Craft Your Own Sample Resume – Investment Banking

In today’s exercise, you are required to use Henry Hunter’s sample resume to craft your own. Remember your resume is an important tool to set your feet into the Wall Street firms.

Let’s go back to 1993 when Henry was just graduated from MIT with his dual degrees in Science and Management. With such qualifications, he was likely to outperform any other candidates. But that’s not enough. Investment banking is a matter of human relations and networking. Therefore, you should also list your extra curricular activities to demonstrate your people skills.

While nowadays Henry doesn’t need these to appear on his resume, he is reluctant to write his list. I have therefore borrowed my niece’s instead. Actually I have shortened the list by half. Isn’t it amazing that a young person can do that many things while studying full time? If you’ve read Margaret Thatcher’s autobiography, my niece was actually quite lazy.

Make sure you keep a good record of yourself and be selective of what to include in your sample resume. List activities that are people-oriented and with team spirit. If you play football and swimming, list football. If you won a photography competition and a debating competition, list the debating award.

When writing a resume for your first full time job, make sure to include your internship experience. Hiring managers always want people with a well-rounded personality and a good balance of life.

Your Sample Resume
If you have 0 to three years of experience, make sure to write in this sequence:
1. Name, contact phone and email
2. Education: degree, university, city and country
3. Activities and achievements: select people-oriented items
4. Work experiences
5. Any other information, hobbies or skills that are useful to your application

Length: limit to one page

Let’s expand it and use Henry’s and my niece’s data to craft a new sample resume.

YOUR NAME
Phone: +81-90-1234-5678 Email: henryhunter@email.com

EDUCATION
1993 Bachelors in Computer Science / Bachelors in Management - MIT, Cambridge, MA
1994 Masters in Computer Science - MIT, Cambridge, MA (expected graduation 1994)

ACTIVITIES AND AWARDS

· CBS Distinguished Student Scholarship Award (2006)
· Dean’s Certificate of Academic Achievement (2006)
· Reporter of CUHK’s Press Committee (2005 - 2006)
· Debater of CUHK’s English Debating Team (2004 - 2005)
· Hong Kong Young Ambassador Scheme – Gold Medal (2002 - 2003)
· Hong Kong Bank Foundation of JPC Award - Best Member Award (2001)
· The Hong Kong Award for the Young People - Bronze, Silver Award (2000 – 2002)

WORK EXPERIENCE

HSBC
Summer Intern, Equity Research, Hong Kong, 2006
Member of the Asia ex-Japan equity research team. Assisted in data collection and compiling of research reports.

FORTIS INVESTMENT
Summer Intern, Risk Management, Hong Kong, 2005
Member of the reinsurance brokers team for 15 Asian clients’ reinsurance programs. Developed skills in risk management and spread of risk across variety of financial instruments.

PERSONAL
Born in 1970, speaks fluent English, Mandarin and Japanese. Knowledge of Bloomberg.

If you have gathered three years or more experience, use this sequence:
1. Name, contact phone and email
2. Work experience
3. Education: degree, university, city and country
4. Activities and Achievements: select people-oriented items
5. Any other information, hobbies or skills that are useful to your application

Length: limit to one page

Always keep your incredible achievements on your resume, regardless of your experience
As you gather more and more experience, the significance of your activities weight less and less. If at some stage you consider your experience is solid enough to sell yourself, you can omit your activities list completely. However if you have something really outstanding, it is always good to list it. For example, one of my candidates obtain straight 'A's in any of her examinations, she always keep this info on her resume.

To whom should you present your sample resume?
In my next post, I am going to talk about how to look for an appropriate employer to start your investment banking career.

Recommended career tools:
Amazing Resume Creator
a DIY resume is good enough for an entry level job. Investment bankers always want the best out of the best. To stand out from the crowd, get Jimmy Sweeney’s help to craft a best resume for yourself.
Amazing Cover Letter
A powerful cover letter is the perfect partner of your resume. Personalize and customize your amazing cover letter with Jimmy Sweeney’s help.

Sample Resume