5 Tips to Craft a Captivating Resume to Apply to any Position in Finance

If you feel like you are frequently being overlooked because your resume is falling short, take a look at the following tips and get tweaking.

Format your resume in an ATS-friendly way

Many people don’t realize that recruiters make use of software solutions known as Applicant Tracking Systems, or ATS for short.

These platforms are designed to speed up the process of narrowing down the number of prospective employees before interview invites are issued.

As such, a resume which is formatted in an ATS-friendly way will be a resume that gets you hired. It’s all about ensuring that the information it contains can be parsed by the automated software, which means you need to get everything from the layout to the font choice just right.

The answer is to take advantage of resume templates that have been put together with ATS in mind, saving you time and effort.

Keep experience relevant to the role.

Every resume needs to go through the experience you have acquired in your professional career so far, but that doesn’t mean you should list every single job you have done and internship you have held whenever you apply for a new position.

In fact, overstuffing your resume in this way can seriously compromise its hit rate. Instead, aim to trim your work history so that it suits the role you are applying for.

This is more relevant for applicants who have been around long enough to acquire a lot of experience. And if you haven’t updated your resume in a while, this is the ideal opportunity to snip off some of the content which has become superfluous over the years since your last interview.

Focus on industry-specific skills

As with your experience overview, your resume needs to detail the skills and qualifications you have attained as they relate to the job description.

This is especially important in a finance context, since most employers will be looking to see whether prospective new hires have what it takes to fulfill the obligations of the role, and are properly educated and accredited to do so in a way that complies with industry regulations.

For example, if you are a fully fledged CPA, this should get top billing if it is an essential aspect of the job. Or, if you haven’t already, taking the SIE exam can be a crucial stepping stone in your journey to obtaining a job qualification. You can check the SIE practice exam on careeremployer.com/financial-advisor/sie/sie-practice-exam/ to understand whether your knowledge is enough or if additional training is needed for the actual exam. If needed, you can begin your training independently or seek assistance from professionals in the field. With diligent preparation, passing the SIE exam can open up numerous opportunities for career growth in the financial industry.

You can also include some soft skills here, but do not spend too long going into how much of a team player you are, if this comes at the expense of highlighting more pertinent capabilities that you have.

Limit the length of your resume

The more precise and concise you can be when constructing a resume as a finance professional, the more captivating this document will be when it gets in front of recruiters.

Aside from the obvious benefit of effectively withstanding the scrutiny of an ATS, a shorter resume will win over human recruiters as well.

Setting yourself a two-page maximum for the first draft, then trying to squeeze this down to a single page if at all possible, is a good exercise which could deliver effective results.

Sell yourself with facts and figures

A finance resume should show off your achievements, but don’t just boast in a broad way; be specific. If you have facts and figures for your past performance to hand, include these where relevant.

This last tip will help both in terms of making you an attractive applicant, and when it comes to curtailing your resume if it is running too long.

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