Do finance clubs look good on a resume?
Does joining financial/business clubs in a university look good on a resume? Or should I only put it on my resume if I gain some kind of a leadership role ??
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usually better than nothing
yeahh :\ thnx.
From the perspective of a guy with 5 resumes sitting on my desk right now for an analyst role - I read it as "resume building". It's not a negative, not a positive. I give it no value. HR people or others may disagree.
It could be somewhat useful for internships when you have no relevant work experience to include, as it shows interest and implies some prior knowledge of finance.
It's all relative. If you're an English major who resurrected school investment club from the dead, have an undefeated buy/sell record, and taught the incoming freshmen financial modeling, put it in! If you're a Finance major who went to the first club meeting and merely wants to put "Finance Club (member)" on their resume, it's just wasted space.
Despite what SSits says, I suspect he (or if not him, many in his position) would view an empty resume as substantially worse than a resume with a finance club. You should definitely put it on. It will never hurt, likely help.
What will you be doing/what have you done? That will determine its worth past the first interview.
That's true. Empty space is worse than worthless filler on a resume.
Thanks! I figured it might show interest in finance. I'll be trying to accomplish tasks in the group as well, I won't just be going in for the membership. Hopefully I'll have some feats to show by January of next year for internship possibilities.
@"SSits"
How about if you founded a finance club and brought significant value to said organization? For example, if one set up recruitment with local boutique banks, facilitated conferences with MDs or even helped place in case competitions. Would you still consider that as a filler? Surely that would indicate some drive and character.
@"redrocksky" - I'd read it with cynicism, as I'll never be able to determine how much work you really did (vs taking credit for other people's work or just making it up) and it reads like something you've done just because you read online that you need something on your resume showing an interest in finance.
i think the more important question is that lets say it's a decision between the aforementioned "finance club", vs something more 'interesting' but unrelated, eg. small business, ballroom dancing..
Consulting club on finance resume = bad? (Originally Posted: 04/25/2013)
I co-founded the club, it is currently the go-to club at my school for kids interested in consulting, and in terms of actual work done, it is probably my biggest leadership position.
How will it look to include it on my resume for finance? The other items on my resume are mostly finance or neutral (worked at a non-profit, involved in a couple finance clubs, currently interning at a boutique i-bank)
I think it should be fine. Just emphasize that you just wanted to fill a niche.
Resume Question - Started a High Yield Club at university (Originally Posted: 10/29/2009)
I started a high yield trading club at my university not too long back, it's grown to about 10 members and we basically share ideas on speculative plays.
I was thinking of adding this to my resume but it would require me removing something, do you guys think this would add more value over accounting tutor? I've tutored like 5 kids and taken all their grades from F/Ds to A/Bs.
Advice appreciated as always
Accounting tutor experience achieved a good result. And it could also demonstrate that you can at least walk somebody through basic accounting, which is highly required in any finance positions. However, given your information, high-yield trading club did not achieve anything yet. It’s only in the level of sharing ideas. If you’re not applying to an S&T position, accounting tutor experience sounds safer to me. But, is this a real issue? Can’t you just expand the margins and add one more line on it?
Keep the accounting tutoring because it shows teamwork / cooperation.
Unless your trading group has led to actual, proven results (with a good investing record), I would not include it. Almost everyone has it on their resumes
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Agree with the posts above, leave the accounting tutoring experience on because it produced great results. You were able to take F and D students and help them become A and B students. Also shows leadership and teamwork skills.
It depends on whether you are applying to S&T or IB. If you are applying to IB, I would leave the accounting internship on and only switch it out for the new club if the club grows in popularity and begins electing offices, holding events, then being the founder would definitely carry a lot more weight.
If you are applying for S&T positions, however, I would swap it out as the club both shows your interest in the field, as well as your initiative and entrepreneurial spirit - then I would sell the limited experiences well and work to expand the club.
While I think the club is strong, especially as the founder, until it picks up steam, I don't think it will carry all that much weight in banking - simply because the field is more geared towards S&T. If, however, it begins growing, etc (as mentioned above), I think it could be a valuable aspect of your resume.
Although you've probably got it locked down already (as I've spoken with you before), here's a few tips for anyone interested in preparing the resume: http://www.bankonbanking.com/2009/05/25/writing-the-banker-resume/
IBanker www.BankonBanking.com [email protected] Interview Prep, Resume Revisions, and the New Survival Guide – The most common interview questions and answers revealed! News, Articles, Products, Services and More - Stop by Now!
As with lots of things - it depends.
Some people do use the experience as a resume filler but for others it becomes a major part of their resume, especially if the clubs they belong to have actual investment funds. Depending on how the club is run and what they provide, active members get a lot of experience at making pitches and as analysts.
I compile the lists of actual college/university investment clubs at https://indstate.edu/business/SMIFC/research/lists and while researching that have found that student membership and role in those do help students and, certainly all I've seen, are listed on their LinkedIn profile, more so than other clubs or activities they are part of.
I work FO at a bank that is highly coveted by those on this board and regularly go to career fairs to recruit kids for FO roles.
Every time, HR sends me a packet of resumes that in my opinion, are so “good” as to be detrimental to the process.
It’s like (literally) every kid in the stack has some combination of:
-Great GPA -“Investment Officer/VP/Portfolio Manager” at school’s toy student-run fund/investment office etc. like every kid has the same position on their res... -position at some startup/company I’ve never heard of “Designed and implemented [XYZ tool] with [XYZ jargon computer language] to increase [jargon metric for user engagement on apps], increasing [conversion rate, revenue, etc] by 300%!” Bullshit kid - I don’t buy it.
If I knew in undergrad what kind of murder “target kids” were getting away with on their resumes, I would have barfed. I understand that the natural result of a sophomore recruiting cycle is to end up with this sort of ridiculousness, but the kind of puffery that is commonplace on resumes today is mind blowing to me.
I simply find it incredulous that some wet-behind-the-ears kid that still can’t legally drink claims to be an investing whiz, a growth hacking guru, and a side of fries too, all at the tender age of 19 or 20. It’s total bullshit.
Ironically, I end up being more interested in kids that have anything at all on their resume that rings true. I always have a lot of love for the one kid in the stack with a fucking fast food job on their resume. That lets me know way more about your business acumen and your ability to take shit and serve a client than some puffed up bullshit about the charity you founded.
It’s sad, because while all these shenanagins get you in the door, I place basically no weight on them after that point. From then on, it’s all about whether you come across with poise and charisma in the interview. So the net effect of these resume line items is not to get people the job, but rather to ding the hordes of kids not audacious enough to pile their resume high with this nonsense.
I'd recommend putting it on the resume even if you were only a member. No one will ding you for it and maybe in some scenario it gives you the slight bump you needed over a different candidate.
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