So you want to write an investment banking resume that generates interviews. But your first objective is to go pass the ‘eye ball scanning test’ of the resume reviewer.
Listen, it is ‘scanning’, not reading. If your resume overall layout does not please the bankers’ eyes, then no matter how great your content is, it won’t get read. And many bankers’ initial objective of scanning CV is not to look for qualified candidates, but to disqualify candidates for whatever error or even the tiniest typo they spot. Only if you could survive through this short and cruel step, then you may be able to gain the golden 20 or 30 seconds to impress the banker with your resume content.
I read senior banker’s resumes everyday, so when I need a junior banker’s resume template, I go check the internet. You’re doing the same before landing on this page, right? OK, you’ve come to the right place. When you want an investment banking resume template, make sure it is provided by a banker, or someone who knows the banking business. General resume templates are not going to help.
During my internet search, I found two templates which are ideal for junior bankers. Lloyd’s is from Inside Investment Banking and Chris’ is from eduers.com. At the moment, let’s don’t look at the contents yet. Instead, let’s compare their layout and overall appearance.
Can you tell which template is better?
They are both good. But Lloyd’s is far better.
Assume both candidates are having similar qualifications and experiences that bankers love, Lloyd is more likely to win an interview. Why?
There are two major vital mistakes that Chris has made. One, the margins on all sides are too slim. Two, there are large patches of white spaces being wasted. If Chris can improve these two weaknesses, then his resume will look perfect, just like Lloyd’s. By the way, target the margins on all sides to be 1 inch, or no less than 3/4 of an inch. As for font size, target for 11, and no smaller than 10, depending on the type of font you’re using.
So now you have an idea of how an ideal investment banking resume layout is. Write yours similar to Lloyd’s and we’ll go into details of how to write the resume content in the coming posts.