A lot of people say that, when someone reaches out to them, they will push for them if they have a strong resume. Besides going to the same school, etc, what are some achievements that you rarely see and will make you push for them? Perfect SAT? 4.0 in a tough major at a top school? USAMO, elite math and science awards, research publications? National athlete? What is "impressive" to you?
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High GPA, target school, finance experience. However, most candidates have this profile, so I'd say the only real impressive thing to truly distinguish yourself is to have a BB/EB or other well known name on your resume.
Really? What about boutique IB vs BB PWM?
These are strong experiences, especially if you are able to speak on them in depth. However, nothing incredibly impressive. Shows interest in finance which is good.
Nobody fights for anyone based on a resume. The best resume will check boxes and that's basically it. High GPA, target / focus school, activities / achievements that demonstrate you're a sociable / normal human being, items that show you can run with something on your own without a ton of guidance, finance experience.
Resumes are used to filter out candidates, not to identify ones that are great. You won't know that until you get on the phone with them and interact.
It depends on who is reading the resume. There are certain attributes (good school, good gpa, good prior internships) that everyone can recognize as signs of potential, but the things that make someone really pull for an applicant like you describe are usually some sort of shared experience or connection. If I had a resume on my desk that had a USAMO/IMO participant I would circle the fuck out of that line and pull for an interview to see rain man in person, but someone else probably wouldn't even know what that is. Same goes for d1 athletics, certain clubs or programs that alumni know about, or other extracurriculars. I think there there are honestly very few distinguishments or awards that would raise an eyebrow no matter who is reading the resume (Rhodes scholar, Grammy Nominee, Olympic Athlete, etc.) and people with those characteristics usually don't wind up with their resume on the desk of a banker.
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