Your CV is your first impression to a potential employer. Financial services have established codes and strong expectations on what is adequate in terms of format.
CVs in finance are always a one-pager 📄 for junior roles. Even if you have a background in academia, do not put a list of your publications: one or two is plenty enough. Most often, companies will just cut out anything beyond the first page. In terms of colours, stick to black and white. Do not add flashy colours or highlights. The font must be easy to read, and usually, the size should not be at least 10 pts 🔍. Always have a document as a PDF. It must be machine-readable, and you can use software to type and export your resume such as Microsoft Word, LibreOffice, or Overleaf with LateX.
For personal data, only state your name and contact details. You can add pronouns, but you don't have to. ⛔ Do not add a picture. This is not appropriate for resumes in finance. Some companies would reject you application, and most would anonymize CVs anyway. They do this for fairness at the blind-review stage. For Asian names, write the Romanization 🔤 with all caps for the last name. Do not add titles or certifications, such as PhD, CFA, or MSc, on the header of the CV.
In terms of structure, the sections are all stacked, which means that you should not have a sidebar. Do not use gimmicks, emojis, star ratings or progress bars to showcase your skills ✨. Do not add QR codes either (and yes, I have seen some, sadly).
You may choose to add a summary at the very top. One or two lines is enough; it should say what you are looking for and what makes your profile unique.
If your latest experience is a full-time role 👔, make work experiences the first section. Otherwise, it should be "Education" 🎓. Past roles are usually listed as "Work experience" or "Professional Experience". If you have undertaken a research degree or projects, you can list them under "Research Experience". I have found that many students just use "Experience" and blend their internships, research projects and proper full-time jobs in the same section.
Your skills section comprises languages and programming languages. It's also where you will put your awards 🥇 and certifications. You should back up what you put there with your GitHub page for coding and test records, such as IELTS or TOEFL, with the year when these were taken.
That section can be followed by "Leadership, Activities and Interest". It adds a touch point for the interviewer during the interview itself and provides some colour on your profile 🎹, one or two bullet points or plenty enough for each entry.
There is no need to provide any information before your A levels. After your first role, you are not expected to even mention it. Sort always with the newest first. The newest should also have more bullet points and descriptions.
Each entry will have the same structure.
If you have LinkedIn and mention it on your CV, ensure it is professional and up to date. No other social media is appropriate on a CV in finance. I have seen people adding their instagram handle, their Twitter / X feed and even their Reddit page: don't do it.
Email addresses should also look professional and follow a canonical format ✉️: do not use a nickname or anything that looks silly in your email address. It makes a poor first impression.
The most important thing about a CV is to make it easy to read. A rule of thumb is that a human should be able to find any info they want easily and get the essence of your profile in 30 seconds. This means clear sentences, a clear layout, and nothing superfluous. Entry-level roles in finance are highly competitive, with usually more than 50 candidates for each opening 😰. This is why busy interviewers really welcome concision.
Make sure that the keywords of the job specification are also in your courses or job descriptions. My advice is to have a set of four or five points for each to cover common keywords such as machine learning statistics or econometrics and trim down for each application. Only relevant internships should be added, and there is no need to add information that is too dated 🦖. If you do not tailor your CVs, you will waste your time and make applications a time-consuming numbers game 🎰. If you do put more effort, you heavily skew your odds to match the job posting and will be more efficient overall 🎯. Recall that there is a cap on the number of applications you can file each year for each company.
Do not ever lie 🙅 or embellish your resume. Nobody expects perfection, and it will look quite suspicious if everything looks pristine and top mark for every single entry, especially if you're junior.
Do not use AI 🤖. There are AI checks, which are now standard for all applications submitted in most organizations. Using AI will get picked up by your interviewer because the language doesn't sound natural. If that is the case, your application will be ignored, at best. At worst, you will even be banned. Spell and grammar checks like grammarly are fine; but tools that generate text like ChatGPT or Perplexity are not.
Obviously, check for typos. Print it; it's easier to see what's off on paper than on screen.
Your CV is an extra-large business card. It is a reflection of your reputation. A clean, orderly and honest resume will go a long way.
The CV is a conversation opener. A good resume will get you an interview, but it will not get you a job. A great CV, though, will get you very close to your goals!
If you've found this helpful, check out my other tips, including some about interviewing, here!