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Hey there, 

I can give you a few pointers to help you!

Just for clarification, these are only my views after I was asked to cover for interviews and assess CVs during my previous role at a private credit firm in London (due to chronic understaffing). 

  1. Although not directly important, I was slightly confused as to how you only did 6 GCSEs. It might just be that you did it outside the UK but normally from what I know, an average applicant has around 8+ GCSEs (in grade terms). 
  2. Your bullet points should ideally be 1 line long - I find that two lines adds too much information and makes it harder for an interviewer to scan it in 30 seconds before / during your interview.
  3. Some specifics would be useful e.g. what type of clients? were they HNWI type clients or divorce clients etc.
  4. You have an e-commerce business but it would be useful to understand on the first bullet points what you sell through the business. While the achievements are very good, it'd be ideal to have 1 line saying e.g. "selling kid's toys targeted at the 3-8 market segment." or something like that (obviously, relevant to the product that you sell which appears to be some sort of perfumes / fragrances / air related product - apologies if I've butchered my understanding). 
  5. Liking the leadership stuff but something sore sticks out here... you haven't got any leadership related to finance e.g. finance societies etc. Would be very good if you signed up and participated in e.g. the college fund or competitions through your university to show you know how to engage and talk about things.
    1. This kind of ties into the point I made about the law firm. You don't have any professional experience working somewhere financial where money is involved. Most universities now have an internal analyst program (and if they're smart enough, launch it as a separate Ltd business). This is something that would be interesting and required. Speak to your university societies if they have this and if they do, enrol ASAP. 
  6. Someone else can chime in here but normally, I don't think Wall Street Prep self-study course is something that should be put on a CV. The same I believe goes for JPM Virtual Internship, but that might just be me?
  7. The languages stuff is good, but maybe a level associated with each of the non-native languages e.g. English (C1, by the looks of it?) etc. 
  8. Computer Skills is good if you're applying to markets but not for IBD. Don't take this away though since you're applying to springs but just a word for Summer Analyst positions. 
  9. You need to fix your brackets e.g. Python (Pandas...) instead of Python(Pandas...) - this applies everywhere. 
  10. I'm not keen on the interests having "Global Markets" listed as one of them. I'd like to see something that you're interested in aside from markets / finance e.g. you mentioned you played football, maybe some video gaming or tennis or something like that. Chess looks cool but reading is, well... possible by anyone. 
  11. Also, just to add, if you're going to list excel, don't list the functions you know because it does imply that you don't have a grasp of other things e.g. pivot tables since they've been excluded from your list. Just say Excel (Proficient) to save you the trouble. 

To answer one of the questions in the main body of your post, I'd recommend sending off your CV as it is now to avoid disappointment. If you wait for a society role / position, they'll often be filled after the recruitment cycle is closed and by that point, you'll have sadly blown the SA opportunity. 

(Source: I ran university finance society)

Good luck otherwise and keep us posted on how you're getting along!

 

Hey, thanks a lot for the reply.

Regarding the 6 GCSEs, I did not study in the uk prior to university, an have actually done IGCSEs as well as International A-Levels, hence why I was able to do only 6(I think that 5 is the minimum). Do you think I should point out that those are international certifications instead of the domestic uk ones? Also, in the case of my e-commerce business, is it better to talk about the business itself a bit more, or should I focus on my role and the achievements? Same goes to the python modelling project. I'm not sure if you've noticed, but I haven't started university yet, and I was planning for spring insight weeks for students that are in their first year of university. Are my python skills really not relevant and won't be useful, if I will not be doing S&T?(which, with an economics degree, it unlikely). Do you think that they bring any added value?

 

Hey, thanks a lot for the reply.

Regarding the 6 GCSEs, I did not study in the uk prior to university, an have actually done IGCSEs as well as International A-Levels, hence why I was able to do only 6(I think that 5 is the minimum). Do you think I should point out that those are international certifications instead of the domestic uk ones? Also, in the case of my e-commerce business, is it better to talk about the business itself a bit more, or should I focus on my role and the achievements? Same goes to the python modelling project. I'm not sure if you've noticed, but I haven't started university yet, and I was planning for spring insight weeks for students that are in their first year of university. Are my python skills really not relevant and won't be useful, if I will not be doing S&T?(which, with an economics degree, it unlikely). Do you think that they bring any added value?

Oh, I see. I'd point out maybe that you have an A* or an A in Maths and English respectively as these are required for any position (just to be safe on the legal sides of things). It's not necessary to mention the distinction between IGCSEs and GCSEs explicitly but do write "IGCSEs" to avoid confusion. 

I'd just add a bit more flesh on what the business does as the first bullet points followed by some headline points e.g. revenues, growth, management of staff, digital strategy (choose maybe 3 of these 4 or any better ones you can think of). Note that you are best placed to quantify these headline achievements instead of just saying them in a broad fashion i.e. say "manage a team of 25 staff across production, HR and marketing" or something like that so that I can get a sense of scale.

Python stuff is still relevant but sometimes they may prematurely get the idea that you're an S+T or ER person instead of IBD since computer programming skills are predominantly S&T and ER heavy (think modelling and execution of trades etc.) Still keep them but be mindful of what division you choose to go into when you get your spring week as this will weigh a slight bit. They still bring added value as it's a skill that trains your problem solving skills, but remember that IBD is predominantly an excel and powerpoint-only skill so it's better to show some experiences related to those e.g. delivering presentations, performing financial models or even like you said, budgeting and profit forecasting on your CV. Does that sort of make sense?

 

Noted. Can you give me an assessment of my odds for securing a spot in an insight week? What are my biggest weaknesses? Should I focus more on the financial/accounting side of my law firm internship to make it more relevant? Thanks in advance.

 

Noted. Can you give me an assessment of my odds for securing a spot in an insight week? What are my biggest weaknesses? Should I focus more on the financial/accounting side of my law firm internship to make it more relevant? Thanks in advance.

To be clear upfront, I didn't do any spring weeks as I was interested in a different sector and only fell into finance via an adjacent society I was working in at the time. 

I think you have good odds. If I was you, I'd focus on the financial side a bit more and also just make sure you network hard with the companies that come to your campus and joining relevant societies to boost your chances. 

I'll let someone else answer this question also so that you get a more definitive answer. 

Best of luck!

 

Thank you so much for your advice. Really appreciate it!

 

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