I-Banking Resume #7: Ex-Banker Wants Back In
By BankersBall on May 25, 2008 in Investment Banking Resumes
Help this ex-banker get back into banking.
Objective: “A way to use a lot of potential and make more money, have fun at work and move to NY to get married.”
On May 25, 2008, Horatio said:
You seem like you’re pretty qualified. Your problem isn’t your resume (although my general critique still applies here - resumes should be like your “Greatest Hits” album, not a lifetime achievement retrospective boxed set). The issue the interviewer will have here is why banking, and why now? I mean, you’ve left the same company twice, why should I make you a VP if you’re just going to leave mine too?
You say in your objective that you want to make more $$, and move back to NY. Wanting to be with your wife in NY will neutralize the red flag associated with up and changing coasts all of a sudden, but your other “reasons” for making the 400th career switch sound suspect. Not that they’re not good reasons, just that they’re YOUR reasons, and for the most part companies wipe their ass with your goals and dreams and reasons. They care about will the bank be better with you in it. And if you will leave in 18 months you bet your ass it won’t. You need to CONVINCE someone that you won’t up and leave when a) wife decides she’s always wanted to live in SF, b) you feel the pull of commercial real estate once again, c) you want to spend a year trotting the globe playing pickup basketball games.
Maybe the solution is to go get an MBA? Say the reason was to build up network and discern your next steps. Marriage seemed like good timing for “taking a step back” and assing your career direction. Make it an east coast school to add weight to your desire to change coasts. Then you can make your trimuphant (and temporary -come on, who are you kidding?) return to banking.
On May 25, 2008, Horatio said:
“assessing” not “assing” - that’d be a neat trick.
On May 25, 2008, livin the dream... said:
You definitely don’t need help. Why do you want to go back into banking?
On May 27, 2008, Big Baller said:
Too many different jobs, very short stays, never accomplished anything, probably a tool.
Congrats on your legacy admission at Yale.
On May 27, 2008, blow & strippers said:
There are a lot of resumes out there already that have zero hair on them. In a normal market this would get traction, but with 25% of last year’s Wall Street work force looking for jobs, this is not going to get many interviews.
On May 27, 2008, blackphantom said:
What is your GPA? Going to Yale and not putting your GPA on your resume, I’d have to assume it was a 2.5. I’d say, even if it was low (~3.0), put it on there–unless it is below 3.0, in which case absolutely leave it off.
There should be no periods at the end of your bullet points. A period marks the end of a full sentence, and most of your bullets are not full sentences; even those that begin with verbs (”Interviewed corporate officers, employees, customers and industry contacts to support valuation thesis.”) are not sentences because they lack a subject. And, if you take out the period from even one bullet, you need to take them all out in the name of consistency. It’s not just your resume; I’ve seen this on many (if not all) of the resumes posted here.
Regarding grammar and resumes: there is a lot of leeway because bullets are not sentences, but still a few general rules should apply: everything in the past should be in a past tense (”Interviewed”), and everything still on going should be in a gerrand (”Interviewing”). Also, there should never be more than one sentence per bullet. Your resume follows these rules, so that’s good.
Finally, remove underlining. Underlining is used for editing and markups; italicizing is used to place emphasis. It looks more elegant. However, in a resume, bolding the word should suffice.
Just my two cents…cheers
On May 27, 2008, blackphantom said:
There’s also no heading for your experience/past work section, but there is for the others. That needs to be fixed.
On May 27, 2008, kgangjee said:
Work Ex in reverse chronological order - does not seem to follow any order right now
On May 27, 2008, Sr. Excel Monkey said:
Screams “boutique banker”, I’d question your deal experience though you definitely have some modeling and technical skills.
On May 27, 2008, Anonymous said:
try to fit YALE on there one more time
On May 27, 2008, Big Baller said:
Smells more like “industry” to me.
On May 28, 2008, Anonymous said:
downward spiral since Yale. monitoring IRR is a joke
On May 29, 2008, Anonymous said:
leave off that stuff about high school. no one cares that you played sax 9 years ago.
On May 29, 2008, Anonymous said:
Agreed. Reads as though the author failed out of each job he had, only to spend another 6 months at a worse one.
On May 29, 2008, ballsonchin said:
have fun at work /= investment bank. especially not bb bank. but if you are interested in going back to a boutique bank you might get some looks with the formatting issues mentioned above.
On May 29, 2008, HCL said:
Cant imagining anyone trying to go back into banking if you are working at a reputable REIT firm…
Also, the gap in the job history is due to? Tech bubble bursting and the whole team got laid off?
9 years out of college, better get an MBA to help the transition, but I heard the application this year is very tough with a downward spiraling economy and all the bankers getting laid off.
On May 30, 2008, Anonymous said:
There are a number of typos in this, showing a complete lack of attention to detail
On May 30, 2008, FIgirl said:
at blackphantom:
You’re right about the tense of the verbs in the bullet points. Things that happened in the past should be in past tense; ongoing activities should be in the present tense.
However, you’ve confused your grammar terms. A gerund (not gerrand) is when the present particle (the -ing form of a verb) is used as a noun. For example, in the sentence “I like running,” running is a gerund. In this resume’s bullet points, the present participle is not used as a gerund. It is used as a verb, though the subject of each sentence (”I”) is removed.
On May 31, 2008, George said:
My thoughts (as a hiring SVP in the RE inv. banking group at an BB firm) -
+ Current job is a lot of bullets signifying very little that is relevant to me. You review IRR calcs and current JVs your firm has, and forecast cash flows? I can hire a kid just out of a 2-year analyst program to do that. After 9 years of work experience, I’d expect you to be out leading these deals.
+ As someone else said, very little deal experience here. A couple of large capital markets offerings means to me that you wrote some committee memos.
+ A fair amount of jumping around, in many cases, not to anything that strikes me as substantially better.
All told, given the number of resumes on the street now from real bankers, I’d pass. You strike me as someone who hasn’t really accomplished much, has a few too many tags on his luggage, and doesn’t have the drive to do well as a VP in a IB. Frankly, I would guess that you were a minority candidate that got into Yale that way (not a legacy as someone else noted), and have pretty much coasted since getting out.
My two cents, I could be wrong.
On May 31, 2008, George said:
I also would note that you don’t seem to have any client experience. If you are looking to come in as a senior associate or even junior VP, that would be a huge negative.
On Jun 2, 2008, gilding the lily said:
You have plenty of lengthy time-gaps between certain jobs. No need to explain in the resume, but be prepared to answer that question in an interview.
Also, don’t answer that question by saying you were bumming on the beach, stealing the potato chips of beach-goers while they were swimming.
Some of those periods were in down times; generally speaking, they understand that.
On Jun 11, 2008, Dan said:
For all the geniuses on these boards as to why he got into Yale, don’t you think it might have been cause he played football for Yale.
5 positions in 9 years. Its time to wake up and realize you aren’t an athlete anymore and you can’t get by on that anymore. Show the determination and hardwork you used being an athlete, and consider getting an MBA on the East Coast.
On Jun 13, 2008, wavedeva said:
Quoting George, the “hiring SVP in the RE inv. banking group at an BB firm”: “Frankly, I would guess that you were a minority candidate that got into Yale that way (not a legacy as someone else noted), and have pretty much coasted since getting out.” So let me think–”legacy” candidates don’t coast–only “minority” candidates. With thoughts like this you should resign from all hiring decisions. You remind me of the idiot who tried to get me (an african-american woman) to interview for public finance (where all the minorities belong of course) despite my 15+ years analyzing corporations as an analyst and as a portfolio manager. It’s really tragic when they transfer poor performers to human resources and these insecure individuals take it out on minorities and women. The world is changing George. Stop feeling so threatened and get a grip. There’s no need to make racist comments to try to feel superior. You just come off looking ignorant and stupid!
On Jun 17, 2008, George said:
Wavedeva - with the logic and reading comprehension skills like the ones contained in your post, it is no wonder you were pushed towards a career in public finance.
1. Nowhere did i say legacy candidates don’t coast. (In fact I believe they do - I was just guessing he isn’t a legacy, like someone else did).
2. I’m not in HR, I’m actually in a corp fin group. (Where did I say I was in HR? - Please pay attention to detail, Wavey) I make the hiring decisions for me group based on the candidates HR sends our way, including plenty of minorities and females. Sorry to disappoint you.
3. Please point to any comment my racist comment. I don’t see any. I indicated that was my guess - as I said, I could be wrong. Am I?
4. Sounds like one of us might be insecure. It’s probably the one who feels the need to irrelevantly reference 15+ years of experience in a post about critiquing a resume, no?
On Jun 19, 2008, Nathan said:
Hi, anyone tell me how to get my resume reviewed here? I have emailed it through twice, but no dice!
On Jun 24, 2008, Anonymous said:
To George: you are a racist, and with that kind of intellect/mentality I hope you never make it. And wavedeva was dead on. To paraphrase you, “probably a minority”? What a dcckwad. Sounds to me you got your middle management title in the backoffice (as oppose to what you’re saying, not to say corporate finance is shyt anyway b/c it’s not) b/c of your skin tone. I’m an African American, and real rainmaker (trader). Nothing against Corporate Finance professionals, b/c they are integral parts in a bank, but for this dumbazz to wear that label as if he’s the next Lloyd Blankfein…gettafcckouttahere. And George don’t respond unless YOU can directly say you have made your institution more than 20 million dollars.
On Jul 8, 2008, guest said:
George: you sound like a huge racist. Your statement clearly implies that minorities who get into Yale just coast and don’t work after graduation.
On Jul 8, 2008, Horatio said:
Where did racist George go?
On Jul 15, 2008, josh said:
Maybe he is just saying that minority candidates can get into higher level schools than they are actually qualififed to be admitted to, or that because the person didn’t list the gpa they didn’t have a good one because Yale was too difficult, or maybe that the Yale title got this person into a few jobs but then this person under performed because the couldn’t live up to the Yale title.
Minorities (excluding asians) do get into these schools with lower GPAs and test scores than non minorities. If you are saying they had less opportunity because they were economically disadvantaged then you are racist by saying they have less money or you could give preferential treatment to those of lower socioeconomic class instead of race.
Just my 2 cents.