If you decide to apply to a first-year spring week at an investment bank or an investment management firm, you will need to produce a good CV by the end of your first couple of weeks at university. For students coming to Lancaster University, you will be invited to participate in virtual ‘Incoming student CV workshop webinars’ three or four weeks before you start university to meet this very early application requirement.

Even if you do not apply for spring week programmes, you will need a good CV by the end of your first year at university. This blog will help you do that. There is a different level of content expectation for a first-year versus a third-year CV. One challenge is that any two people will give you slightly different advice on producing a powerful CV, but of course, there is commonality to any strong CV.

Profile Statement

There is a lot of debate as to whether to include such a statement after your personal contact details at the beginning of the CV. My preference is NOT to do so, and let the CV content do the talking! If you decide to use a profile statement, it should be backed up with details later in the CV: some work experience or similar that justifies why this career path is now your vocation—something to make the recruiter read on.

Note: You must avoid statements such as “I am good at working on my own or as part of a team” and “I am very determined”. Such statements are unsubstantiated, which anyone could claim. They mean nothing, even if potentially true! Note further that “I” should not be used in the CV at all.

Profile Example (If used)

Academic Qualifications

As well as listing your academic qualifications, mention any scholarships, prizes, high percentages or grades you scored if you have these. Don’t list any AS Levels or individual GCSEs. If your GCSEs are strong list, for example, 10 GCSEs: Grades 9 - 7

Any additional qualifications will show you are highly motivated. There are external manageable qualifications you could consider doing in your first year of university e.g., the Investment Management Certificate or Bloomberg Market Concepts are well regarded. (BMC is only about 8 hour’s work but you need to be in front of a Bloomberg Terminal to do so). You do not have to have attained the qualification before you can add it to your CV. If the exam date is 6 months away, list it as such, i.e., IMC Candidate Apr 2025.

Work Experience

Any work experience of any length is valuable. One week or a few days is fine; it does not have to be four weeks somewhere! Go out and get these short work experiences; find the contacts. Most people have no problem taking someone for a few day days. Longer is great, of course, but requires a much bigger commitment from them.

A short work experience can be represented as below; you can explain the details at interview.

• Refinitiv June 2024

This does not have to be financial work experience: Working in Costa Coffee, Primark, or the local garden centre are all good and give you the ‘life experience’ to show you are proactive and help you answer all those interview questions to come e.g., “Tell me about a time when you had to work with a difficult person?”.

Never lie on a CV, but you have every right to make any experience as impressively sounding as possible, i.e., if you have been windsurfing four or five times, you are perfectly entitled to put windsurfing in your ‘Interests’ section.

Skills

A common mistake can be to include a ‘Skills’ section claiming a candidate is ‘analytical’ ‘good communicator’ ‘good problem-solver’. Again, anyone can claim these skills. State your factual achievements in your CV; the recruiter can recognise the experience and skills you have gained e.g., if you took a part-time sales job and increased sales by 10% you do not need to list sales skills under a ‘Skills’ section!

Be human

Financial market employers don’t just want to hire candidates solely with the highest academic achievements. They want to hire well-rounded individuals who have both ‘given something back’ or show personality and the ability to fit into a team. Any voluntary work here is very appropriate, as is team sports or school, and then university, society participation, especially committee participation. An interesting hobby is also welcomed if it doesn’t suggest social isolation!

Format

Use bullet points. Human resource recruitment personnel look at hundreds of CVs and need to pick out information quickly. A recruiter's average time looking at a CV is about eight seconds. Three or four bullet points per subheading is appropriate. You will need to provide additional detail on certain items, making the point as impressive as possible while keeping a great layout.

Spelling

There is absolutely no room for spelling mistakes or grammatical errors. You might be convinced a word is spelt a certain way. Read your CV several times, spell-check it, and, if possible, get another pair of eyes to look at it. One typing mistake and you are likely out. Don’t give recruiters the excuse to eliminate you. The early stages of job applications are all about avoiding elimination!

Length

For a financial market-related CV, make sure it all fits on one page—no exceptions! Two pages is fine, but only if you have had a 20-year career!

Quick tips:

• The average time a recruiter initially spends looking at a CV is approximately eight seconds.
• An easy-to-read format with bullet points is therefore required.
• Your aim is to provide ‘hooks’ of information that make the recruiter want to find out more. You can give the full story at the interview!
• Financial CVs need to be one page only.
• You must list a good number of hobbies and interests to show you are a ‘well-rounded individual’
• Be familiar with the content of the Financial Career Insight Series blogs

Related Blogs

• 

  The financial career landscape

• 

  Investment banking overview

• 

  Financial company target list

Disclaimer

The opinions expressed by our bloggers and those providing comments are personal, and may not necessarily reflect the opinions of Lancaster University. Responsibility for the accuracy of any of the information contained within blog posts belongs to the blogger.