Experienced Resume Help
Hi everyone, I'm a mid-level PE investment professional with ~10 years of total work experience (~8 years PE and ~2 years banking). I had a couple of resume questions:
- My thinking is even with 10 years of work experience, it's best to keep the resume to one page and not go to two pages right?
- In my ~8 years of PE experience, I've worked on a number of deals (completed ~5 platform acquisitions and ~2 exits). Is it better to (a) list them all out and for each provide 1-2 bullets on what I did / what value I added or (b) just list out the deals where I added the most value and for each provide 3-4 bullets explaining my role and contributions? What I'm currently doing is listing them all out, but providing more detail for the more recent deals (where I was in a more senior role) vs. my first couple of deals as an Associate (thought this would be a good middle ground)
- For each of the PE firms I've worked at, I start off in my resume by providing a bullet on how large the firm is / what sectors it invests in / its general investment strategy, then I have 2-3 high level bullets on the role I played (i.e., if a VP at the time, managing Associates and external advisors on due diligence, if a Principal at the time, negotiating purchase agreements and credit agreements, etc.). At some of the firms I've worked at, even as a VP I was working directly with Partners, so I mention that too in a bullet
- Some people would argue roles and responsibilities for each title in PE are generally the same, so no need to waste space on your resume describing your general responsibilities. I sort of take the opposite view that roles and responsibilities can be pretty different at each firm (especially if say as a VP you work with Principals at one firm and at another firm they don't have the Principal title and you're working directly with Partners/MDs), so I think it's helpful to provide a few high level bullets, but they do take up space that I could otherwise use to talk in greater detail about my contributions on each of my specific deals
- If at your current firm where say you've been there for a year and haven't closed any deals yet (but have submitted a couple final bids and lost), is it worth including one or two of these deals on your resume so you can show what you've been working on at your current firm, or is it best to leave these deals off and focus your resume instead on the deals you completed at your prior firms? If the former, can you mention the name of the company (if it's public who the ultimate acquirer was) or is it best to keep it anonymous and just state the subsector the company was in (like "Leading West Coast Grocery Store Chain")?
Thank you for the help!
No PE specific insight but have just gotten around to updating the ole resume for the first time since the associate days. Hope this helps
- 2 pages for me. First page is resume and second page is a deal sheet, which is (a) "Select Transaction Experience" - select few deals with bullet points, all VP level and (b) "Other Transaction Experience" - small list of high visibility deals from across my time in banking with no bullet points. All tailored to specific roles
- Same as you, I have a descriptor for each firm. Have worked at smaller firms so a line that describes the focus / coverage and size is helpful
- Each firm has quirks to each role so I do have responsibilities laid out for each position, just being mindful to avoid repetition
- Have an ongoing transaction on my deal sheet, name undisclosed. Something like "Sell-Side Advisor to [Sector] Software Company" with bullet points and EV
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