Walking through your resume
I am trying to come up with my 2 to 3 minutes of walking through my resume or interviews but I am having a hard time. Does anyone mind sharing a general example on how one should correctly answer the "walk through resume/tell me about yourself" question?
Thanks.
For each specific position, you should highlight places in your resume that are relevant to that position. Let's say you lack experience, then you should say about your classes. And vice versa.
I would also like to hear a generic example of tell me about yourself / walk me through your resume. I've seen different advice on different websites/guides and I'm not sure what is a good approach. Can someone please post one they have used that has worked well? Thanks.
Isn't the resume walk-through just like telling a story?
Start with your college info, then progress chronologically from least recent --> most recent, breezing through the beginning and emphasizing your most recent/relevant experiences.
The main point of this question is to
Narrate your story for the reader/interviewer, because they definitely haven't had time to look it over before this minute.
Tell your story of how everything you've done before has brought you to this interview, aka why you are pursuing banking, consulting, etc.
Like every question, this is a chance to sell yourself. In this case, your story.
In general, my suggestion is to break it down as follows: 1/3 of the time you spend quickly reviewing why your background (if the question is phrased, "tell me about yourself", if it is "walk me through your resume", do just that.) where you went for school, how great it was, etc. and then the next 2/3 should be all sell: quickly go through the most important point or two from each of your experiences, and then focus extra time on your most recent internship, which should hopefully be banking/consulting, etc. From there it's simple. You loved your internship, you made sure to confirm it was for you, and now you're determined to work in X field.
I hope that helps. To clarify, "experiences" can be more than just work: if you held leadership positions in school for say, the outdoor club, whatever, briefly discuss that, as you have time to add a little color here and there.
Remember, if you focus those three main reasons the interviewer asks this question, you'll be fine. 2-3 minutes is a good guideline. I think anything over 4-5 is too much. Remember, don't waste time on what's not as important/what is there for color. They will notice those things as they read along with your resume as you narrate it for them.
Critique of this Walk Me Through Resume answer? (Originally Posted: 08/30/2015)
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my resume walkthrough is too long (Originally Posted: 10/15/2007)
Sorry I meant to continue my old post but couldn't find it. I was wondering if about 10 minutes is too long for a "walk me through your resume" type question. I found that I could not really shorten it anymore without taking away an important point that I want to mention. Usually I just talk about my positions, my main responsibilities in each position, and what are the qualities/skills that would help me in banking. does anyone have any tips for these sections? I know this is somewhat of a redundant question but I have not been able to cut it any shorter.
Ten minutes? Are you serious? Do you realize that the guys who are interviewing can read, and you don't need to explain everything you do? Go through chronologically, explaining how your prior experience fits into the position you're applying for.
Instead of saying I worked at bank X for my summer internship and did A, B, and C and then go into what banking related skills/qualities I developed, should I just say I worked at Bank X and think that I was able to develop skills X, Y and Z? Is that kind of what you meant?
I don't see how "saying I worked at bank X for my summer internship and did A, B, and C and then go into what banking related skills/qualities I developed" would take you 10 minutes...
That was just an example of how I go about it for each experience (work experience as well as leadership roles in school), and obviously I elaborate in much greater detail that I did in that example. I was just curious if I should basically disregard anything that is already written on my resume as something worth reiterating during an interview.
Look, you need to learn how to only say the relevant. No one cares about the student organization leadership role you had in sophomore year. Figure out how to say the relevant parts of your resume in 1-2 minutes.
I understand that I definitely need to do some trimming but I dont understand how you can trivilize student leadership roles so easily. I am the president of a business organization on campus and outside of classes and arguably even more than classes it takes up most of my time and requires a great deal of responsibility. I highly doubt that this is not "relevant." Can anyone give me some feedback about my question that does not antagonize my experiences?
http://www.careerjournal.com/jobhunting/interviewing/20041104-hirsch.ht…
First result in google search "tell me about yourself".
Learn to be more resourceful.
Haha this is the first time I've ever heard someone worried that their resume walk through is too long. Now I've heard everything!
Seriously, dont worry about it. Just keep it relevant, avoid going off on any tangents...otherwise I think the ability to talk about your resume for 10 minutes is a pretty good skill :P
i think the problem is you think that being president of your business club is important. but im sure every president thinks that of his/her club which is why he/she is the president anyways. but this is kind of beside the point...
you just need to do the following:
I study this, sophomore year i did this internship where i did this and learned this made me interested in banking. junior year i took a internship with XX firm and learned that only real men strap 10x leverage on bank deals. this made me really interessted in persuing this career - which is why im here today. this is the 30,000ft view (bonus points for jargon), but if you have any specific questions we can go over them in detail.
this is like 3min max time and your interviewer will remove the ballpoint pen from their throat this time.
I would say if you are having that much difficulty, about selling your story. You need to read up and study about "Public Speaking" skills. Like this is basically the first test, that you have the "soft skills" to sell your story.
i once had a kid sit across from me and spend 15min "walking me through his resume". auto ding...
Pick the three or so things that you feel are the most important and spend about a minute on each. The interviewer can see the other stuff on your resume and certainly doesn't need a walkthrough of each item. If you absolutely must mention something minor, do so casually by saying "all the while I was working part time behind the bar trying to pay for college," or something along those lines. Pretty much everything on your resume should have a ten second version and a 60 second version, try to balance the two.
Less is more
It actually sounds better to say less, but be very selective in what you say
I can go through my resume pretty thoroughily in 2-3 minutes. If the interviewee starts going on and on, i make sure to refocus them.
The goal is not to verbalize your resume. Don’t tell them what you did at each job, tell them the skills you learned. This gives them the opportunity to drill down via follow up questions.
I'm on there market right now, so here’s my post undergrad work experience and my pitch:
Resume Jobs (From current to oldest) 1. Distressed Debt Fund 2. Distressed Debt Law Firm 3. Sports Marketing/Representation Agency
Pitch
While in undergrad I was the captain of the men's basketball team. Senior year I suffered a knee injury, but I still had hopes of playing professionally in Europe. So, I decided to take a job that would help build my connections in the sports industry while still affording me time to rehab my knee and work on my game. While at XXX, I was able to gain a better understanding of the process of contractual negotiations by working closely with the lead agents at the firm. Unfortunately, even with all the hard work I put into rehabing, my knee never fully healed.
Realizing that a professional career was not in the cards for me, I decided to move on to my long term goal, law school. I spent the next year bolstering my resume and developing an understanding of the legal system by working at The Law Firm of XXX. Taking this job was a great experience because not only was I able to gain in-depth exposure to the distressed debt market, but I also came to the conclusion that the legal field was not for me.
What I did realize was that I enjoyed the business side much more than the legal side. At this point, because of the knowledge base that I had built up, I was able to transition from the law firm to one of its clients, where I still am currently employed.
I have spent the past four years at XXX building a skill set that is extremely valuable. Through the processes of valuing complex deals, leading the firm’s due diligence team and designing post transaction liquidation strategies, I have developed an understanding of the business process that can create value in a variety of situations.
tdctka,
you are on the money in my opinion. I also like your story, it's logical and most of all, """genuine""".
Being president of ABC and learning leadership and blah blah is not genuine. people can see right through that type of stuff.
We'll see if anyone else agrees. The proof is in the pudding, and I dont have a new job yet.
help with interview-best way to walk through a resume (Originally Posted: 10/02/2007)
I know this might sound like nitpicking or a matter of point of view, but I was just wondering what your thoughts on on the best way to walk through your resume. I find my natural instinct if to spend a minute or so on each significant part of my resume (like leadership roles, my experiences in past jobs/internships). But I am afraid I speak for too long and that I should be more concise. But at the same time, if i try to be more concise, will it seem like I am being too general and not properly explaining my qualification? I did not summer with a bank and am interviewing with a full banks (few boutiques and BBs so far) and just want to make sure I am as prepared as can be. I appreciate any feedback that anyone can offer, thanks.
In 90% of my interviews, the interviewer led the resume discussion (e.g. "tell me about ____", "what made you choose ____").
If they say "walk me through" give a concise, focused, and CONVINCING 90 second version. Any longer and you'll see yawning. Highlight not the details of each positions, but your key strengths, your goals, and how it all makes perfect sense for you to do banking now.
This is probably the most important question you answer, so put in some effort to structure the story. They can always go back for the details later, but they have to buy the big picture. If a detail is really important, it had better relate to your overall story.
When they ask to tell the links between the financial statements how general do they want you to be? Some people have told me just to mention that net income flows to retained earnings, beg cash balance on cash flows statement is from the cash amount on a balance sheet and the end balance from a cash flows statement goes to the next time periods balance sheet. But there are definitely so many more links (e.g. depreciation, debt and its effects, etc). It would seemt o me these things are significant. What do you guys think?
When they ask to tell the links between the financial statements how general do they want you to be? Some people have told me just to mention that net income flows to retained earnings, beg cash balance on cash flows statement is from the cash amount on a balance sheet and the end balance from a cash flows statement goes to the next time periods balance sheet. But there are definitely so many more links (e.g. depreciation, debt and its effects, etc). It would seemt to me these things are significant. What do you guys think?
id rather have a general answer for the 3 statements question cause even though there are many links, i just want to see that you have an understanding of how they flow. dont get caught up in details during your interviews unless they ask you for them.
as for the resume story - i agree with restructure this - focus on the big picture and always make sure your story is gonna lead to why you want to do banking and/or be good fit...
Interview Advice from Scott Morris: "Walk me through your resume". (Originally Posted: 12/03/2010)
Chris of Wall Street Mentors chats with Scott Morris on how to address the popular interview warm-up: "Walk me through your resume". While it seems simple, it's critical as it can set the tone for the entire interview. Just one of the many topics that Scott covered in his book Polished.
This Q&A topic was recommended by WSO member Simple As... Thanks for the suggestion. Please feel free to provide more requests for us right here.
(You'll have to turn up the volume a little, because Scott's audio is a little quiet - still working on fixing this).
I personally hate this interview question, but this video helped tremendously.
Chris, another great interview, one issue I'm having with the videos (probably partially because of my crappy laptop), I can't really hear Scott as well as I can hear you. He's about 1/3-1/2 the volume as you are at best :-/
Oh, it got better after you turned up the volume (if thats what that beeping noise is), but if you can get it a few notches higher than that, that would be awesome!
Still working on the volume issue. It's a problem with the conversion/uploading process, but hopefully I can figure it out soon.
This video doesn't seem to be working anymore - is there any where else I could view it? Or perhaps it could be re-uploaded?
Thanks!
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