Bring it On! Please review my resume - 5 yrs Exp - V2!!!

If I should look outside of Los Angeles, since the number of open positions is quite low compared to San Francisco, and is dwarfed by New York.

mandate to get it on. adam carolla's podcast is the best thing on the interwebs.

also, where the eff is your GPA

It wasn't anything to call home about. My first two years of college I was in Physics, and that was a mistake that brought down my GPA a lot. Should i put it even if it is around 3.0? :O

For the 'financial analyst' position you dated it as '2006 - PRESENT', which implies you are currently working there. But below it, your 'equity trader' position goes from '2007 - 2009'.

... So is this some sort of part-time position that started in '06? 1) ...Or is '2006' suppose to be 2009? 2) Or did you just forget to change 'Present' to 2007 (in which case, the order of your jobs would not be chronological)...

@PK: Thank you for your honesty. I understand that I am in the middle ground in hard times, because I don't have the usual Analyst work experience yet and there is no clear "move up" in my career path so far. I'm trying to move forward to a more professional position when companies now have the freedom to look for the perfect background. My IB applications *Have been dropping down the hole. Got responses from 3rd party recruiters for Investment Management firms, and nothing from PE/HF. Am not applying to Wealth Management. I have thought about getting an MBA, in fact I already attended UCLA's info session. I also thought about getting a CFA before applying for MBA because I think it would improve my application a lot (at least L1 or L2). I'm concerned about my chances to get in, because of my GPA and my lack of big-name work experience. But I have improved by work ethic since college by leaps and bounds, and now can study or work 20hrs/wk in addition to a FT job. Developing the black box took 4-6 hrs per day for months every day after work. I have no problem with standardized tests too, so with some work I believe I can get GMAT 750+. I will speak to some admissions counselors, thank you for your help.

@Kanon: 'Financial Analyst' is a consultant position. So the date of 2006 is correct since the Financial Analyst position is concurrent with Equity Trading - I am not sure of the right format for this situation, so I put the most relevant higher up. I would trade the NYSE in the morning, come home, and do work for the Hedge Fund or for the Black Box.

I fully appreciate all the comments, please keep them coming! :D

in the night

With a 1400 SAT, you're looking at 700 even GMAT.

Taking a look at your resume, first impression - soslid experience, solid content, formatting needs help.

Regarding formatting, from top to bottom, Your name should be a little bigger, I don't like section titles on the same line as the first entry, instead, I prefer section title, then line underneath, then first entry, etc. Change experience to Work Experience (though this isn't essential), your first bullet point for each position should not be a bullet point, but rather a standalone line just below position just above first bullet point as it is not a responsibility, project, experience, etc, it is a company description. Your dates of service should be right justified, not just indented to the right, change licenses to accreditations separate them a little mopre, whether through columns and bullet points, or something - just a little separation would be nice - again, moving the titles ontop of the lines would open up left border space and allow the resume to breathe a little more - it definitely looks cramped right now.

Regarding content, first bullet point under 1st job listed, what is collaborating over investment ops, if you made recs or decisions were made based on your analysis, then say that, otherwise, cut it. 2nd bullet is pretty weak as well - I would try to focus on what you did with them, did you inspire any interest, discuss strategies, etc. What was the research and such used for - 3rd bulet. The last bullet should not be bolded, and you need to clean up the structure a little bit - as it appears now, it is very long and kind of confusing when skimming through - yet it should be impressive as it was live transaction experience. 2nd position, take unbold (debold, I don't know) the bolded bullet point, and in general, focus on results - a few of the bullets are very good here, and this position is better described and put togethr than the previous, but there is still work to be done. The bold bullet is a lot a bit confusing - you need to focus on what you work was used for and what it contributed to, instead of just describing tasks. Separate the big bullet for branch supervisor into 2 bullet points - oversaw and then implemented. Take out "responsible for." and instead lead off that poit with managed or oversaw, something of action with some power behind it. Also, how did you work at the old job until 2009 and the new job since 2006 - were they PT, if so, you need to expand on that a little in a parenthesis or something, otherwise it is a bit confusing to see 2 years of overlapping FT work. Under education, take off the knowledge bullet point and move it down to the bottom, which instead of background should be labeled something like Skills and ECs or something like that. Computer and background gets folded into that section, with the knowledge point thrown in as well. Clean up the background section as it is very packed, lacking structure and sort of a jumble to read.

Once you clean it up a bit, if you feel that you need to, then you should definitely repost it to have all of us take another look through for more of the little things. To echo one of the previous points made, I think your best bet will be to go to a strong B school and earn an MBA to break into banking at the associate level. If you ar considering boutiques, it may not be necessary, but in this market especially, it will still definitely be challening (then again, it is for pretty much everyone). Best of luck to you.

IBanker www.BankonBanking.com [email protected] Articles, News, Advice and More Break Into Investment Banking

Hi All,

Thank you for the comments, your guidance has been very helpful. I have updated my resume with your suggestions. The following was used over the weekend for a Pre-MBA PE Analyst position, so it has more detail on PE experience. Trading or Hedge Fund ones may expand on the Equity Trader position. :D

http://www.razume.com/documents/10961

@BuysideCFA My SAT was 1410 taken cold (without studying). I am not proud of this, but I hope it means that if I dedicate myself to studying for GMAT I have a chance at 720+.

@BankonBanking Wow, that was awesome. I hope the formatting is much cleaner now, and I agree that it felt cramped.

To All Ordered transcript so I can put in GPA/Major GPA. I'm thinking about getting my MBA (or MFE, depending). Around 3 months ago I went to the UCLA MFE info session, and am scheduled for Whartons and Harvards coming up. Later on, I will be speaking with the admissions counselors about the fit of my background. I am looking at a total of 8 schools right now. I am not sure however, because even though I'm 27, I would prefer to get a good job, and apply in 2 years. It looks like that may not happen however, given our state right now. We'll see, because I know it is very difficult to be getting the application put together and applying for jobs at the same time. Any thoughts?