Identify Weaknesses in my S&T Resume
Hey guys,
I decided to post this here, as opposed to the resume forum, because it's less of a general resume inquiry and more of a request for specific advice to help tailor my resume for S&T.
I go to a non-target (Syracuse University). I decided on pursuing S&T relatively recently, and I made a few changes to my academic path. I was originally an accounting major and I was planning to graduate this May and then go to graduate school in the fall, but I didn't see myself getting into a MSFE or top MSF program with no background in Computer Science or Finance, so I decided to add Finance as a second major, Computer Science as a minor, and push back my graduation date one year to May 2015.
I also applied for a few finance/banking internships for this coming fall. So far I have applied to two through my school. One is a general financial analyst internship with Merrill Lynch, the other is a wealth management internship with Morgan Stanley Smith Barney. I'd rather land the first, but I understand my resume, as of right now, lacks prior experience in finance, so either position would help move me towards a strong S&T resume.
I think I may have found a prop shop gig with a firm called Atlas Capital Markets. However, they require money up front. From what I've heard, a lot of these programs offer inferior, web-based training, and it's tough to get off the ground. It might look good on a resume, but I don't know if it's worth $4000, which I would have to borrow in the first place.
Anyways, please have a look at my attached resume. Any input would be greatly appreciated.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| Resume_S&T_WSO.pdf 93.81 KB | 93.81 KB |
| Resume in Progress_WSO.pdf 111.87 KB | 111.87 KB |
| WSO Resume.pdf 106.43 KB | 106.43 KB |
Remove the objective section
Remove objectives section software applications section is just dumb - of course you've used windows. this is not resumeworthy
Expand more on the Fire Department, deserves more than that off hand mention at the bottom
how do u have stuff listed for an internship that you have not started yet? Are you working there part time now? Also, sign up to get a Bloomberg certification and u can include that in
Looks awful to be quite honest. I'd reformat it entirely. Also got a kick of including Windows 8, 7 and Vista in there. Lastly I just don't believe you proficiently understand all of those programming languages while still being a person who believes it noteworthy to mention 3 very similar versions of the same OS. It's the equivalent of saying you were proficient in Ubuntu 13.10 and 13.04. If someone interviewing you does happen to know a language listed that you really can't speak anything on, you're going to look like an idiot. This would matter less if you simply listed a couple of your stronger ones that actually can write meaningful code in.
Believe it or not, I was advised by my school's career center to include those OS's, including the different versions of Windows. I thought it was obvious too, but I took their advice anyways.
They also informed me that it was okay to include internships I hadn't started yet because I had already signed my offer letter. I won't really be handing this out heavily until fall anyways though, so it's not that big of an issue.
I'll remove the objective, the operating systems, and elaborate more on volunteer work and programming.
it's okay to add the second internship, but you can't add shit that you are going to start in may objectives?
maybe you should rethink a career in s&t, you don't seem suitable tbh
I think you're being a bit harsh. If you read my original post, you would know that I've been in school for accounting, and up until this point I was planning on taking the CPA and pursuing a career in tax consulting. I just decided I want to build my resume for S&T, so I know it needs a ton of work. That's why I posted it here. Blowing me off and telling me I'm not suitable because my resume is weak as a junior in college who just decided to change career paths isn't really appropriate. I think you would agree that given my age, this is a strong resume for tax positions. That's because I wanted to pursue a career in tax. Now I want to pursue S&T, so you can bet your ass I'm going make whatever changes necessary to strengthen my chances.
Furthermore, if you read my previous post, I said that I won't be applying for S&T positions until Fall 2014 (for summer 2015 start dates), so the fact that my summer 2014 internship is listed is not a relevant issue.
Give me some advice that's useful. I'd be interested in seeing your credentials. Ivy student/grad I'm guessing. You certainly possess the appropriate amount of arrogance.
Do you have any other Extracurricular activities? Any clubs your in, specifically leadership positions in these clubs? All of these banks also want leaders and you don't have anything that showcases your leadership abilities. I also think you should remove the communication section and instead if you have specific activities(whether it be internships or clubs) that highlight your communication skills, you should include that in your bullet points. I'd also highly recommend to start networking hard immediately. No offense, but the reality is that there's nothing in your resume that will differentiate you from other hundreds of applicants so unless you have an awesome internship this summer or do something else that's an eye opener, networking will probably be your most realistic shot at getting a job in S&T
I wouldn't recommend the entire prop shop thing. If you haven't started trading already, I would suggest trading with paper money instead of risking capital for something you may have absolutely no experience in. I'm no expert in S&T but you probably need to put things that are relevant to trading not accounting.
I took a lot of the advice given in this thread and made some significant changes. Please view the second attachment, "Resume in Progress_WSO." Any further recommendations would be greatly appreciated.
I reformatted everything, added my volunteer work, took out the operating systems, etc.
Weaknesses: 1. Lack of projects/applied use of programming languages - I will work on this as I begin to take more advances CS classes 2. Lack of experience in finance/banking/mathematics - I have applied for a few finance/banking internships for the fall.
Please continue with the constructive criticism.
johnny_numbers we're all just giving you our opinion. You have a shitty GPA from a non-target school and no experience. You clearly spent very little time on your resume. You did zero research of your own on how to improve it before putting it up other than perhaps a 15 minute meeting with your career center who's decade old outdated resume formatting you decided was best to listen to. People in S&T, ones who really succeed and get what they want, are hyper focused on details and making themselves look as presentable as possible. Your presentation here failed on all fronts. You are probably great with numbers and had an epiphany that you can make more money in S&T over accounting, but it seems your mind is already geared into thinking like an accountant.
Quit being defensive and either sack up or give up on it. Do some research of your own to understand why the resume sucks and why your overall mindset/approach doesn't seem to fit S&T.
It looks like you uploaded and posted the new resume just as I was writing out my post. The new one looks even worse than before. Do some god damn research on how to format a resume properly. You are literally doing the bare minimum here and asking us to hand hold you all the way to completion. I don't think you understand how hard we all work to compete for a coveted few jobs.
FutureLRO I'm really not sure how I'm doing the bare minimum. I posted a resume, I took advice and reformatted it entirely, added some things, took things out, and now I'm posting my progress so I can get further feedback.
The reason I'm being defensive is because certain people are simply saying it sucks without offering constructive criticism. Telling me it sucks doesn't help me improve it. I've spent a ton of time on this resume, and I'll spend however long it takes to make it as close to perfect as possible.
So for example, instead of telling me the format is off, why don't you give me some suggestions as to how I should reformat it. Is it wrong because education is listed first? Well the general rule is that if you're in school, you should list education before experience. What has gotten worse since my original version?
where's your gpa why are you only listing worthless programming languages now, instead of ones that are actually employable did you look at the template we told you about, there's step by step instructions on the M&I site, this isn't rocket science
Regards,
http://bit.ly/1iVScbd First result.
go to M&I, download their template and start fixing the resume.
1) in your E&Y experience and Prudential one the last bullet points are most relevant. Make them the first.
2). Add details that quantify and show achievement, not just redundant tasks. It needs to convey you learned something or developed portable skills. How big we're the portfolios? We're they used? What was the return? Vs. an index?
3) you have no direct trading experience. Why haven't you opened a mick account? Why haven't you opened a real brokerage account? I'm sure you have money you've wasted at bars, etc. how bad do you want it?
4) scramble to find a trading internship. Look for boutique S&T shops. Pound the pavement. Work for free. Vast majority of full time offers are to summer interns. That's already working against you. Do what you can to have A s&t internship.
I have an account at TD Ameritrade. I've been "trading" on my own for a few years. Can this really be included on a resume? If so, what're the most important points to include (other than the obvious: return, value, strategy, etc.)?
I'll continue searching for a fall internship. All of that is great advice though, thank you.
Definitely put your trading record (if its good) on your resume! This is probably the most important asset you will have on your resume. The returns, value, and strategy are pretty solid talking points. Make sure you know how you manage your portfolio inside and out.
I would think about somehow labeling two sections: one called something like "work experience" and another called "other experience" (think of better names) would be good. In the latter section put you personal activities that show transferable skills to S&T. One would be your brokerage account with bullets describing your investment approach, track record, etc. The other would be the fireman job and talk about ability to deal with intense pressure to perform as well as quick decision making in chaotic environments.
Your résumé as a college student needs to explicitly lay out and connect the dots for people about how you are built for S&T, whether it's direct finance experience or unrelated but VERY applicable and necessary skills. Don't ever assume someone wi give you the benefit of the doubt, especially when these days your competition may have connections to have had S&T internships since freshman year... Trust me they exist and I've seen those resumes.
There's too much white space on the resume There are ZERO things on this that make me want to interview you for S&T Join the finance club or investing club at school or something and make that a key point on your resume. Start a club if you need to. The formatting is truly awful, but even if it were magnificent you wouldn't get any interview because of the content. Nobody in S&T will care that you're a computer science minor, for computer science to be a positive, you have to be really good at it. In S&T, only highly quant desks will care about computer science and they will want you to actually know how to do stuff instead of just having taken an intro to comp course. For S&T, PROVE YOU LOVE THE MARKETS!! Nothing on here says you have any interest in trading or the markets. Change your content or get 0 interviews
I feel like if you get asked in an interview why you don't know C++ and you tell the interviewer that you haven't taken that class yet, you're going to get dinged on the spot. Just teach yourself, it's really not that hard.
Also, the entire "Communication" section...just no; and reword your Firefighting experience to emphasize teamwork and leadership in stressful situations, as opposed to making things sound like regular tasks.
As a recovering accountant currently in a prop firm I wish you the best of luck. If I could go back and redo my undergrad career I would probably double major in CS and math and possibly a minor in finance.
Are you interested in getting a job at one of the banks or at a quant shop? I would imagine that banks might care about your overall financial knowledge more than a quant shop would. So if you want to work at a bank the finance major might pay off. Most quant/prop shops on the other hand are looking for really smart people who they can teach the finance to on the job. The finance you learn in school is a little different from the real world anyway.
I work at a small quant firm and out of the 8 of us I am the only one with a undergrad degree in business. There is one math major and the rest are engineers.
I would say that your background and resume are on the weak side. Even if you do all of the right things from here on out (fix resume, learn more technical skills, show an interest in the markets, etc.) most of the top firms will not give you a second look. However, some firms let you prove yourself through various tests so your background and resume are less important in landing a job.
If this is really what you want to get into then don't give up. It is definitely possible to break into this industry. I personally always wanted to work as a trader and now that I am I can't imagine doing anything else for a living.
If I could redo my undergraduate career, I don't know that I would necessarily opt out of accounting and finance, but I would have definitely at least dual majored in mathematics or CS.
I really want to work for a major bank. If I can't land an S&T job out of school, which I realize seems unlikely at this point, then I will shoot for an analyst position, get some experience in the industry, and then pursue a M.S. Financial Engineering.
I think the best thing I can do at this point is find an internship in trading for the fall. Since I'll still be in school, it will need to be located in Syracuse, NY. So far, no luck in finding anything. Let me know what you think of the updated resume.
Okay guys, thanks again for all of the advice. I have updated my resume again, and yes, this time I used the M&I template.
Please have a look at the most recently attached document: WSO Resume.
*The items highlighted in yellow are things I am currently working on. The E&Y Internship hasn't happened yet, I'm in the process of teaching myself various languages and learning in computer science classes on campus, I have joined the investment club on campus, and I am working on both my Bloomberg Certifications and a Microsoft Excel Certification.
Please remember that I won't be sending this resume out until this fall, so don't make a big deal about things being on there that aren't complete yet. This is more of a prospective resume.
Also, I was excited to find out that several Whitman students this year have accepted offers with various BB for S&T positions. I know Syracuse isn't a major target school, but with the right resume I know I can at least get my foot in the door for an interview.
Any additional feedback would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you all.
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