The Must Avoid Mistakes in Financial Services Resumes - Laura Hill and Ivy Exec

The MUST AVOID Mistakes in Financial Services Resumes
Laura Hill, Senior Resume Writer, Ivy Exec

Want more info? Go to IvyExec.com 1

About Laura

• Senior Resume Writer at Ivy Exec

• Specialty: Financial Services

• Ten years in banking with JPMorgan Chase

• Ten years as a career/outplacement coach

• MBA in finance from NYU – Stern; BBA in marketing from University of
Texas – McCombs

• Certified Career Coach

Want more info? Go to IvyExec.com/Resume or email us at Resumes@ivyexec.com 2

Media

• Her work has been published in The New York Times , The Wall
Street Journal , JobsInTheMoney.com , and Smart Money .

• She has been a featured career expert on CNBC , The Wall Street
Journal Report With Maria Bartiromo , and MSNBC .


Outline
• What’s different? What’s the purpose of a resume?
• Most common mistakes in financial services resumes
• Resume Trends
• Aesthetics and Formatting
• Content
• Profile
• Job description
• Accomplishments
• Don’ts
• What to call it: “CV” vs. “Resume” (and bios)
• Q&A


What’s new in finance resumes
• You’ve moved up: senior execs and retained recruiters are your
audience now
• Executives (your competition) usually have better resumes
• The bar is higher: you must have accomplishments and metrics -
describing your responsibilities doesn’t cut it
• Earlier and redundant experience should shrink
• Resume fashions have changed

Poll question: Do you work in a financial function?
You’ve moved up . . . has your resume?


Purpose of a resume:
● It’s a brochure – a sales document
● Match you to a job and/or career path
● Get you in the door / get an interview
● Describe what you’ve actually done and the results; (you provide details
on how in the interview)
● NOT: give your full job description or account for your time and
whereabouts

Note: tone down the accomplishments for resumes used internally at your
employer or for official business reasons


Most common mistakes in financial services resumes:

● Unclear positioning – reader doesn’t know what category you fall in
● Doesn’t convey what you actually DO
● Too much distracting design
● Too much stuff at the top before reader gets to your company and job
● Big company jargon (“cross-functional teams”)
● No metrics / accomplishments


Challenges in financial services What you can do:
resumes:

● Complexity and scale of the ● Tell the reader:
business – Your function
● Generic job titles (Associate, – Your product or service
Managing Director) – Customer type/examples
● Too many deals to mention on ● Add a functional title and/or
your resume description
● Addendum


When someone looks at your resume, he/she:

● Forms an opinion in 4 - 10 seconds
● Has probably looked at many resumes and/or other documents before looking
at yours
● Looks for key information in expected places
● Wants to know what you do immediately
● Probably doesn’t understand a lot about the job


• In fashion now: • Out of fashion:
o Profile that positions you to a target o Objective statements
audience
o Be everything to everybody
o Using key words for computer
matching (narrative or list) o Multiple fonts/sizes, graphics, colors,
too much bold; Underlining
o Two pages around 10-15+ years;
one page otherwise o More than two pages (exception:
addendum)
o Small margins; not much white
space o Blocks of text
o LinkedIn URL o Lot of text before the job history
o Tell the reader what you do o “Functional” resumes
at the top of the resume


Content: Targeting Your Resume

● Profile at the top
o Tell the reader what you do
o Advertise what you want the reader to know
o Communicate your value proposition / product features / brand
o Put key words that will match the job(s) you want
● Absence of a profile at the top is ok if you want to continue doing what you do
now (or did most recently)

[Profile examples]


Content: Company Names and Job Responsibilities

● Short company description for less well known employers
● Very short job descriptions – two or three lines
o Un-bulleted
o Role, scope, budget, staff #
o Use “Lead” instead of “Direct” or “Responsible for”
● Try to make all your bullets accomplishments

[John Doe example]


• Use strong/positive words: • Avoid:

o Revamped o Helped

o Championed o Coordinated

o Led/managed o Assisted

o Developed and implemented o Direct/directed

o Turned around o Proven track record


Accomplishments: a definition
● A discrete project that you managed: scope, scale, on-time, under budget,
overcame obstacles
● Improvements over time (e.g. – annual % increases/decreases)
● Has a result/benefit (make money or save money; give #s whenever you can)
● “Selected to”
● “First-ever”
● “In spite of…”
● “Grew revenues x% OR from $x to $Y”
● Replace:
o Did thus and such to improve something; with
o Did thus and such that improved something X%
[Risk Exec example]


Don’t:
● Tell stories (“Recruited to turnaround…”)
● Include the title of the person to whom you report
● Bury the accomplishment in a block of text
● Repeat the same accomplishment in different places (even if stated
differently)
● Use too much jargon (enough about “verticals”)
● Write “Global” all over the place (examples of work in named countries will
convey it better)
● Give too much text/context (save it for the interview)
● Take your accomplishments out of the jobs in which they occurred


For Great Big Accomplishments With Many Facets:

● Oversaw increase in rankings of research providers from 50th+ to top 20
across a broad array of clients:

– Actively participated in recruiting over 23 research analysts;

– Led the analysts’ brand franchise building activities: individually
mentored 30 analysts in developing and implementing strategies for
targeting clients and raising their profiles;

– Increased marketing outreach with over 50 conferences, field trips, and
meetings annually.


Proper Terminology

● Biographies
o Speaking engagements
o Not-for-profit/professional associations
o Not used for job search
● In the U.S., it’s always called a resume – even for CEOs
● In the U.S., a CV is used only in academia and is multi-page
● Outside the U.S., you can call it a CV if you like

[Bio example]


Important Advice:

● Keep a career file at your fingertips
o Record key metrics when you start an assignment
o Collect important facts/metrics
o Write a summary of accomplishments for your boss in advance of your
performance review
● Update your resume annually with new accomplishments and results


The Ivy Exec Senior Resume Writers
Laura Hill
is an expert in designing career strategies and job search campaigns. Her industry experience
includes 10 years as a career/outplacement coach and recruiter, as well as 10 years in banking
with JPM Chase. She has been published in The New York Times, The WSJ, and Forbes, and
has been a featured expert on CNBC's The Wall Street Journal Report.

Staci Collins
has over 15 years of partnering with executives, directors and senior managers to achieve their
career objectives. She has deep industry experience, having worked at Accenture and Ernst &
Young in change management, human resources, and strategic planning. She received her
MBA from the University of California - Haas and BA at Harvard.

Kim Mohiuddin
a TORI (Toast of the Resume Industry) Award nominee in the international category, Kim has
been featured in Yahoo News, NBC Chicago and Time Out NY. She is the former certification
chair of the National Resume Writers’ Association and certified job search strategist.


The Ivy Exec Elite Resume Package
The Elite Package is a comprehensive evaluation of your career and
accomplishments which includes a career diagnostic, a fully rewritten resume
and a coaching session focused on overcoming any professional roadblocks.

In-depth intake session via phone with your Senior Resume Writer
A finalized and re-written resume
A full hour of Career Coaching or a cover letter
An enhanced Ivy Exec profile
3 months of Ivy Exec All Access membership

To set up a 15 minute appointment to inquire about next steps, please go to
ivyexec.com/resume or email resumes@ivyexec.com


Thank you!
The Road to Success is
Always Under Construction

To learn more about Ivy Exec’s Resume Services or
schedule a consultation, please go to
ivyexec.com/resume or email resumes@ivyexec.com


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