Resume without a skills section
Would it be bad to have a resume without a skills section? I realize I don't really have any skills besides microsoft office...
Would it be bad to have a resume without a skills section? I realize I don't really have any skills besides microsoft office...
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I don't think it's a dealbreaker by any means. You can talk about it verbally, but not sure how strong your resume is to get the interview. You can read stories on here about people putting Excel on their resume as a skill and then getting grilled in an ib interview.
I have a decent amount of relevant experience. I just dont want to have a section labeled skills, and only have one skill lol
If you put MS Office on your resume it will go straight to the bin. While you probably already know this, I do want this information to get to anyone who might read this and did not know. MS Office is considered a standard. It is more likely that being unskilled in MSO will be highlighted compared to being skilled. That being said, if you have great skills in excel, this could be highlighted. You can take courses such as the street of walls that will teach you the skills needed for financial modeling, statements and other skills within excel needed for IB/PE/HF. You can also get free learning on Capiq, salesforce, as well as paid learning for Bloomberg, etc. Lynda is a great resource as well that will link to LinkedIn.
I would recommend downloading some financial statements for random companies on yahoo finance and try modeling them into excel, and try to complete them without using a mouse.
According to whom? My experience with listing MS Office on a resume or screening resumes with it listed on there has not been the same.
what? are you saying you would throw out a resume just because it lists microsoft office under skills?
Where can we find the free CapIQ learning
You should include a skills section that lists computer-related skills (e.g. MS Office, CapIQ, Bloomberg), any languages you speak, any certifications you have, and an interests line. There is no way you have too much experience to where you cannot fit this section in,
I'm not saying I don't have space, I'm saying I dont have skills to put lol
Then develop some skills
Unless the skill makes you different, don't bother. Free up more space for experiences.
The highest ROI on time spent writing/refining my finance resume versus calls I got for interviews has been with a version that has exactly 3 sections: Professional Experience, Education, Additional Information. Under Additional I have 1 line called "Skills: " where I list things like MS Office, SQL, and similar office go-to's, and another line called "Languages: " where I list the non-English languages I speak. At no point did it ever work when I included more sections.
As a data scientist, things are different. Now I include a skills section, but I have a lot more to talk about in terms of programming languages, toolkits, operating systems, etc. For a finance guy, I think a skills section is a waste of space. The only skills you need to do the job are MS Excel and whatever database the company makes you use. If I ever saw someone list "Effective Communicator" on their resume, I'd call them and ask them to kindly apply at the nearest McDonalds.
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