How to write about deals on resume
Fellow monkeys,
I have done an M&A internship in the past and am currently updating my resume. I have worked on several live transactions and would like to include them. How do you usually write about this on a resume?
At the moment, I have the following on there:
"$X - Xbn Buy-Side Advisory to an (Industry) Supplier" and the same with sell-side for a sponsor.
Below this main bullet, I list 1-2 sub-bullets with specific information on my involvement.
As it is not announced yet, I cannnot list specific names and also provide a relatively large range for the deal value (just to have at least some indication of the size).
Could you please let me know if this is appropriate or whether I should change the style/wording? Also, how do you handle talking in detail about unnanounced deals or deals that have closed but advisors have not been made public through official channels during interviews?
Many thanks in advance
lots of threads on this topic, these are a couple I found https://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/deal-experience-for-resume and https://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/listing-deals-on-resume-experien…
Question Regarding Company specific information in deal experience section of resume (Originally Posted: 11/11/2016)
I'm a first year analyst that does Lev FIn. We have a very large balance sheet so my group gets asked to be a part of a lot of great deals. Many of these deals close, often with the buyers that came to us seeking commitments winning. Unfortunately, our credit committee is very conservative, and they often reject these deals, so we are not included in the final lending group.
I did a lot of work for many of these deals (i.e. building the lbo model, reading through hundreds of pages of contracts and other legal docs for due diligence, etc.), so I'm obviously going to talk about the deals on my resume.
That being said, I'm torn over whether its appropriate for me to use the target company's name? If the deal closed, but my bank internally rejected the deal after I built the model and did all the same analysis as bankers who were part of the final lending group, and i'm only using financial info that is publicly available, is it bad for me to use the company's name?
Would really appreciate people's thoughts on this.
Thanks.
I would not. If this transaction was publicly announced, is your bank's name anywhere in the press release? If not, then you're giving away non-public information. Even if your bank's name is in the press release, you're treading a thin line because even though you worked on the transaction, to me disclosing the company name implies that you closed the transaction, which you did not. That seems a tad bit misleading to me.
That being said, I actually preferred talking about transactions that were not publicly announced. You can have a much deeper and more thorough discussion about them since you are not giving away a name.
Thank you so much for the response. That's very helpful.
Just as a follow-up question. For these non-disclosed deals, what are your thoughts on putting exact purchase prices, leverage levels, etc. vs. approximate? For example, if a company got acquired for $763mm, thats a pretty specific number that could make it obvious to figure it out. would you recommend approximately $760mm instead?
If the deal is an announced deal that most people who follow LBOs/ private equity would have heard of and have been familiar with the details, as soon as I say ~$4bn LBO of a sports/media company everyone will know I'm referring to UFC (just an FYI, I didn't work on UFC, I'm just using this for illustrative purposes).
I guess the overarching question here is if the reason you don't give the company name is because its just bad form to do so but its totally fine and normal for the interviewer to understand the company that you are referencing (especially if his/her bank also looked at the deal) or if I should really be making an effort to not give away/ hint at what the company is.
Thanks again
Deals on Resume (Originally Posted: 10/01/2013)
I am a junior preparing for SA recruiting, and have an SA (boutique) position on my resume, as well as my current internship at a better middle-market investment bank where I will be working until December. Currently, on my resume, I have deals listed that I worked on (not necessarily doing things that you guys would consider being "on" the live deal, however). These are mainly from my SA this summer, but there is only 1 or 2, and it is a very brief line. Just for reference, I did things such as aiding in the construction of management presentations and pitchbooks for these deals (like only about 7 slides of it though), among other menial tasks.
Should I have these deals on there? When having deals on your resume, what should I expect to be asked about it? If i can answer why the company is selling, what its Rev and EBITDA are, what they do etc. is that sufficient enough? I am worried about getting grilled on these deals that I have listed, considering I did pretty basic work on them, as I was just finishing my soph year. The firm I am at now, I am basically doing the same stuff, but less of it, because I cant do the 75 hours per week with classes. Any ideas on how I should be listing these things? Thanks.
also interested
You should definitely keep the deals on your resume. Since they are aware you are a junior only they won't ask how you executed the deal. You have to know the basics of the deal. What you can do is ask your seniors on a good update on these deals so when you interview you can talk about them intelligently.
Thanks for the tip. More specifically though, how differently is the information that you think I should know than what I have listed above? Should I reach out to the boutique I was at over summer to see how the deals progressed to now?
Try to get your hands on the model and know it cold. If you can't, be very careful about how you write it up on your resume. If you just say that you worked on a deal and throw some #'s around on paper, people can ask you anything from what was the ROIC to details on debt tranches. Not saying they will, but some guys will dig in extremely hard.
When we interview you we don't expect you to have been an integral part of the deals listed. We understand that you were only there for 8-10 weeks over the summer but it's great to be able to demonstrate that you were a part of the deal process in as much of a capacity as you could be. If you can articulate the strategic rationale for the deal, show an understanding of the competitive landscape and the merits of the trade in the context of the company you represented and know the key metrics and valuation, you can set yourself apart from other interns looking for full time offers. Spend time getting to know the drivers of value in the model and you should be in good shape.
One thing worth noting is that you should not overreach in your description of your role within the transaction. It's fine to put on there if you were a part of it but don't say you were responsible for all the modeling if you weren't. If you go down that road things unravel pretty quickly when we start asking you questions.
Well I did not do any modeling over summer (i dont think any sophomores do that). I just have one or two brief lines saying things like: "Aided in the construction of a management presentation for a company with $XX million in revenue in XYZ industry." Or something like that... It is not listed in a technical matter at all. Do you think this is okay? And I am sure I can get my hands on the models, but I dont see why this would be brought up in an interview if I make it very clear that I did not do any modeling. More research, industry overview stuff. Thoughts?
Yes that's totally fine. Just don't embellish on your resume to the point where you wouldn't feel comfortable talking about what's on there. Sounds like you're on the right track.
Like Above and Beyond said, nobody's going to expect you to hit the ground building models from scratch
Resume Question - I was on a few live deals (Originally Posted: 09/02/2008)
with regards to an investment banking resume, if while working as a summer analyst at a bulge bracket firm i was on a few live deals, one of which hasn't been publicly been announced, can i put it on my resume with code names, or should i leave it off completely until it becomes public information? thanks.
You can use clever phrasing like "sell-side advisory for a European cinema exhibitor" or "buy-side advisory for a packaging manufacturer".
As long as the specific company is reasonably shrouded in mystery, there are no problems with mentioning the deal.
Putting deals on resume (Originally Posted: 12/25/2011)
I'm hesitant to post my actual resume, because it will give away what group I'm in.
I started in the summer, and already have a bunch of deals to list. I am in a Corporate Banking coverage group working as a PM analyst. I have worked on 8 or 9 deals, including a few M&A financings. For every deal, I have helped with a FICC memo, created an underwriting memo focused on the operating and financial sustainability of the company, and ran operating/merger models + sensitivities.
Aside from what I do on deals, my work is mostly paper-pushing (making PIBs, quarterly updates, etc).
I feel as though I do the same things on most deals. I am also the sole analyst on most deals, typically working with one VP or Associate.
My problem is that I don't know how to list the work I've done on each deal. I've looked at the templates on M&I, and they give examples of work done on deals that is very diverse and "fresh." I feel as though the tasks I would be listing are more repetitive, because I do the same things on most deals. For example, in the first draft of my resume, I have been including something like "ran the model" under every deal.
Is there any way to make this look better by decreasing the repetitiveness?
I know what you mean. When I work on deals, I have yet to close on any with my group, we all pretty much do the same thing over and over. What's important here is that you and your team were able to close on deals. The start to finish is what's value-add.
even though you were doing the same task on those deals you could list the positive outcomes of what you did. I doubt those will be the same from deal to deal.
Curious to hear more about this as well.
Bump
Resume Advice - Describing deals that I worked on? (Originally Posted: 08/31/2012)
I have a question about describing deals that I worked on as a summer intern.
Under selected deal experience, I want to say something like - XXMM capital raise for a tech company
Is it better to use capital raise, private offering, or private placement if the deal was to raise capital through equity for a private company?
Also, if the firm is still raising capital, do I include "pending", and is the XX amount the amount currently raised or the amount they are looking to raise?
Pending, amount they are potentially willing to raise.
When describing the deal, should I use a more specific term than capital raise?
You can say that the Company is raising capital through private equity.
Doesn't matter. Just say capital raise.
Getting Deal Experience on Your Resume Quickly (Originally Posted: 12/28/2017)
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