ivoteforthatguy:
inthe213:
A non-target school

lol, so very mean.

my pet peeve is exaggerations of any sort. if you claim to be able to speak spanish, i'll find a spanish speaker to test you out.

Ditto!

1-Typos/errors/ poor grammar, etc. No excuses, even if English is a second language to you. Get a proof-reader!

2- Skills-If you took a module about something in a class once during your sophomore year, it is NOT a skill. If nobody has paid you to do it in real life, it is NOT a skill. Take that crap off.

3-Objectives, which are about as worthless as a LinkedIn recommendation.

If I may suggest. It would be more productive and insightful to ask what people like to see on a resume.

 
inthe213:
A non-target school

Gonna play the contrarian card here for all the non-target hating shitbags (even though this loser is a troll):

You know what really fucking pisses me off?

When I see a resume from someone who went to HYPS, has high grades, worked at all the best firms and is looking for a job.

Why does that piss me off?

Because if that person were as good as they represent themselves to be on their resume, they wouldn't be cold applying for jobs. On the buy side (which is the only area of finance that matters), you don't let people go who are good. That's right, IF THEY WERE THAT GOOD, THEY WOULD NEVER BE LOOKING FOR A JOB. Because people would throw dollars at them if they were that good. And other people who know what's what would be trying to recruit them left and right. And people they worked for would connect them to other buy siders. Because there aren't very many good people on the buy side, and once you are in, YOU ARE IN. Unless you fuck it up.

So when I see a resume of someone with a 3.9 from HYPS who worked at Goldman and then went on to a mega fund, and they are looking for a job, I know they are either lying or that they burn bridges and have a shitty personality. Don't even think about trying to bring that shit into my house.

 

school typically doesn't matter because you evaluate candidates within their school's resume book

auto-dings typically are: 1. no/very low GPA (GPA down. I typically assume GPA

  1. poor formatting and obvious mistakes on the resume/poor writing on cover letter. If it doesn't look good at first glance, it sets a bad impression and 99% of the time it won't make it even if the content is there. When you're choosing 10 resumes from 100, often 20-30 might have great credentials, so it can actually be make or break

red flags are: 1. if your main skills are CapIQ and Bloomberg, and all your clubs are in finance and you have completed 3 case studies and 5 training the street courses, and you go to a place like Stern, it makes you seem like a finance robot. make sure your interests are outside finance to make you seem more well-rounded if this might be an issue. if your only interests are basketball and reading the wsj, that's a ding in my book (thought might be different for others)

  1. on the other spectrum: lack of finance experience coupled with a non-finance/econ major. why are you interested in IBD if your last internship was at a book publisher? however, i'll still give you the benefit of the doubt if you have great (3.8-3.9+) grades at a target or a really cool internship experience (white house, top think tank)
 

I'm still in college, but I see MANY "acquaintances" that have 2 page long resumes with terrible formatting.

Some of the atrocities I've seen:

A bulleted list of the classes they took and what they learned in those classes. An objective Not listing major GPA when its higher than overall Awful awful bullet points

 
Best Response

1) "Young Democrats" 2) No GPA/SAT listed 3) Weird format 4) Any typos 5) Obvious exaggeration (e.g. generated 500% returns; completed something with "terrifying" efficiency)

I don't agree with firefighter entirely. For me at least, there can never be "too much" finance on your resume. If your resume is drowning in finance, assuming your stats (GPA/SAT) are up to par, you will get an interview. On the interview, I will decide whether or not you are socially retarded.

For the record, my favorite type of candidate is a non-target with "Ivy caliber" stats/internships, without a chip on his/her shoulder. So don't lose sleep over going to a non-target.

Calling Ron Paul an isolationist is like calling your neighbor a hermit because he doesn't come over to your property and break your windows.
 

I wish the same can be said for UK. I'm in a UK non-target school with African IB experience and I keep getting bad feedback that my school is an auto_dinge irrespective of experience.

 

do people actually care about SAT scores?

whenever i'm applying for something and it asks me to list SAT scores, i typically llist N/A. first off, i don't even remember them, second off, there's huge evidence that they're correlated to your family's income and not even a fair test of intelligence. so far i've had great luck with interviews so i'm wondering if it's even a an issue...

My drinkin' problem left today, she packed up all her bags and walked away.
 
asiamoney:
I received a resume once that came in a .xls file...

Well, Microsoft Word's formatting can be pretty awkward...did he at least have the courtesy to send it with the gridlines off?

I hate to see resumes where somebody has put in no effort whatsoever professionally. I have seen way too many resume's where the school, grades, and formatting are good...then they have one "internship" as a life guard or on a golf course.

Some proportion of students clearly go through college thinking, "If I get good grades, I'll "get into" a great job!" No, academics will not carry you, especially when they are unrelated to banking. Just show me something that proves your interest in finance did not blossom in senior year with graduation looming.

 

Agreeing with everyone who has said "objective." So pointless. Also, "Microsoft Office" as a skill.

Currently: future neurologist, current psychotherapist Previously: investor relations (top consulting firm), M&A consulting (Big 4), M&A banking (MM)
 

I am not an "interests' fan at all unless it has some detail. Not saying a ding but they definitely make me roll my eyes. The next kid who lists photography and/or travel will be the 1,000,000th.

If you put an interest, put something specific. I.e/e.g.. if you're going to list photography, tell me that you won the ansel adams golden camera award or something. I will still think it is lame but at least you've demonstrated it in a way beyond typing the word. Running (2011 New York Marathon last place/kicked in the face by a kenyan), etc.

Objective is damn near auto ding.

 

An objective or a laundry list of college courses taken....that aside, I have had some pretty shitty resumes sent to me recently by applicants who networked for the job and we offered them roles so I think it is more about who you know

its one way or the other: hate me or admire.
 

weird font, colors, increased margins, too much information, no bullet points / no bolding, I honestly spend 1 minute or less scanning a resume

most important thing to me is one or two lines below your contact info talking directly to ME why you are the perfect candidate for the specific position

WSO Content & Social Media. Follow us: Linkedin, IG, Facebook, Twitter.
 

No objective for IB roles or in general? I have an objective on my CV because my work experience is in restaurant management. So many job fair/ HR recruiters I speak with say, "You know this is a finance role right?"...SMH. In my head I think;" You do see the 3.8 GPA and the Finance MBA in bold right?"

Undergad in Business Admin.; MBA in Finance yet I've had 4+ recruiters ask me about how many hours of accounting I've had so I list the relevant courses. wrong or right?

Then most of my friends on Wall St. say they can't automatically see how an operations/ restaurant management background correlates to success in an entry-level finance role and that an objective helps to sell this. I've also heard I should just take it off.

I always send a letter of recommendation from a a guy I worked with on a corporate development project in grad school b/c he was the CEO of the firm and he worked for 20 years or so in M&A at a bulge bracket. I'm trying to lend some credibility to what ,if I'm honestly speaking, is seen by most HR reps as a resume of a guy from a non-target with no industry work experience and no internships. All responses are welcome. Thanks in advance.

Ophnell Cumberbatch MBA 2011 Fairleigh Dickinson University
 

The way I see it, an objective basically states "I want a job in finance". No shit; that's why I sent in my resume to this position. If I wanted to go into tech or ops or something I wouldn't be applying for IB/S&T/whatever it is position, right? I just find objectives redundant.

Currently: future neurologist, current psychotherapist Previously: investor relations (top consulting firm), M&A consulting (Big 4), M&A banking (MM)
 

Thinking back to my college years, I definitely made the mistake of leaving off my GPA, making a laundry list of specific classes, and talking about coming in 1st place in a stock picking competition (these were alll listed by prior posters). To each his own.

Honestly, we don't hire with resumes. I don't hire anyone I don't already know and trust. If I don't know the person they'd better come from a damn good referral source. It's difficult for me to comprehend that people hire off of resumes and then based off interviews.

Array
 

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