I-Banking Resume #1: Techie Wants In
By BankersBall on Mar 18, 2008 in Interviewing, Investment Banking Resumes
How would you improve this resume?
Click to view a larger version. The first of our open resume critique.
Objective of this candidate: to “continue with M&A experience such as investment bank or private equity firm”
On Mar 18, 2008, hater said:
I wouldn’t go to a shithole school like Texas A&M…
On Mar 18, 2008, hater said:
twice!
On Mar 18, 2008, ace said:
First and most importantly - out of school for more than a year? Not an Ivy or Top 25? In fact, even if Ivy/Top 25; I never get why people do this.
Professional experience on top. Or better yet, profile/summary on top, THEN experience, THEN education - let it go already, your school won’t get you your job after a few years out.
On Mar 19, 2008, Anonymous said:
Is anyone NOT proficient in the use of MS Office? Also, some people might call you out for classifying a half-marathon as “long-distance running.”
On Mar 19, 2008, optimus subprime said:
- Get rid of the techie crap (ie. “Wireless technology transfer challenge” and “VBA, C++”). No one in banking knows or cares what it is
- Might have to explain on why you only did a summer of banking and went corporate. Speaking of which, the explanation for that summer is weak (reads like a lot of BS). Include transaction experience.
- Why the gap between financial analyst and SENIOR financial analyst. I hate third years who put senior monkey status on working group lists
- Your current employer’s acquisition/financing isn’t complete yet, so add pending to it.
- It’s pro forma and cash flow, not proforma and cashflow
On Mar 19, 2008, Big Baller said:
You’ll be better off by dropping Texas A&M and replacing it with Harvard or Wharton. Its all upside to you:
* You get caught, you didn’t have a chance anyway.
* You don’t get caught, then you’ve made it (for a few months until your neck begins turning red).
Also, since you now graduated from Harvard / Wharton, drop your crappy experience and replace it with something relevant.
On Mar 19, 2008, Michael said:
I agree, move the education down, it’s not Harvard. Your experience is better looking than your education is (its not terrible or anything, its just not top notch). I agree, half-marathon is medium distance running, not long distance office. Take off proficient in the use of MS office, that’s just a spacewaster. These days that’s like saying “proficient at remembering to eat daily.”
Job market is going to be tough for this resume, you might have to wait it out. Bulge brackets might be particularly tough, although if you are willing to really dig around I’d bet you could find some interest at M&A boutiques, especially if you are willing to come in as sort of an entry-associate level with your experience. Doubt you are going to get any interest coming in anything above entry level.
On Mar 19, 2008, balls said:
dont start so many sentences with “worked” and for god’s sake why did you go to A&M? could you not do better?
On Mar 20, 2008, Big Baller said:
Worked with EVP, Corporate Development? Worked with former COO? Worked with Treasurer?
What is this? That’s like saying,
* MD acknowlegde me in the elevator.
* VP knows that I exist (I think so
* Senior Associate called me by name. Wrong name, but fairly close.
On Mar 20, 2008, ballsonchin said:
Sorry. Texas A&M is a dealbreaker.
On Mar 20, 2008, Bankers Are Wankers said:
The commentators on this post are serious wankers. Typical for bankers who are soon to be outsourced anyway.
On Mar. 19 some faggot wrote: “…and for god’s sake why did you go to A&M? could you not do better?”
Are you f*cking serious??
Go into trading, its failure rate is much higher but so are the potential rewards and it doesn’t rely on the fact that
1) Your parents are rich or well connected to get you into an overpriced school.
2) You don’t love c*ck.
On Mar 20, 2008, Blutskralle said:
Some serious commentary:
You have been out of school for a few years; you are not a Harvard / Wharton / Stanford / MIT grad (not even Cornell / NYU / etc, which are at least in the ballpark). Move the school below the experience. It is both less relevant and less impressive. You might even want to drop all the bullet points for the school stuff.
Drop the geek speak about tech jobs. If your mother wouldn’t understand it, neither will anyone in banking other than myself and two of my friends, and none of us would admit that in public. Either say it short and sweet in a way that is relevant to finance, or leave it out, unless you are applying for an IT job.
Think long and hard about what you could put in the first two - three lines to grab someone’s attention; the absolute best achievement for your current job in suitably short, slick, and compelling wording is possibly your best bet. I relegate virtually all resumes to my circular file within fifteen seconds if they do not demonstrate a person ‘gets it’ (demonstrates the business case for hiring and strengths of the individual immediately) or ‘is totally fucking crazy brilliant’ (self-explanatory).
On Mar 20, 2008, Jim said:
Big Baller is off - Lying under any circumstances is bad advice. You also get caught and this shows his immaturity. He’s probably putting together pitch books right now, waiting on his pink slip. Good luck with your job search, BB.
On Mar 21, 2008, Joe said:
Ignore the deprived asshats who keep making the completely useless jab on your undergraduate university.
Blutskralle, Jim and optimus subprime echo what I would have said.
Best of luck with your search.
On Mar 21, 2008, david said:
I agree with Blutskralle. You probably have better experience than anyone on the thread. It sounds like they need to take their acne medicine before daddy threatens to take away their trust fund.
Move the education down and make the first two bullets stick. Tell the reader what is unique about your experience or what you contributed to the company/transaction.
Bulge brackets spots are hard to come by for anyone these days, but some MM or boutique would be interested in someone with relevant transaction experience. Networking is key but I guess you are ready know that.
On Mar 21, 2008, undergraduate from shitty school said:
I am glad to see that high paid investment bankers have so much time to sit around and blog. Bear Stearns and Lehman and BoA are all starting to make sense
On Mar 21, 2008, ibanker said:
Big Baller is probably unemployed and went to Queens College. What a f-g!
On Mar 22, 2008, BB Analyst 07 said:
Pretty obvious what kind of responses this resume would get. In fact, I’m willing to bet even if the applicant had gone to Cornell or NYU, the responses would be the same.
In reality, you just need to impress on the interview to land a BB job. Case in point–me. I went to a state school for undergrad.
On Mar 22, 2008, jimmy acorn said:
How shitty are the following schools considered to be on Wall St?
Emory/Boston U/Univ. of Wash/ George Wash. U. / Boston college / Fordham /
On Mar 22, 2008, team xerox sucks...be a trader said:
First off, stop listening to these a-holes who are bashing your education. As already mentioned, these people are simply peons on Team Xerox and will never make it to the next level of finance because they have no people skills. Second, they are right so stop thinking about making it into a bulge bracket ibank. If you didn’t make the cut out of your undergrad or your MBA program, the door is closed. I’m sorry. But honestly, do you really want to put pitch books together for the next three years of your life anyway? Take it from someone who has been there (pre MBA) and is now making the switch to the trading floor (post MBA): banking suck and it makes no sense to start past age 23. If you are dead set on banking, do as another poster suggested and apply to a middle market bank or a boutique. You actually have a chance of landing one of these jobs and who knows, you may actually have time to enjoy your life! But if you are not set on banking, apply for a junior trading job! We love to make fun of team xerox as we head to the bar at 5pm on Friday afternoon!
As far as resume critique, the comments above are valid, just ignore the asshole factor involved. Lose the tech crap and play up any/all analytical experience you have.
On Mar 22, 2008, merkin capital said:
I love the assumption that everyone in banking wants to move to the overpriced international toilet full of ugly women known as NYC. You all realize the every BB/PE firm/ and even large hedges (de shaw and fortress come to mind) have TX offices, yes? While Harvard would help, good grades at TAMU, UT, SMU, TCU et al will serve you just fine if you plan on staying in Texas.
On Mar 23, 2008, you-wish-you-were-me said:
the presence of grauduates from shit schools in my analyst program upsets me. People from these scools could not even have gotten admitted to my undergrad, yet they underservedly displace my more intelligent colleagues from undergrad and communicating with them takes me down a notch intellectually. I also suspect that their presence decreases my firm’s prestige, which directly dilutes the quality of brands on my resume.
On Mar 24, 2008, merkin said:
Take your ivy, I’ll take a Southern private school all day. Make the same, buy more for less and not deal with Dip Thinh’s failure to use plurals or Rishi Nahasapeemapethalem’s unintelligible English. And if doesn’t work out I’ll just wait for my parents to die.
You were probably on the math olympiad while i was having sweet awkward high school sex. And now look…we’re coworkers! Way to use your time wisely.
On Mar 24, 2008, Blutskralle said:
On the education topic -
School doesn’t matter regarding performance. I know some real asshats from Harvard and UPenn, and I know some extremely bright people who didn’t go to a college anyone would recognize.
What matters about a school in a general sense is only the reputational value and networking. Can it open doors for you, in other words? If not, don’t emphasize it. If so, do. But it’s a tactical decision, nothing more.
You still have to be able to make rain when you get in the door.
To something in specific -
“Emory/Boston U/Univ. of Wash/ George Wash. U. / Boston college / Fordham /”
Most of those are neutral. You will have some people who are biased because they are not absolute top-tier schools, but there are elitists everywhere. BC has some solid alums that I know personally. Maybe a BC grad could tell you more.
On Mar 24, 2008, rainmaker said:
answer to jimmy acorn:
Fordham: FU, ‘nough said. The only possible benefit is that it is close in proximity to Wall St. and you may luck out by making an alumni connection.
GWU and Univ. of Washington: you’re kidding right?
BU: eh, not terrible but not going to impress anyone.
BC: highly regarded with a great alumni network, definitely help out their own, plus great sports.
Emory: clearly the best on this list, the others (with exception of BC) can’t even compete. Big with the southern banks, also a target school for certain Bulge Bracket recruiters. Don’t waste your time on anything but the undergrad business program.
Though as Blutskralle said: have to be able to make rain when you get in the door.
On Mar 24, 2008, Big Baller said:
Emory.. Are you retarded? My cleaning lady went to Emory.
On Mar 26, 2008, hater said:
Emory is packed full of [[deleted at request of user]] pricks from the Northeast. Absolutely sickening. The same thing is happening at Tulane, and it is just abhorrent. Stay in New Jersey and Long Island, you disgusting bottom-feeders.
BC, by the way, definitely gets decent on-campus recruiting from what I’ve heard. Great finance program.
On Mar 28, 2008, team xerox sucks said:
Did I really read that anti-semitic garbage from hater? Are you serious? There’s a reason that Jewish people make up half of all the high end finance jobs on wall street, we are smarter than you! I think this guy is just bitter because his poor social skills and lack of intellect have him working in the back office while he watches Steve Schwartzman, Eric Mindrich and every other Jewish hedge fund manager laugh at him while he clears their trades.
On Mar 28, 2008, Sr. Excel Monkey said:
It’s ok, hater got rejected from Emory and had to go to BU, so he’ll always be settling my hedge fund’s trades until that all gets outsourced to India too.
On Mar 29, 2008, anonbanker said:
All I see is that he didn’t get a summer offer from his MBA internship!
On Apr 1, 2008, Anonymous said:
People like some of you give I-Bankers a really bad name. Has it ever dawned on you that some people might not be able to go the Ivy route due to circumstances that have nothing to do w/their intelligence level? Not all the smart people in the world happen to be born rich, and just b/c someone doesn’t have a trust fund waiting for them doesn’t mean they’re not as good as any of you.
And here I was thinking I could go the BB route w/my stellar grades, even though I go to UHouston. Silly me, right?
On Apr 2, 2008, team xerox sucks said:
I agree and to be honest, I don’t understand the elitist attitude I hear throughout this board. If you guys are so good, why are working in i-banking and not at a PE shop or a hedge fund. Everyone knows that the cream of the crop in the ivy league works on the investing side these days. So to people on this board who are knocking all of the non-ivy schools I ask, what is your excuse? By the way, I work at a bulge bracket i bank in trading (which means I make considerably more than all the members of team xerox (corp fin)) and I went to a Pac 10 school not called Stanford!
On Apr 3, 2008, fyourmother said:
optimus subprime is officially a fucking moron - if you work at a bank that does value VBA or C++ skills then my guess is you might as well be using an abacus.
On Apr 24, 2008, Monkey said:
To poster above: I actually think that the top ivies (HYP) as far as admissions go, are the most fair. They basically give financial aid to anyone who’s parents make less than say 250k. I feel like the second-tier schools mentioned above are where the “heavily cultivated” but “less fertile” intellects are found. Some of these schools are not need-blind, and are just as expensive. And, some of these schools (Duke, for one) actively recruits the children of the wealthy in hopes of donations. The big-3 have more money than they can spend (threat of congressional action is MAKING them spend) and are not subject to this. Having worked in development at an HYP during the schol year, I saw my alma matter reject a student who’s almuni parents had given $20MM.
On Apr 24, 2008, re bb analyst 07 said:
you went to a state school and graduated with a 4.0 because you had no friends and never got laid, thats how you made it to a BB. You wouldnt have even been interviewed without a 4.0. Kids from state schools at BBs are even bigger tools, they over-compensate for their lack of pedigree and generally come off as having a chip on their shoulder. You know they went to U-michigan within the first few sentences
On May 12, 2008, Poobah said:
Blutskralle is a jackass. Don’t take his advice. He picks up trash for a living.
On May 13, 2008, Steve said:
Ok, the hate for anything less then an Ivy is, well, a little ridiculous. Ivy’s are good schools, no doubt, but they aren’t the end all in higher education. For the most part, after 5 years out of school, no one cares where you went. All that will matter is that you had increasing responsibilities.
That said, the analyst position is entry level, and so more weight may go to school (though certainly no company wants to hire a bunch of Ivy kids exclusively). Kids from those overpriced institutions tend to feel entitled and overconfident, and a smart company will mix it up.
To the person who commented that they didn’t like that there were people from “shit schools” : you forgot to capitalize your first sentence, and you misspelled school in the second. There were a few more, but you get the idea.
All a school can do is help you get in the door. The interview is all that really matters.
On May 21, 2008, Anonymous said:
What are your responses on going to the University of California San Diego. Good, Decent, or Horrible?
On May 22, 2008, mdesai said:
I would appreciate it if you could tell me if my profile is good enough for a BB
*Age: 22
*MS Finance Candidate - Vanderbilt University
Undergrad: Engineering (non-Ivy)
*Cleared CFA level 1
*Worked in a boutique IBank as an analyst for 8 months in Sell Side Equity
On May 23, 2008, mdesai said:
Average GPA: 3.2
On May 23, 2008, livin the dream... said:
It’s really not about profile it’s about opportunity. Do the bb banks recruit on your campus? With very few exceptions, all the junior level hires (analyst/assoc) are from the recruiting process. If you miss out on this process, you have very little hope. While your profile certainly is not impressive (sorry), I had a 3.1 gpa as a finance major at a pac 10 school (not named stanford or cal) and after getting into a top 10 b-school, I accepted a trading position at a bb bank. Basically it’s about having the opportunity to interview and your skills when doing so. If you don’t have the opportunity to interview, you can’t get into the bulge.
On May 23, 2008, Rawkin Trevo said:
After reading that thread can you tell me if I have a realistic shot at being a trader?
Age: 23
School: Illinois State
Major: Economics
GPA: 3.1
Highlights:
Worked 40 hours+ a week entire college career.
Started Restaurant. Leasing Manager for 450 unit apt. complex.
2 1-year breaks from college (National Guard) 1 for training (Medic) 1 for deployment (Afghanistan)
On May 23, 2008, Rawkin Trevo said:
…if not I have another 4 years of free (state) school (in IL) waiting for me, if I can get a job trading with that background I’d like to go for it, if not I’d go for my MBA at U of I, Illinois State, or UIC. What do you think?
On May 24, 2008, livin the dream... said:
As I said in my previous post, your profile is meaningless unless you can get an opportunity to interview as part of a bb bank’s on campus recruiting program. Do any banks recruit on campus at Illinois St? If they do, I would say that your National Guard service will be a HUGE plus for you. Deservingly so, there is an enormous amount of sympathy towards those with military service and those with this on their resume really have a leg up. At face value though, it’s going to be tough for you at a school like Illinois St and only a 3.1 gpa.
With regard to MBA, going to one of those schools is all but useless if your goal is to get into a bb bank, ESPECIALLY if your goal is to get into trading. The intern classes for trading at the MBA level are notoriously small (
On May 24, 2008, livin the dream... said:
….(
On May 24, 2008, livin the dream... said:
The intern classes for trading at the MBA level are notoriously small (
On May 24, 2008, livin the dream... said:
the posting system is f’ed up so I cannot finish
On Jun 15, 2008, too many jokers said:
“I am glad to see that high paid investment bankers have so much time to sit around and blog. Bear Stearns and Lehman and BoA are all starting to make sense”
Undergradute from shitty school: Do you really think “high paid” investment bankers are really on this website?? Who are they then? 95% are toolbox analyst level geeks or just some plain losers posing as bankers. Cmon
On Jun 15, 2008, Anonymous said:
Who would want to pose as a corp fin banker? It’s the worst job in America.
On Jul 14, 2008, MikeG said:
My selection for undergrad programs was based on a pipe dream I had of playing professional golf. I got a division I scholarship to play golf but the undergrad degree was sub par. Nonetheless, graduated summa cum laude blah blah..
What are the chances of making it in to IB or getting accepted in to a decent MBA program?
On Jul 15, 2008, Sean said:
Rawkin Treveo - Look towards the Chicago Locals community or a small hedge fund in the area. Plenty of Prop groups in the chicago area, most have formal recruiting to some extent at U of C (We have a few too many of those kids), ND, and Northwestern, but the other half of the hires, but half the guys knew a trader (helps if their earners) or a partner, along with a few who knew girls that a partner fucked.
On Jul 22, 2008, Put_Option said:
I work in equity derivatives. I trade the underlying to the structured products our sales create. Working in trading is the best. Any egghead, pencil co*k can be in Ibanking, but real men go into trading.
On Aug 25, 2008, dachent said:
Gentelmen is Columbia on par with Harvard/MIT/Wharton
On Aug 27, 2008, bb said:
Douchebags who couldn’t hack it go into trading. If you want to have power, prestige, and $, go into ibanking.