Fun Resume vs Work Resume - Interesting resume

When taking to my friends at uni (target) and people within investment banks already I get the sense that if they had two resumes infront of them:

  • one which was full of finance internships and qualifications
  • one which was full of interesting things

...most bankers would want to recruit (or at least interview) the 'interesting' one.

Although being able to do your job is important, being fun to be around is also important. Finance can be taught but a personality develops overtime!

But what things are fun/interesting? Climbing a mountain? Playing an instrument in a London gig? Being captain of a sports club? Work experience at Google? A background dancer in Magic Mike? lol

Are there any recruiters/bankers/etc out there who can shed some light on this? What interesting things have you seen on a resume that stood out? Would you choose the interesting person over the finance focused person? (because I see many people who get BB IBD offers are finance focused)

Any tips on avoiding being brought in because 'you can do the work' vs 'someone fun to be around'?

8 Comments
 

I dont work in banking but i think it really depends on the office / firm. Some boutiques/ divisions are known for asking tough interview questions and want hardcore finance people.

But honestly, just be yourself. It's tough to pretend you're something that you're not. In my opinion, if you aren't "interesting" by now, you probably won't be "interesting" when full-time apps come in.

If I ever saw a fun/interesting resume, it wouldn't be because of a single line anyone could lie or fake. It would have to be something like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irZOhJq5Dvo

 

There are two ways to split this post up: First, a theoretical/academic type debate, and by reality.

Speaking on reality here, all else being equal, the candidate with investment banking experience vs the Magic Mike back up dancer (insert other interesting thing here), the candidate with investment banking experience gets the interview significantly more than the interesting candidate.

 

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