afternoon monkeys,
please have a look at the resume, any helpful suggestions would be greatly appreciated (be it content, font, etc.)
i am already working in PE, looking to transfer to another pe firm or Lazard in paris.
www.razume.com/documents/28518
thanks!
Lets start with the basics. Get much, much more specific with what you have actuaaly accomplished/what are the results of your work. Your description of your analyst duties is the most basic overview of valuation methods, which makes me question what you have actually done.
7 years for a double-major? Seems absurd. Is pharmacology a graduate degree? Did you go to school in the UK? If you did it looks like you did poorly with your Engineeing degree (3 years), then decided to kind of redo your undergrad by "double-majoring" in Pharamacology, i.e. trying to do better. I know that some schools in the UK attach honors only upon completion of a thesis your 4th (and often optional year striclty for the "honors"), irrelevant of GPA. I could be completely off, which I apologize if I am, just making assumptions off your entire resume.
Finally, how in the world is it possible to be CEO of your startup and work as an analyst in PE?
Would love to hear your story because things just aren't adding up with your resume.
others? the resume has been viewed over a 100+ times but only 2 comments, come on monkeys?!
@droking7 1. what specifics? actual deals i worked on? current portfolio companies are privately held (am i allowed to disclose those names on a resume?) 2. not a grad degree. i didnet do a double major, i did a double degree (i got two bachelors degrees) 3. engineering programs are 5 years long (mandatory work experience yr) 4. i added on a pharm degree which is normally 4years and did it in 2. 5. i also graduated in dec not the summer 6. should i list the month on the resume next to the year?
after graduating i worked in the bay area (in research) but then realized i wanted to do banking. so left after a year for PE.
i setup my startup - i have other ppl working for me now. i also have developed the patent already during my time at X agency which we will be using for the second project.
the format ok? i was told by a recruiter since the resume is unique (research background) to create an appendix for the highly research oriented stuff. and the research institutions i worked at are highly regarded thats why the recuiter said to leave them on.
8 pages... Seriously?
and other constructive feedback? the length is not a problem (its really 3 pages with an appendix). i used an 8pgr to get the position i am in now. i am not a fresh grad from college.
what an odd resume.
a tremendously helpful comment....
As other people stated, it should be 1 page. Seriously, slim it down.
Too long to comprehend. Most people wouldn't get through the first 2 pages for a job application. I would shoot for 2-3 pages and focus on important stuff that relate.
I would do the bullets for your PE experience like:
Deal 1 (eg purchase of $100m EBITDA widget co) -Contribution 1 (e.g. identified new source of value through sum of parts analysis, resulting in X% improvement to IRR) -Contribution 2 (negotiated with management team, bringing acquisition price down by Y%)
Deal 2 -Contribution 1 -Contribution 2
and so on and so forth. It is much easier to read if you present your experience by transaction, as opposed to "Build DCF for A, C, D companies" and "Spread comps for B, C, D companies". Focus on actions and results.
You also have enough experience that you don't need to go into the models you built - an interviewer will assume that you know how to find comparable companies. Focus on how you contributed to the deal process.
Thank you, reformatting underway!
roofstreet,
Here is my advice, take it or leave it. This is coming from someone who has been in the industry for nearly six years and served on recruiting committees on both the sell-side and buy-side. I suggest you at least give it consideration as I just spent the last 30 minutes typing it up. (Others -- please don't send me a PM asking to review your resume, thanks.)
Your resume requires a complete overhaul if you're looking for a job in private equity. Here are my suggestions:
1) Your resume spends so much time touting your engineering/technological accomplishments and you have years of entrepreneurial experience. This calls into question your ability to work in a finance-driven, structured work environment. Private Equity firms aren't looking to hire a geeky engineer. They are looking to hire hardworking, intelligent, personable, data-processing machines. Based on your resume, this isn't you. Unfortunately, you need to conform.
2) Education. You aren't a student, this should go after your work experience toward the bottom of your resume. This is convention and pretty much everyone abides by it. The lack of chronological order in your resume is confusing and a major turn off. Also, why don't you have your GPA listed?
3a) Work Experience. This is confusing. I've never seen a resume sorted by "type of experience" (financial, entrepreneurial, etc.). This should be sorted by employment history. Given you're in PE and looking for a related job, the PE shop should be listed on the top. Heck, this is far and away the most applicable information set on your resume, it should be WAY more than three bullets and three sub-bullets. I'd recommend you expand this to be 1/4th of the page on a 1-page resume. Also -- nowhere on your resume do you list having closed any transactions. Why not? Closed transactions are the most important things you can have on your resume. This is what everyone is going to care about and want to know about.
3b) Work Experience part 2. Don't provide bullet points for your student jobs / internships as work experience on your resume. Your life as a student researcher is not applicable to the job you're applying for and detracts from the rest of your resume. If you really want to include this stuff, list the student jobs you've held in the education section as a bullet below the degrees you received.
4) Skills section. Get rid of the AutoCad stuff. You aren't applying to be an engineer. Heck, the entire "Computer" line can be removed. You aren't a college student -- you're an experience hire. People know you can use MS Office. If you couldn't, you'd have been fired by now. Also, drop "Communication" as a skill. This is a bit ridiculous to list as a skill and will be glossed over. Heck, if it were me, I'd drop this whole section and use the space to emphasize my PE experience, but I'm guessing you're going to be inclined to keep this section.
5) Media Coverage + Technology Development & Transfer sections. Again, per point #4, these sections add no value. Delete entirely.
6) You do indeed need to reduce your resume to one page. A lot of your accomplishments are dated. Particularly as an experienced hire, you want to emphasize your applicable experience and provide some insight into your "outside of work" personality. Nearly ten years ago you spent a week helping 3rd - 6th graders learn about engineering? How is this even remotely relevant? Delete the whole volunteer experience section and reduce it to two lines under the HOBBIES & INTERESTS section.
7) Wipe out the entire appendix. 99% of the content in your appendix is not applicable to the job you're looking for. Unless you're looking for a research position in a specific sector or are attempting to join a particular industry group, private equity professionals don't care what patents you hold. Similarly, if a software developer were applying to a PE job and put "talented COBOL programmer" -- the resume reviewer wouldn't care.
Related to the above: On your other thread, you mentioned that some guy from Blackstone indicated that you need more experience and that you should check out banking (such as Lazard M&A). If a buy-side M&A guy is telling you that you need experience for a pre-MBA level position, this suggests to me that your current PE experience may only be tangentially related. I assume this means your current PE shop is a lender (mezz?) and that you don't have many closed deals under your belt. If this is the case, be aware that many buyout/LBO guys look down on mezz experience compared to banking/equity investing. I know of a few people that successfully transitioned from mezz --> equity, but it certainly wasn't a slam dunk for them.
Hope this helps, CompBanker
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