If you can't format...

...IB is not for you. I am sitting at my desk going through a pile of resumes for SA spots and I can not believe how horrible some of the formats are. These kids made it real easy for me to cut 100 down to 10. Ding. Ding. Ding.

I don't give a bakers dozen rips where you went to school or how much time you spent in China, if you can't format a resume you are hopeless.

 

so funny that in banking you would receive weird formats. I could see say kids applying for graphic designer position adding some flavor to their resume / switching up the format, but banking resumes need to be standard standard standard

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Best Response

[quote=jooocy_baller]I saw a candidate who had a solid resume and decent experience, but a terrible GPA (

"After you work on Wall Street it’s a choice, would you rather work at McDonalds or on the sell-side? I would choose McDonalds over the sell-side.” - David Tepper
 

First, I think everyone could use a good shrink every once in a while.

Second, I was clearly venting a little bit when I posted this. There are plenty of clean, easy to read formats out there that I find acceptable. It's just when kids try to be fancy that ticks me off.

 

Going to have to agree with LDNBNKR and IP.

Having screened through a lot of resumes when I was a first year, I get the mentality that you've finally made it to the other side of recruiting and now a big shot banker. Formatting is definitely a critical (sadly) part of our job, but sometimes you really have to realize the absurdity of it all. Bad typos clearly show a lack of detail and worth a ding, but mediocre. And also to be fair, I've seen a lot of top MBA resume formats and they're not the best...

 
n1cktm:
You are just beginning to look at resumes for 1st round? Pretty late in the cycle..are you at a boutique?

I am. This is our 3rd wave of reviews; all but a few slots are full. It is surprising how qualified a lot of these kids are. It is a shame that so many intelligent applicants are going to be turned away. Hopefully it does not discourage and only serves as further motivation to those that do not land SA gigs.

 

from http://www.facebook.com/WallStreetOasis:

Urban Rainmaker: Resume's are for the corrupt middle class, trying to format themselves into something they are not. If you can format a resume, you are in for a boring life in the land of mediocracy. You think that by putting daisy flowers on the top of the page because the guy was daydreaming has got more chance of success in this wonderful random world.

Ignore this chimp, you will get no where with this. Put a million monkeys on a type writer and sooner or later one will write the llaid. Will he o another great book afterwards. Survival of the fit, be different, or be boring, sorry is this for a boring job? thats ok then

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I hope S&Ters are the same when reviewing resumes

If your dreams don't scare you, then they are not big enough. "There are two types of people in this world: People who say they pee in the shower, and dirty fucking liars."-Louis C.K.
 

Just a little note:

As someone who went straight to the buy-side I never had the anal attention to detail training of banking years, so when I emailed my CV over to a banker for distribution I thought it was perfect, others had had a look said it was bang on, uni CV services had seen it but no! She found about 5, very minor but still material, defects immediately.

My advice, get your CV checked by a banker first!!!

"After you work on Wall Street it’s a choice, would you rather work at McDonalds or on the sell-side? I would choose McDonalds over the sell-side.” - David Tepper
 

Is that a "No" to the Comic Sans?

- Bulls make money. Bears make money. Pigs get slaughtered. - The harder you work, the luckier you become. - I believe in the "Golden Rule": the man with the gold rules.
 
DJ <span class=keyword_link><a href=//www.wallstreetoasis.com/finance-dictionary/what-is-london-interbank-offer-rate-libor>LIBOR</a></span>:
Comic Sans is fine.

-Quicken Loans HR

Hah +1

Under my tutelage, you will grow from boys to men. From men into gladiators. And from gladiators into SWANSONS.
 

Absolutely agree. Make sure you have your friends in banking check your formatting and content. When I was a senior in undergrad, I went through 30+ iterations of resume-review once I added my junior year internship. Yes 30. Don't leave anything to chance.

Attention to detail is not what will get you the job, but it certainly will disqualify you if it's not perfect.

 

this thread proves banking is a joke. you're most concerned about formatting? are you fucking kidding me? i fail to understand why some really smart people i know decide to start their career in such a horseshit role

My drinkin' problem left today, she packed up all her bags and walked away.
 
Kenny Powers:
this thread proves banking is a joke. you're most concerned about formatting? are you fucking kidding me? i fail to understand why some really smart people i know decide to start their career in such a horseshit role

They do it for the great networking, the great branding, and the financial modeling experience, packaged all-in-one. Not saying its not a horse-shit role.

Honestly, it's logical for IB resume screeners to put a decent amount on weight on formatting (and especially on typos and mistakes). If you work in IB and put a typo in a pitchbook that isn't corrected before the client sees it, the whole book is thrown into doubt.

 

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