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Is this enough to get a top IB internship?

F

fredstan50141

New member
Aug
13
0
acttr
I have uploaded my CV. Is this enough to apply successfully for a top IB internship?? I am going into my second year of uni now.
 
- minimise your education section to University & A-Levels
- make your work experience stand out more with clear headings/sections
- use bullet points rather than sentences to make information easily accessible
 
1. You have a good enough background, yes. With this profile you might be able to land interviews from any of the banks if you make sure you get other parts of your applications right (competency questions + online tests + cover letters).

2. I'd encourage you to start working on your summer applications right now (they start earlier than SWs and therefore you gotta be on the ball earlier if you want to have good chances).

Putting the above aside, is this supposed to be a CV? If so, format is complete garbage (sry but its true). You need to start a whole another one. Use this: http://www.mergersandinquisitions.com/investment-banking-resume-university-student/.
Once you are done with it I'm happy to take another look at the new version.
 
acttr

acttr
acttr
Hi. Thank you very much for the feedback. I am going to start applying as soon as I have sorted out my CV.
Yes that was meant to be a CV but it has not been checked properly by my university tutor. I used the website @lofaszjoska put up and have tried again.
Thanks for the honesty, I would much rather be told that it is terrible than send it off thinking it was fine. How is this?
 
fredstan5014 said:
acttr

acttr
acttr
Hi. Thank you very much for the feedback. I am going to start applying as soon as I have sorted out my CV.
Yes that was meant to be a CV but it has not been checked properly by my university tutor. I used the website @lofaszjoska put up and have tried again.
Thanks for the honesty, I would much rather be told that it is terrible than send it off thinking it was fine. How is this?
Click to expand...

Still needs a lot of work. This is still exactly the kind of resume which goes into the bin (not because of your background, but because how you are selling yourself, again sry if im harsh).

Content, aka bulletpoints are still VERY poor quality. Format is OK, but still poor because of small details:

- make the format consistent (missed writing the locations out on the right, theres double space between two paras, etc. again it's just not consistent)
- Play with the bulletpoints/margins/etc to fit one page only.
- LaTeX not Latex (attention to detail)
- remove "I have a portfolio on Wall Street Survivor". Keep it to your interviews only.
- the content is still very weak at the last section (visited old folks home for a year, I ride horses and play the drums, I read a lot of books). The main point with the Interests row is to show that you are not a boring person: be creative. Instead of writing I read a lot of books, write Reading adventure books for instance. Also instead of the other two you should just simply write Drumming (play in a band anyway?), Horse riding - you get the idea.

Here's what I think you should do: for the time being concentrate on other parts of your application. Once you are back at uni, find the guys on the finance club to help you with your resume (they'll gear you up, the Warwick fin society is great).

Also as something general, you have to keep MUCH more attention on detail. If someone sees your resume and see just one mistake, how will they trust you with real work when some serious money is at stake? Your CV needs to be absolutely flawless in order to come across as somebody who can be absolutely trusted with work.
 
Thanks again. I have another version with the addresses and my school name etc. but i left them off for this forum.
Anyway I am going to keep looking at it and might post another updated version later.
 
Going to add, I don't think your CV is specific enough - it's very generic some of the stuff you've said, especially about JPM. "Gained an idea of what went on in each field" is a perfect example of this. Say something like "Learned how bankers value M&A transactions through Comparable Comps" etc. What actually happened in that IBM meeting? What is going on in the stock markets? What terminology did you learn? I find this all a bit frustrating because it's like you're trying to say something out of nothing. I'd also put the MD mentor separate under a different heading. It's just too generic to be overly impressive. Much better to have a few specifics.

For example:
- Shadowed M&A Analyst in IBD for two days learning about the life cycle of a sell-side deal
- Participated and observed in meetings relating to various transactions learning about xyz
- During the weekly UK IBM meeting learned the processes relating to xyz
- Understood the various valuation methodologies including x and how these differ for LBOs, Capital Markets and M&A
- Developed basic financial modelling capabilities by observing Analysts and understanding of financial statements

Try and work out what you can fill that with ^
 
The other thing to add is things like "teamwork needed" suffer the same issue. Write about why team work was needed? Give an example of it? "Worked in a team of 10 to successfully direct 10 lorries a day to the correct location" etc. sounds much better.
 
I have a lot more to do to this but I am still grateful for all the advice. This is how it stands right now. I am planning to change the Camgrain section when I next get a chance to edit.
Thanks all,
 
You should still work on your bulletpoints, they don't sell (especially the last three).

As @Mr. Exclusive pointed out, you should not simply write "I was XYZ" - you should think of these bulletpoints as the sentences of your personal statement. Make them punchy. Each bulletpoints must tell something about what skills/"material" you learnt with that certain experience.

- There's a double space before "The effect of the strengthening".
- I'd write "Work Experience" instead of "Shadowed an analyst" -> you didn't just shadow an analyst, you had some quite other stuff going on
- remove "." points at the end of sentences
- write only July 2013 - September 2013 (exact day dates don't matter)
- put the location next to your school, and also put "Malawi" next to that para (and just write "Charity Expedition", so you can keep things constant)
- GCSE A Grade spanish -> does that mean basic/elementary? If so simply write Basic French/Spanish. -> or if you are really not at even a beginner level, you could just list them as interests, simply French, Spanish, that's all right too
- Technical skills -> I'd write this instead of yours: Basic LaTeX/SAGE competency

Otherwise, well done, massive improvement.
 
- include the city where you have been in Malawi (just for consistency)
- not sure if you should use capitals at "a Corporate Finance analyst"?
- write 'Elementary' French/Spanish and then 'Basic' LaTeX/SAGE competencies -> looks better this way
- each bulletpoint is a concise selling point; and only one sentence (there are parts where you have used two)
- other may disagree with this but I wouldn't explicitly say in a resume that you have "improved communication skills/organization/any other interpersonal skills". I think the right way to do it is through giving objective facts of the experience - anyone looking at your resume will be surely able to tell what kind of skills you might have gained by that exp.
- Just two examples: "Met with people from M&A, Leveraged Finance, Risk, Debt and Corporate Finance" / "Unloading, packing and wrapping goods" -> these tell me nothing exact. See where im going wth this?
- keep working on the content and give your experiences more thought, your almost there.
 
lofaszjoska said:
- include the city where you have been in Malawi (just for consistency)
- not sure if you should use capitals at "a Corporate Finance analyst"?
- write 'Elementary' French/Spanish and then 'Basic' LaTeX/SAGE competencies -> looks better this way
- each bulletpoint is a concise selling point; and only one sentence (there are parts where you have used two)
- other may disagree with this but I wouldn't explicitly say in a resume that you have "improved communication skills/organization/any other interpersonal skills". I think the right way to do it is through giving objective facts of the experience - anyone looking at your resume will be surely able to tell what kind of skills you might have gained by that exp.
- Just two examples: "Met with people from M&A, Leveraged Finance, Risk, Debt and Corporate Finance" / "Unloading, packing and wrapping goods" -> these tell me nothing exact. See where im going wth this?
- keep working on the content and give your experiences more thought, your almost there.
Click to expand...

Agree with this above ^. Although I'd leave the "Corporate Finance Analyst" capitalised as it's a job title.
 
acttr
Hi. Have been away but been working on the CV a bit. How should I put my A levels in? And I can't find a way to make the meeting a single sentence otherwise it becomes too general?
Thanks.
 
fredstan5014 said:
acttr
Hi. Have been away but been working on the CV a bit. How should I put my A levels in? And I can't find a way to make the meeting a single sentence otherwise it becomes too general?
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Let @Mr. Exclusive chime in on this one.

Don't make any of your bulletpoints below the two Education sections bold. Apart from this (and that your bulletpoints could still use more work to be punchy) and that you could add like two more interests (also edit "Drumming for X years" I'd say), basically you are ready with the CV - compare the current one to the original you uploaded a few days ago, worth a look.
 
fredstan5014 said:
Ok I think I have my final version. Any final thoughts? :)
acttr
Click to expand...

Yeah, this is a much better version than what you've had previously.

Few points:
- I still think "Analyst" should be capitalised after Corporate Finance

For me, while it is a huge improvement, I still feel like it could go up another level.

For example, it'd be nice under Warwick University, rather than listing the same thing twice "Predicted Grade" and then "First Year Grade" probably best to put "Predicted Grade 2.1" and then on the second bullet point list the modules in a "Module 1; Module 2; Module 3;" format for that line in your first year.

Did you get any awards at your sixth form? I'd be tempted to put your Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Award under that so it stands out more - maybe even describe what you did to get it so that it follows:

A-Levels
A* in Further Mathematics & Mathematics, A in Chemistry
Bronze Award, Duke of Edinburgh - completed xyz.

Then at the bottom, merge interest/activities - even a say a bit more about them?

What did you learn from going through pitch books? Even putting something like "Shadowed (in past tense remember) Corporate Finance Analyst for 2 days learning about the pitch book process" < I think even that sounds better than just "going through pitch books".

What financial modelling capabilities? "Developed (past tense again remember) basic financial modelling capabilities including how different financial statements interact"

"Attended UK sector meeting learning about the economic impacts of a strengthening euro on financial markets" < again, sounds better to me.

I think the Store Operative thing sounds extremely vague and doesn't tell me anything much. "Part of team of five responsible for efficient running of site completing xyz"
"Led incoming lorries and organised the loading/unloading of them to their correct locations"

How many funds were raised? Again past tense so "Raised $20,000 to aid orphanages helping to fund local building project"

Through your bricklaying etc. did you help build any particular part of the house - let's hear it.

Wrote up the weekly prefect meetings etc. (again past tense) how many house staff were they distributed to?

What was the result of your mentoring?

How many students were you helping to supervise during the homework sessions? These numbers make a different and look impressive.

Sorry for the almost over-load there but I think it's in pretty good shape now - just my two cents.
 
fredstan5014 said:
Ok @Mr. Exclusive I will finish it off tomorrow. I hope i have enough to attract attention from banks like goldman sachs and deutsche bank and get me through to interview
Click to expand...

To be honest with you, it's very competitive so it will be a struggle regardless. The best approach is to apply to many banks and see which you can get. Of course, tailor your application to whatever division/bank you apply and best of luck!
 
Mr. Exclusive said:
To be honest with you, it's very competitive so it will be a struggle regardless. The best approach is to apply to many banks and see which you can get. Of course, tailor your application to whatever division/bank you apply and best of luck!
Click to expand...
I'm pretty sure struggle is a strong word here. He'll do just fine getting interviews (now that he has this killer CV we made haha) if he make sure he gets other parts of his apps in a good standing as well.
 
acttr
Hi. For this version, I hope you don't mind
@Mr. Exclusive I used some of your changes word for word as they sounded a lot better than mine.
To make this fit in, I had to change the bullet point font to 11. Should I change the rest (bold/Italic) as well or leave them on 12?
For my name/address etc. at top, my name is font 24, and address/email/phone no. font 12. Is it ok to leave these as they are?
Thanks guys.
 
It's absolutely OK.
- Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Award – completed 2012 (remove completed 2012)

- UKMT Intermediate Mathematical Challenge Gold Award(2009, 2011) and Senior Mathematical Challenge
Gold Award(2012) (look out for the spaces next to 'Award')

Well done, I like it a lot.
 
fredstan5014 said:
Right then.Thanks @lofaszjoska for the final tweaks. Here is my complete CV.
(missed out numbers in the homework sessions bit of the previous version)
Click to expand...

This is much better and I am happy with it. It does seem a bit empty, is there nothing else you can put on? But other than that, seems relatively fine for what you've got.
 
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