Having a strong banking resume can make all the difference when it comes to landing an interview, getting a promotion, or advancing your banking career. One of the best ways to strengthen a banking resume is to be sure that it accurately highlights your specific accomplishments, and focuses on skills that are directly marketable. Emphasize recent job-related achievements while minimizing “filler” material, such as school activities and courses taken. Formatting is also important. Banking resumes should rarely exceed one page, and most of the time, they should be presented in clear, simple text that is easy to read and quickly skim.
As for any job resume, content is the most important aspect of a bank resume. Start strengthening your banking resume by taking a hard look at the experiences and achievements that you are showcasing. If you have work experience in banking already, that needs to be put at the top, and described in terms of skills applied and knowledge gained. The object is to make the resume reviewer immediately aware of your potential. Be direct in your position summaries, and keep the focus on you and your abilities.
If you do not have banking experience yet, it will be harder to strengthen your banking resume, but not impossible. Resume reviewers and hiring officers will be able to tell pretty quickly that you lack experience, so do not waste time trying to disguise that fact with extraneous information on your resume. The best thing to do is to pare the resume down to a few essential activities and key achievements, then use the space to describe how those discreet experiences make you into a promising candidate with the drive and ability to learn.
It is also important to tailor the descriptions you provide in your resume to the specific job for which you are applying. Often times, especially when you are first starting out, your job hunting might be broad. Do not be afraid to have a couple of different versions of your resume. Investment banking resumes usually highlight different skills than bank teller resumes, for instance. Your experiences probably could be molded to either one, but rather than try to cover all of your bases in one document, create a bank teller resume that is separate from an investment banker resume, a commercial banker resume, and so on.
In most cases, job resumes are paired with transcripts and other application materials. Banking resumes are no different, which means that it you need not spend a lot of time in your resume detailing the classes you have taken or the grades you have received. The banking resume is the place to showcase particular awards, achievements, and unique skills that make you the right person to hire. Most hiring managers and career counselors advise job seekers to avoid making their resumes a list proving that they are qualified. It is usually better to shape your resume into a persuasive list of why you are unique.
Formatting is the final thing to consider as you look to strengthen your banking resume. Most of the time, resume writing is a one-page art. Space is necessarily limited with just one page to work with, but it is still important to use a standard font and maintain a professional layout. Flashy graphics or features, dense text, and wordy summaries all too often diminish the strength of an otherwise impressive resume.