BUILD A BETTER RESUME - For Banking and Finance Careers Ksenia Verdiyan

BUILD A BETTER RESUME
For Banking and Finance Careers

Ksenia Verdiyan

About Me

• Ksenia Verdiyan
• Cornell MEng Financial Engineering 2014
• 4 years of work experience: Goldman Sachs,
  Bank of America, MIT Investment Management,
  Standard & Poor’s
• Cornell Career Services Investment Management
  Initiative

What’s Different about Finance?

• High demand for jobs in Finance makes
  employers very selective
• Companies are looking for well-rounded
  individuals
• Recruiters use resume and cover letter to weed
  out applications much more rigorously

Getting Help

Cornell Career Services offers:
• CCS Career Guide
• Career Counseling/Advising
• Resume/Cover Letter Critiques
• Vault Guide: Resumes and Job-Hunting Skills
• Ask a Friend (someone who received several
  offers)

Cornell Career Guide

True or False?

You have to be a business major to work in
banking/finance

          FALSE: Employers in the finance field
          hire from a wide array of majors. You will
          want to be a “non-traditional” non-finance
          major (e.g., take some business related
          courses, get experience, extra curriculars,
          etc.)

How to Improve Your Resume

•   Join a finance club
•   Take relevant classes
•   Externships
•   Expand your skillset: paper trading, Excel,
    financial modeling skills

Finance Clubs at Cornell
1.    10-C: Financial Reporting by Students at Cornell
2.    Alpha Fund, Cornell
3.    Alpha Kappa Psi
4.    Apex Capital Fund
5.    Association of Latino Professionals in Finance and Accounting (ALPFA)
6.    Board of Portfolio Managers (Cornell)
7.    Delta Sigma Pi
8.    Energy Corps at Cornell University
9.    Federal Reserve Challenge
10.   Financial Management Group
11.   Cornell Club of Mergers & Acquisitions
12.   Cornell’s Investment Club
13.   Cornell’s Investment Group
14.   Mutual Investment Club
15.   Phi Gamma Nu
16.   Pi Sigma Epsilon
17.   Restructuring Club
18.   Smart Woman Securities (SWS)
19.   Social Venture Club
20.   TAMID Israel Investment Group
21.   Undergraduate Asia Business Society (CUABS)

Example: Investment Club Member

• Tracked assigned stocks
• Pitched new stocks
• Collaborated with a team of 5 to research and
  analyze consumer product stocks
• Identified new company stocks for $10k consumer
  product stock portfolio
• Created pitch presentation for recommendations and
  delivered to 100 club members
• Assisted in growing portfolio by 10% in one year

Finance Course at Cornell
Dyson School of Management:
• AEM 2210 - Financial Accounting
• AEM 2241 – Finance
Johnson Finance Courses for Non-Johnson Students:
• NBA 4120 - Equity Investment Research and Analysis
• NCC 5500 - Financial Accounting
Hotel School:
• HADM 2230: Financial Accounting Principles
• HADM 2250: Finance
• HADM 3200: Personal Financial Management
• HADM 3250: Financial Planning and Wealth Management
• HADM 4290: Investment Analysis and Portfolio Management

Job Shadowing Opportunities

Participants: Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, EY, Citi,
Deutsche Bank, etc.
• Freshmen: FRESH Program
• Sophomores, Juniors, and Seniors: Extern
  Program and Cornell Days (apply through
  Handshake)

Chronological
         Resume
     Emphasizes
     Education,
      job titles,
     and employers

Describes
responsibilities and
achievements

          Reverse
          chronological order

Functional
    Resume

Shows summary of
skills under broad
categories

Employment is
shown, but not
described

Includes Volunteer
Experience &
Activities

True or False?

One of the highest paying jobs in finance is an
Analyst role in an investment bank.

          FALSE: If you break it down to an
          hourly rate you earn ~$17.00/hour
          ($70k ÷ 52 wks ÷ 80 hrs = $16.83/hour)

What are Functional Skills?

They are skills transferrable to different work settings:
• Teamwork
• Public speaking
• Written communication
• Event coordination
• Leadership
• Mediating
• Problem-solving

Demonstrating Skills & Competencies
• Competent in handling market data: Completed courses
  in Statistics and Survey Research.

• High work ethic: Worked 70 hours per week last summer;
  have worked at least 10 hours per week at Cornell while
  remaining active in two organizations and maintaining
  respectable grades.

• Enjoy speaking before groups: Provided campus tours
  and information sessions to prospective students and
  parents. Presented to department managers at Sears.
                    Keep in mind…
                    Back each one up with clear, specific examples and facts.

Example: restaurant waiter

• Provided effective client service by assisting
  patrons with menu choices and fast delivery of
  product
• Assisted in the resolution of problems of
  dissatisfied clients ensuring a successful visit
• Handled multiple priorities including order taking
  and delivery, side work, and cashier duties

True or False?

It’s a NOT good idea to get an MBA right after your
undergraduate degree if you want to work in
banking.

           TRUE: Many of the banks are set
           up to hire only at the undergraduate (low
           experience, lower degree) or MBA
           (3-5 years experience, higher degree).
           They don’t have any positions in
           between.

Actions Verbs
•   Communication skills = presented, facilitated, wrote, observed,
    communicated, composed, documented, explained

•   Leadership skills = managed, led, supervised, motivated, delegated, evaluated,
    governed, empowered, coached, guided, instructed

•   Organizational skills = organized, coordinated, produced, arranged,
    catalogued, reorganized

•   Detail oriented = edited, audited, checked, compared, examined

•   Quantitative skills = analyzed, quantified, calculated, budgeted, appraised

•   Teamwork = Collaborated, involved worked with

True or False?

You need a GPA of 3.8 or better to get a job with
a big Wall Street firm

          FALSE: Most financial firms
          prefer a 3.0 or better. More
          competitive firms prefer a 3.4 or
          better.

Resume Dos

• Use a template, make it visually appealing
• 1 page, PDF format
• Know when to use past/current tenses
• Be truthful, without underselling your skills and
  abilities
• Use effective language: action verbs and succinct,
  descriptive phrases
• Quantify your accomplishments and show results

Resume Don’ts

• Use “my,” “I,” or other personal pronouns
• Exaggerate your experiences
• List descriptive qualities: “hard-working” or
  “motivated” (instead show evidence)
• List experiences unrelated to the job you’re
  applying for
• Put an experience that you don’t remember
  details of

A Little Inspiration

 “Winners are not people who never
  fail, but people who never quit.”

 “The expert in anything was once a
             beginner.”

WHAT ARE YOUR
QUESTIONS?