Resume Help - Banking and Financial Services
Today’s résumé critique focuses on a finance professional who is currently finishing up his master’s degree and has temporarily left the workplace to expedite the completion of his higher education. We will call him Jacara.
The first thing Jacara should add to his résumé is a powerful headline. The headline provides readers with a clear cut sense of what Jacara’s main business function is. It could read “Investment Banking Executive,” or “Investment Banking Professional,” or simply “Financial Executive” depending upon where Jacara wants to focus his career.
With some additional branding statements, Jacara can further define the types of roles he wishes to pursue. If done correctly, these can be strategically modified depending upon the specific opportunity Jacara is applying for.
In looking at Jacara’s résumé, he has been working steadily since 2006, when he received his bachelor’s degree. Based on this, his education should be moved to the bottom of his résumé rather than appearing at the top.
It should also be mentioned that Jacara is missing a summary paragraph to highlight both hard and soft skills. He would also benefit from adding a list of core competencies to detail his expertise at a glance, and add key words for applicant tracking systems and online recruitment.
Jacara did a very good job of highlighting his educational achievements; but he does not need to use bullets in this section. Since there is a gap in employment, Jacara may want to add a Career Highlights section to point out a few of the achievements he has had at his previous employers.
Regarding the specific content of his position descriptions, Jacara’s wording and sentence structure could be more powerful. Using the SAR method (SAR = Situation, Action, Result) to improve the impact of what he has accomplished so far, would add value to his resume. ;)
Click on the image above to see more comments about Jacara’s résumé.
If you would like a résumé critique either privately or on the weekly Résumé Critique blog which appears every Monday, please contact debra@careersdonewrite.com
Dear Readers,
In conjunction with Job Search Digest, we will be conducting a webinar on February 8, 2011, Financial Résumé Writing – Extreme Résumé Makeovers. It is open to all executive level candidates regardless of industry, but space is limited.
For further info or to enroll go to EXTREME RESUME MAKEOVER