can just copy and modify for your own experiences.
But I’ll Have the Same Resume as Everyone Else!
No, because only 0.1% of those who see this template will actually download it and use it. Don’t overestimate the competition.
And even though this site is well-known, only a tiny fraction of those interested in investment banking have visited it.
If you are worried, just modify the formatting and use different fonts, spacing, or margins.
Now let’s get on with the template and video:
- University Student Investment Banking Resume Template (Word 2003)
- University Student Investment Banking Resume Template (Word 2007-2010+)
- University Student Investment Banking Resume Template – PDF
Note: You should always submit your resume in PDF format unless they tell you otherwise.
Here’s the tutorial video:
- View Large Version
- Download Large Version
- Download iPad Version
- Download iPhone Version
- Download iPod Version
- Download the MP3
And if you don’t like to watch or can’t watch, here it is in text:
Overall
Notice how this is very compact – investment bankers only spend 30 seconds reading your resume, so you want to hit on the key points rather than overloading them with irrelevant information.
Avoid 0.25″ margins and size 8 font unless you absolutely can’t fit everything – try to use 0.5″ margins at a minimum and preferably at least 0.75″ (like you see here).
Decreasing the font size is better than decreasing the margins if you need to fit more information on the page – but again, you should make sure everything you include is both necessary and useful.
We have 4 main sections: the Header, Education, Work & Leadership Experience and Skills, Activities & Interests.
All the entries are right-aligned for the dates and locations – to do that, you go into “Styles” in Word and create a New Style with right-aligned tabs (just watch the video to see how to do this, it’s really hard to explain in text).
1 Page Only, Please (With Some Exceptions…)
Before anyone mentions it – yes, I know Australia is an exception to this rule and resumes there often go on for 2-3 pages even for entry-level positions.
For the rest of the world, however, it’s a much safer bet to stick to 1 page unless you are applying to Managing Director-level positions (and if you’re reading this website, that’s not you).
Header
Center the header, make sure your name is in bigger font than the rest (so they remember who you are), and write your address, phone number and email address right below that.
There’s not much more to it than that – keep it short, don’t include stars or symbols, and please, keep photos of your pet rabbit off your resume (I’ve seen all of the above before…).
There are some regions where it’s acceptable to include your own photo here, so go ahead and do that if it’s common practice.
Note: Never include your picture on your resume in the US, even if one of your “interests” is “professional modeling.”
Education Section
If you’re still in university, this should always be at the top – I can’t think of a good reason why it would be anywhere else.
The key points: where you go to school, what your major is, graduation date, and GPA/SAT score. Honors, Relevant Coursework, and Research are actually all optional, but they’re good to include if you have something business/finance-related to write about.
You absolutely need to include your GPA, even if it’s “bad” (below 3.5) – otherwise they will think it’s “really bad” (below 2.0). SAT scores are more optional, but I would leave them in if they’re over 1400 in the old system or over 2100 in the new system.
If you’re outside the US, you would write your grades in your own system here – in the UK, for example, you might write “Earned 2.1 cumulative average.” Class rank is also fine if you don’t receive official “grades.”
If your GPA is poor then you can “hide” it by also listing:
- Major GPA
- 2nd/3rd Year GPA (this is more of a stretch and only works if you can show a strong improvement trend)
You can also list study abroad or summer program experiences here – these should be included as separate education entries if you have the space.
Don’t include high school unless you just got to college and have no real experience yet – or unless you went to a top school with a lot of alumni in finance (Andover / Exeter in the US).
Don’t include clubs, activities, or certifications here – those should be in one of the 2 sections below this instead.
Work & Leadership Experience – The Rule of 3?
You should aim for between 2 and 4 major work experience entries. Don’t make a laundry list of all 27 different clubs you’ve been in, because there’s no way you had major accomplishments for all of them.
Think about what a banker reading your resume would want to know – here are a few examples:
- You had an internship at an asset management firm and then at a hedge fund – and you also started your own business fraternity. Each of these should be an entry, and you should devote most of your space to the internships.
- You worked at a boutique bank over the summer, and have spent 20 hours/week on a Varsity sport at school – these should be your major entries (yes, sports are fine to list under “Work & Leadership Experience” but in this case you definitely want to focus on the boutique bank).
- You were in 4 clubs at school and also had an internship at Goldman Sachs (in any group). DO NOT write about each of these as if they were equal – Goldman Sachs is exponentially more important than your clubs, so spend half your resume on GS, pick the 2 activities where you contributed most, and write a few lines about each of them.
Together or Separate?
You’ll notice I grouped “Work Experience” WITH “Leadership Experience” here – that’s because you probably have a few internships and also a few activities you spend a lot of time on. Grouping these together under one heading saves space and makes your activities seem more like “work experience.”
But let’s say you had 4 investment banking internships (summer and part-time) – in that case, I would probably just call this section “Work Experience” and focus on the 3 most recent ones.
If you’ve had absolutely no real internships or other work experience, you should still call this section “Work & Leadership Experience” to give the impression you did.
Structure of Each Entry
There’s this idea floating around that you should have 3 work experience entries, and then 3 bullets within each one of them – in principle this sounds reasonable, but in practice it can be difficult to include exactly 3 bullets for each entry.
The better way to approach this: decide on a Project-Centric or Task-Centric structure for each entry, and then write everything based around one of those.
In both cases, you start out with a Summary Sentence stating what you did and the major results of your work (if you know them).
For an investment banking internship, the Summary Sentence might be “Worked on 3 live deals and created valuations using public company comparables, precedent transactions, and DCF analysis; worked with clients to develop management presentations and Executive Summaries.”
For a marketing internship, the Summary Sentence might be “Worked with 2 major clients in media & entertainment industries and developed advertising campaigns to promote new seasons of top-rated network TV shows.”
Project-Centric
The Project-Centric structure starts off with the Summary Sentence and then goes into “Selected Project Experience” (or “Selected Client Experience” or “Selected Transaction Experience” or “Selected Investment Experience”).
Use the Project-Centric structure for:
- Investment banking/private equity/hedge fund experience
- Consulting (any kind)
- Anything else involving specific clients or companies – equity research, wealth management, law, accounting, etc.
Pick the 2 or 3 best projects (for internships, these will likely be the ones you did the most work on) and then give a single bullet or two describing what you did for each one (more on that below).
Listing just 1 project or client looks weird – but don’t list 8 different projects either, as you want to focus on the most relevant ones.
If you’re listing these for an investment banking internship, you should use titles such as:
- Pharmaceutical Company’s Potential $150 Million Acquisition of Biomedical Devices Company
- Technology Company’s $250 Million Initial Public Offering
For anything on the buy-side (PE, HF, VC), you might use:
- Potential $1 Billion Investment in Manufacturing Company
And for experience outside finance, you would use similarly descriptive titles and avoid naming specific companies unless whatever you worked on was announced to the public.
Task-Centric
The Task-Centric structure is not that much different – we still have a Summary Sentence at the beginning, but we separate the work by tasks and responsibilities rather than by specific projects or clients.
This format is best for part-time jobs (you worked as a sales rep at Radio Shack one summer – not your “part-time job” at Lazard), activities, and anything else outside finance – like research or engineering.
If you can re-position what you did to make it sound like specific projects then you should definitely do so – but if it’s a stretch, don’t bother.
Kevin said this doesn’t work as well for management consulting, but it definitely helps with finance because bankers look at it quickly and say, “Aha! It looks like they worked on deals!”
Ready, Fire, Aim: How to Properly Structure Your Bullets
Each bullet you write on your resume needs to do 2 things:
- Say, specifically, what you did. Numbers are good, as is the proper lingo. “Valued client using DCF, liquidation analysis, and public company comparables” is better than “Valued companies.”
- Give the results of what you did – and yes, I know that you don’t always have them. Numbers are good, but even something qualitative like “Resulted in private equity firm proceeding with additional due diligence” is better than nothing.
The order here doesn’t matter that much, so go with whatever sounds more natural – if you give the specifics first you should use a semicolon to separate it from the results.
If you go with the results first, you should use “by” to separate each part, as in “Supported senior bankers’ effort to negotiate 5% lower price for client by creating merger model to analyze best-case, average, and worst-case scenarios.”
If you have an extremely lengthy description, then it’s fine to include the specifics all on one line and then make a separate line for the results.
Skills, Activities & Interests
Surprisingly, this is the one section where you see the greatest number of mistakes and outright silly writing. Let’s start with the list of common mistakes:
- Leaving it out entirely (only do this if you’re much older).
- Going on for too long (10+ lines).
- Failing to list useful/interesting Skills, like Language abilities, and instead listing every single club you were in since age 5.
- “Fluent in English” – Except your resume is already in English, so I’d be really concerned if you didn’t know the language…
- “Proficient in Microsoft Office/Excel” – This might have been impressive in 1992. Not so much today.
Keep this section simple and list any language proficiencies first, followed by technical skills (real ones, like programming languages), and then you can list your financial modeling/CFA courses next, followed by a line or two on more minor Activities, and then your Interests at the end.
This is a more subtle point, but when you’re picking your Interests try to list interesting Interests. Don’t just write “Running” – write that you “Competed in marathons in 13 countries across Europe and North America.”
Even though this isn’t “work experience,” the same strategies hold true – be specific, focus on what’s memorable, and try to go in-depth with only a few areas rather than giving a laundry list with minimal details.
See Also
If you’re not a university student, don’t despair: just look these other resume templates and tutorials:
- Private Equity / Buy-Side Resume Template
- MBA / Experienced Investment Banking Resume Template
- How to Write an Investment Banking Resume with No Real Work Experience
Objections
“But wait,” you say, “this resume is too [boring / narrow / insert other negative adjective here].”
That’s nice, but the purpose of a resume is not to show off your artistic skills or creativity.
It’s to win the attention of time-strapped bankers and land interviews.
Yes, the design above may not be “stylish” but it’s effective and makes it very easy for bankers to quickly assess you.
As mentioned above, there are regions such as Australia where resumes / CVs are more personal and go on for several pages.
I don’t want to get in a debate about cultural differences – it is what it is, and the template above works great for the US, Europe, Asia, and most other regions outside of Australia.
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How do you add those line breaks into word?
Paragraph –> Border and make sure bottom border is highlighted while you highlight the entire line in Word
I’m currently working for an AM very prestigious firm. Though its my only work experience; im not really in a heavily investing dept and this is my first work experience, should I list it and kind of jazz it up with the 3 point scheme like you suggested?
Also I’ve heard many recruiters say that they want something new in the ‘Interests’ section. I used to list Competitive Computer Gaming where I’ve attained top3 in the UK, and regularly compete versus the best of Europe. And this got some very good comments and people asked me about it and said that this was a very different interest. Don’t get me wrong I dont continiously go on about it, nor do i mention the time i spend on it. What do you think – Include or do not include?
Yes, still use the 3-point scheme. Computer gaming is fine to list as long as you don’t come across as being too nerdy; something like sports is arguably better but it’s fine if you can tell a good story around it.
Hi Brian,
For summer program experience, if I don’t have enough space, can I combine it with my degree program under ‘undergraduate’(I’m doing Master’s at the moment). So can I make two separate entries for graduate and undergraduate and put school names and GPAs under each entry? Thank you a lot!
Yes, fine
I’m going to be going through full time recruiting starting this Fall, but am wondering how I should include a 4-month IB internship that I’m going to be starting in September?
It’s definitely something that I want to have on my resume as my other work terms have been in back office positions, but since I’ll have only been there for a very short period before applications start coming due, it’s going to be hard to quantify or talk about any results of my work.
Any advice on how I should go about including this? Thanks!
Just give the name and dates and say you’ll be starting soon in 1 line on resume but don’t give details since you haven’t started yet.
Should I be listing my home address or school address?
Doesn’t matter. They’ll reach you on your cell/email if they need you. Its only when you have to fill in the “documents”/apps in which you have to enter your home address.
Hi Brian,
I did one of those sophomore programs offer at a bulge bracket bank for about a week. How should I include it on my resume since it is different from a regular internship? Do I still format it like your template because it’s more of getting to know people with some opportunities to learn some stuff?
Yes. Yes – focus on tasks you have done and skills you have gained. Remember, keep it punchy and brief.
Brian,
When listing dates on the resume, is it acceptable to write “Summer 2011″ and “Summer 2010″ or it better to write June 2011-August 2011.
Similarly, for activities during the school year, is “Fall 2011″ acceptable or are more specific dates/months better?
Thanks,
Joe
Better to list more specific dates if possible but seasons are fine
brian,
i am from india and i would be going in for internship next year. i do not have any work experience . how do you suggest i present my resume . and if you could please explain me about relevant course work again .
http://www.mergersandinquisitions.com/investment-banking-resume-no-work-experience/
Hi,
Im studying maths at a top 20 university and I am on track to gain a 1st.
After school I went into construction and was an asst. site manager for two years before deciding it wasn’t for me, and going to university. I was heavily involved in some large projects, and had sole responsibility for the handover of two.
Further to this I have had an internship at a top insurance broker and was heavily involved in a major deal for the regional office I worked in (I think it was the biggest they had had for 2 years).
I also have had a trading account which I have managed to gain around 20% profits in every year since 2009.
I know my experience and university is not ideal for breaking into investment banking, but I want to give it a shot.
I was wondering whether I should give more emphasis to the internship or my construction experience (spinning it that I was involved with blue chip clients in a leadership role) or to the internship as it is more relevant (although not very relevant).
Thanks
Yes, you can try to spin your insurance experience; I think this experience is more relevant than your construction experience, though both are marginally relevant
You should definitely elaborate on your trading experience (20% profits every year) and look at roles w hedge funds, long onlys – you might find trading more interesting than pure IB
I go to an Ivy League school, but am from the Midwest. Because of this, I took the ACT rather than the SAT. I did quite well on it and would like to include it on my resume. Should I include an approximate SAT equivalent score (available on the official ACT website), only list my ACT score, or not list it at all?
Yes, think you should list ACT score and then your SAT equiv
ACT score: X/X/X/X / SAT equiv: X/X
Should i include my GMAT/GRE scores ??
If you want to include the scores, and you also did really well, then I might include them. However, I don’t know if they will make difference in your resume; your experience is significantly more important.
Should you really add programming languages to your resume, or will that make you look like too much of a nerd (especially if your past work experience is in engineering)?
Unless you’re looking at IT roles in finance or maybe programming for a tech startup I don’t know how useful listing your knowledge of programming language is to interviewers in investment banking
Hi, I am working on the 3rd bullet point for my past investment banking internship. I am thinking about include either a pitch of conglomerate’s divestiture of its property arm or a internal business development project of power equipment industry. Would you give me some guidance on which to choose? Or they both are too trivial to include? Thanks a lot!
I’d include the two. Try to highlight your role in the two projects and your modelling, leadership, communication, multi-tasking, coordination skills
Hi,
You quite often state that analysts will be viewing the CV and will have only 30 seconds to read over the CV and therefore it should be kept to about one page like this template.
What if the position is being advertised by an HR firm, does this still apply? Should the same template be used with more detail or a standard CV template like when applying for any other role?
Cheers.
Yes it still applies – always keep it short. People have ADD and don’t have the time/attention to read a really long (over 1 page) CV.
I go to school in Asia and came to a well-known business school in Europe for exchange. My GPA is not high. Can I put the European school in education?
Yes.
Hi,
I am attending a MSc in Finance and I am preparing for investment banking internship applications.In relevant coursework should I refer only the courses I have already attended or all the Master’s courses.(For example advanced valuation is a course of the spring term,should I write down it or not).
Thank you for your time and for your attention.
You can write down future courses but you need to indicate that you’re planning to take them and haven’t actually finished yet.
Hi. How should the CV be changed for students applying for spring weeks? I’m still freshman. It’s just high school (in Switzerland) which I have finished already.
If I wasn’t in any student club -> delete this section without substituting it with smthg else?
Up to now I have had 3 jobs, one of them in an asset management-firm. I’m still working there, but unfortunately doing anything related to relevant skills you should bring with you. In another firm I was seller in a supermarket. Should I write this for my spring week application?
Thanks!
No need to write student club if you aren’t in any
Write about asset management experience. Unless you dont have anything else to write about I wouldn’t put your supermarket experience there
What about a club, in which I’m just a member and attending some firm-presentations which are organised by this club? Write or not?
In the asset management firm I’m just an admin assistant (assisting Accounting/Controlling team and Office Management). I dont have anything to do with the investment projects. Can you give me tips how to turn this into (creative) relevant experience?
Thanks a lot!
Depends on what other activities you have. If you don’t have other activities, I’d put it in there. I’d also suggest you to join an investment club
Use adjectives like “manage” “coordinate” to make it sound like you were involved in a lot of things. Try to “quantify” or at least write about the “impact” you made on firm.
Thanks!
One more question: my firm wrote a certification for me, and I think its pretty good.
Do you think it will affect my application?
Here’s a citation of the letter: “*** is currently working succesfully as an …. [...]
*** deals with all matters in a confidential and professional manner. He works very independently and is absolute discreet and trustworthy. ***’s work results were always precise and accurate. His behavior towards superiors and [...]
At this point we would like to thank *** for his achievements and looking forward to a continuing succesful collaboration.” Signed by the Head of HR and the CFO.
What do you think?
Thanks in advance!
Its fine and pretty standard.
Hi,
I was wondering if it would be OK to use an intensive class investment portfolio project instead of a major club under “Work & Leadership Experience” ? If yes, is there anything wrong with renaming the section title to “Work Experience and Projects”. Right now I have 3 internships listed in the section, and this project is top 2 finance experience.
Thanks.
Yes you can use the intensive class port project under work & leadership experience but I would not change the experience to “Work Experience and Projects”.
Hi,
I’m from the US but I am enrolled in a University in Europe. The GPA scale here is out of 20 points and there is not a widely accepted conversion method. Also the weighting system is different here, the highest GPA in my major was a 15.2 out of 20. Since I got to school in Europe if I leave my GPA out do you think they will interpret that as bad grades?
thanks
Perhaps you can translate your European GPA to a US GPA? I wouldn’t leave your GPA out
The problem is that from the naked eye if I converted my GPA into a US GPA it wouldn’t be interpreted the same way it is interpreted at my school. There is no official conversion system… can I just say that I am in the top percentile?
If you are, yes.
Hi, Thank you very much for providing us with this CV Template. It has made life so much easier. I went to well reputed International schools in Dubai and Cairo where I completed my O and A levels with rather decent grades. So I was wondering if it would be worth mentioning the schools I went to or should I simply list down my grades or none of these would make any difference to my application. Btw, I am targeting only the UK market as I am doing my undergrad studies here. I would highly appreciate any suggestion! Cheers!
O/A levels don’t really matter if you are doing your undergrad already. Financial internship experience, investment club experience matter
Hi ! I’m a French student and I’m still in Bachelor program but I need to find a 6 month internship for the end of this year (From next June to december). I was wondering if “Private tutoring” is an acceptable experience apart from my only work experience which is a 4 weeks internship at BNP Paribas (During which I did approximately nothing).
Anyway I’m very grateful for what you did, it really helped me and gave me a little confidence.
Thanks.
Sure, while not relevant, you can try to spin the experience in a positive light
Hey, Brian.. Thank you for this template, it is really useful, as the rest of your website. I wanted to ask a question..
I am trying to apply to banks in Europe, and I have previous experience in a small VC firm, being the only finance-related experience I have. However, I don’t know if they would provide good references to a prospective employer.
Do banks really ask or email companies to check if the work experience is actual work experience? Should I include this experience then, or just forget about it?
Thank you very much.
Usually they just ask to verify employment dates so you should be safe leaving it on
Hi, it’s me again (sorry for these [maybe stupid] questions.. :p).
I’ve shown this CV to two recruiters, and both said that it is shown quite confusing. So do you recommend using this template exactly THAT way or are you just giving rough guidelines for the CV?
Also the sample CV from from JPM doesnt appeal me at all. (http://careers.jpmorgan.com/cm/BlobServer/Sample_CV.pdf?blobcol=urldata&blobtable=MungoBlobs&blobkey=id&blobwhere=1158550839857&blobheader=application%2Fpdf)
I think the template is fine. Why did they find it confusing? My contacts loved my resume.
The sample CV is standard, not outstanding or special
It was just about style. The font, the space between the lines and last they said: please don’t write in italic. That would not be 2011.
So I changed it to Century Gothic and pushed the bulletpoints with a tab to the right side, so that it is in one vertical line with the Dates, Places, etc. Wish I could show it to you – just the design. :)
Ok. I don’t know if I’ll take them too seriously cause everyone has diff opinions
Hi Brian,
thank you very much for your tutorial!
I still have two questions:
1) I am equally interested in Consulting and IB. Which parts of my IB-CV will I need to change especially if I want to use this CV for consulting, also?
2) I have a number of awards and I struggle a bit about where to put them: Can I list “youngest graduate in the history of the … High School, outstanding student in … and member of the American Honor Society” as part of “honors” received in high school, in the education section?
I am German but graduated during my year abroad from a US High School which is why I´d like to keep that together, even though probably not all of these things are properly considered “honors”.
(I know that you mentioned to not include the High School in education. However, since it´s one of my most interesting points, I have always included it, and it got me quite far).
1. We will have to look at your CV via our resume editing service to see. Can’t help on the comment page here
2. High school info is dated – pls refer to http://www.mergersandinquisitions.com/5-ways-to-make-your-resume-sink-faster-than-the-titanic/
Hi, I am in my final in a double degree program in Australia – law and accounting. My law grades are much stronger than my accounting grades (should I try to hide my accounting grades, and only state my law average/GPA?
In addition, would it look weird if I only had legal work experience? and not other banking jobs?
Average is fine unless they ask
Not weird but try to have banking experience if you want banking jobs
Hi,
In the CV, shouldn’t we write at somewhere about our references? I,ve read somewhere else that it is good to put at the end of your CV that “references are available on request”. What do you think about it? Do you think we do not need to talk about it now?
I am applying for some positions in London and I currently have only one reference, but he is famous. Would writing his name increase my chances?
No. When you reach the final stage of your interviewing process, they will ask for references
Maybe, but again depends on how you pitch your story
Hello, thank you for this great template! I have a question about citing Summer School Experience. Should I include it under my Undergraduate education? and if yes, which are the bullet points I should use? Should it be something like this? Should I expand it more? Is it appropriate to list it under a different section such as: Academic Programs?
XYZ University New York, NY/USA
Summer School 06/2008-07/2008
-Coursework: ….
-??
Don’t see why you need to include it.
It is a course in Financial Management from an Ivy League University.
Sure, list it. Follow our template model (like university entry)
Thank you for your reply Nicole! do you think it is better to list it under education or create a separate category like Academic Programs.
Under Education is better I think
This is an arcilte that makes you think “never thought of that!”
You’d be surprised that resumes from the Vault Guides still have the objective heading.
I heard that Stephen Schwarzman got into Donald Lufkin & Jenrette after studying a Intensive Culture and Behavior degree at Yale and had not taken a single accounting or economics course there (I.e. not done anything related to investment banking). Does this and the fact that JP Morgan hires Liberal Arts degree holders and offers them pre training coursework and bootcamps to attend mean it does not matter if you have not done a business or economics related degree you will still get into investment banking? Or is it harder to get into Investment Banking without a business or economics related degree?
Secondly why do Investment Banks want only graduates (i.e. degree holders) to join there ranks? If people like Schwarzman can get in and consequently get trained for a investment banking job and the fact that JP Morgan offers a Liberal Arts training program and bootcamp, why is a degree a prerequisite, when people can come into the banking industry knowing nothing about business or finance? Why can’t they take High School Diploma candidates or GCSE or A Level candidates and train them to be Investment Bankers? Or is the degree (whatever the subject) a measure of how intelligent you are as a candidate and a way of measuring how good you will be at investment banking? Or a way of seperating the wheat from the chaff?
Yes you can get into IB w/o a business or econ related degree
Many people who work at IB have degrees from prestigious universities; bankers place high importance on having degrees from a top tier schools.
Having degrees is a pre-requisite not just in banking but in other industries too. Degree can be a measure of how intelligent you are as a candidate even though it is not always an accurate measure.
So basically having a high school diploma by itself means it is virtually impossible to get into investment banking?
What if after you get your high school diploma you go and become a teller at a retail bank and work your way up to bank manager, then apply to a an investment bank, would you get in? Since you have some banking experience, will a investment bank consider taking you on then, even without a degree?
Yes.
I think it will be difficult.
I study in a branch campus of an American university, should I include the location of the Satellite campus or both locations (domestic and American). I want to avoid confusion and help recruiters associate the satellite campus with the home campus in the States…
I was thinking to include it like this
Madrid, Spain/St. Louis, MO, USA
I’d include both locations if you have spent some time in America during your studies
Thank you for your prompt response Nicole. What if I haven’t spent time there? Should I include only the location of the satellite campus? How can I help recruiters understand that the campus in Europe belongs to the American institution?
Include only location of satellite campus. Try to list the campus in Europe as affiliate to American institution.
hey i currently go to uni in the uk and am applying for summer interns my grade wasn’t great last year but i have 3 yrs left do i have to include it?
thanks
Yes I believe they will ask for it
I’m studying in Germany and have already founded two (internet) companys, both with no financial aspects.
How can I include them appropriate in my resume?
Thanks for your help!
Just list what you did and try as much as you can to quantify your impacts
Hi,
I am currently a 2nd year student at a semi-target in Canada. I have a extensive marketing and consulting experience but I’m looking to get into banking. I’m currently interning at a boutique and intend to put that experience on my resume. Problem is, I do very menial work (researching potential clients, analyzing trends, making ppt presentrations etc.) which involves little to no excel/modeling work. What do I do? I have two options:
1) Put this experience on my resume, and if I do get called for an interview, I won’t have much to talk about in terms of meaningful experience.
2) Leave it out and hope my marketing/consulting experience will get me an interview.
I have a ~3.4 GPA.
Any help is appreciated.
Regards
Definitely list it. Even if you’re doing the most menial tasks imaginable, working at a bank is far better than not working at a bank. Focus on your contributions to winning clients, and write about how your work could potentially lead to certain deals or certain amounts of fees generated for your firm.
Great, thanks for the reply Brian.
Is a Master in International Business (MIB) a competitive degree to break into Investment Banking? I am afraid that a Master of Business Administration (MBA) is quite common these days..
They are different things to my knowledge. MBA is more for career changers whereas MIB I think is just a normal Master’s degree (do a search for it on the site)
Goldman internship application asks for an academic transcript but it’s not mandatory. I don’t have the transcript yet as the semester isn’t over, and by that time it will be too late.
What should I do?
Ask for an unofficial transcript, which you should have
Before transferring to my current college, I had to take off two years to work full time to help support my family financially. Should I include this break in my resume and explain why?
Thanks in advance for your help!
Yes, if this experience is not older than 4 years
Can I include a three line description of the company I am working/worked after every experience entry on my CV? are the recruiters obliged to know the company you worked and its general objectives?
I don’t think that’s the best way to do it. Varies according to different individuals
So let’s say I have had an IB internship, a middle/back office internship, and a PWM internship. Did the middle/back office internship first, IB internship second, and PWM was the latest. Obviously in terms of importance, I think the order is IB -> MO/BO -> PWM. But in terms of dates that’s not chronologically in order. Can I still put the internships in ORDER OF IMPORTANCE on my internship? Or will I get penalized for not having the jobs in chronologically dated order?
No I’d say IB – PWM then MO/BO
Depends on what roles you are applying for. If you’re applying for PWM roles, I’d do IB then PWM then MO/BO
meaning if it’s not chronologically in order it’s not what’s important?
Sometimes it is. It depends. If you want to highlight a particular experience, you might want to put it at the top of the resume even though chronologically speaking it should be at the bottom of your resume because interviewers usually focus on the top two entries of your work experience.
Should I add a border to my CV?
I don’t think its necessary but if you want to, go ahead
What’s the best way to convert this to A4? Just changing the page size makes the lines not line up with text, etc
Can’t really say here on this comments section. I think it works for me and most other readers when we print the doc out though so don’t know what happened on your end
I’ve transferred schools and done summer school at a local community college. Should I include these on my resume? Also, those credits at other schools have boosted my overall GPA. Should I distinguish my overall undergraduate GPA from my GPA at the school I now attend full-time (which is higher-ranked).
Yes. Sure.
Hi M&I,
I finished my masters in May 2011. Should I NOT put my 2007 accounting internship experience and leadership experience as vice president of student government on my resume? What time period is considered old?
Thank you.
You can though its dated. Anything older than 5 years I believe would be considered old
This is ridiculously helpful. I have just a few more questions:
1. Should I break down my SAT into its 3 sections (M:800, CR: 750, W: 700), or just put down the total score (2250)?
2. My ACT score of 34 converts to 2280, which is slightly higher – should I put that down along with the above, or instead of it?
3. On my Campus OCR (I’m at a target), there are a bunch of bulge-bracket banks offering IBD/S&T sophomore internships (all of it’s front-office stuff). They’re not asking for either cover letters, or transcripts. Should I send them (for me, cover letter is average to good, transcript is average to mediocre)
1. Total score is fine
2. Either way
3. If not great, I wouldn’t send them unless they ask for the docs
Thanks!
If my GPA is poor, should I list my 2nd and 3rd year cumulative GPA if it’s showing an improvement? Or can I just pick my 3rd year GPA since it’s the highest? How should I format it if I also want to include my SAT score?
Overall GPA: XX/4.0; 3rd Year GPA (better yet Major GPA if Finance/Accounting): XX/4.0; SATI: XX/2400 (only include if higher than 2300)
Hi M&I,
I was wondering if you know of any good resume templates for Australian applicants? Would it be acceptable to still use the M&I template but go into more depth, or are they going to be after something else entirely?
Thanks!
Yes, use our template
Hello. Thanks for the great template.
I’m a junior from a top-tier university majoring in
economics, but I have no banking nor work experience except for working in a professor’s lab for a year, and a local convenience store during the summer. How should I list it? I don’t want a big blank on “work experience” part.
List your work at the lab and convenience store.
Hi M&I,
I m chinese who is studying at the UK uni.I decide to apply 6-month placement for banking.However, my HK A Level result is quite bad, and i took a foundation programme to progress to uni.I m just wondering whether i should show my HK AL result?
Probably not
Thanks for all the effort M&A!
I know this is nitpicky, but what about combining the best portions of my SAT scores in order to get the highest number? Will they actual verify this SAT business?
Assuming I do combine my best portions of the SAT (resulting in a 2090), should I list it?
Don’t know if that is a good idea.
Don’t know in reference to which… the combining or the fact that the score is less than 2100?
*btw I meant M&I, sorry about the typo
Just a bad idea in general to combine SAT sections from separate exams.
Do not combine scores from separate SATs.
I see. Well to get to basis of my question, is it worth listing a score 2050?
Probably not. List if its above 2100.
Hi M&I, I’m from a non-target uni with substantial business development/marketing & sales experiences at no-name firms, and greatly above avg/interesting extra-curriculars and accomplishments (3.9 GPA). I never applied to FO, and I’m currently working in IT (analysis & project management) at a medium-sized known IB.
Would this make me a strong candidate for breaking into an IB analyst position?
Thanks in advance for the answer!
Having a strong IB network and deal/valuation/modelling experience will help in your case. Otherwise, I don’t think your candidacy stands out