7 Resume Tips for Financial Analysts - Creating A Resume For Your Job Search

As a financial analyst, you need to know how to write and present your resume in order to land your dream job. Here are 7 tips for writing a resume for a financial analyst that will get you noticed by potential employers.

1- Know your strengths.

2- Create an objective statement.

3- Write your skills and experiences in action statements.

4- Use action verbs when describing your experience.

5- Describe what you did at each of your jobs, not how you did it.

6- Focus on teamwork and collaboration rather than individual accomplishment or leadership skills.

7- Remember that resumes are often read out of order so make sure to write things in the right order.

 

How To Create An Objective Statement

• When you are creating an objective statement, make sure to avoid using the typical cliche that says you are looking for a challenging position. Instead, focus on specific duties and responsibilities of the position.
   
• A few examples include "seeking a job in order to build my career," "seeking a job in order to demonstrate my leadership skills," or "seeking a challenging position where I can further develop my analytical skills."
   
• Have a clear goal in mind before you start writing your resume. What do you want this resume to accomplish? If there is something specific that you want them to remember, like accomplishments or skills, mention it at the top of your resume or as the first sentence.
   
• Avoid unnecessary repetition by writing each skill and experience in action statements. Instead of saying that you were responsible for managing budgets, write "Managed budgets" instead.
   
• Focus on teamwork and collaboration rather than individual accomplishment or leadership skills when describing your work history. Your work history should be written with an emphasis on how your team helped achieve success and what those successes mean for other members of the team.
   
• Remember that resumes are often read out of order so make sure to write things in the right order.

 

Tips For Writing Skills And Experience In Action Statements

Focus on the "in action" statement and use your resume to demonstrate what you got done. For example, "Led a team of four analysts in achieving company-wide savings by reducing procurement costs."

Use action verbs to describe your experience. For example, "Initiated cost-saving projects," instead of "evaluated opportunities."

1) Avoid using passive voice in action verbs. It's more active than saying "managed" rather than "led".

2) Avoid describing your accomplishments as "I achieved" or "My company accomplished" instead of using a more active verb like "Initiated", "Conceived", or "Operated"

3) Avoid using the word did when writing your experience; instead, use action verbs like initiated, conceived, and operated.

 

Tips For Describing Your Experience With Action Verbs

One of the easiest ways to craft a resume that is concise and interesting are action verbs. Write your experience using action verbs, rather than descriptive adjectives. Action verbs create more movement in the way you describe your experience, which will make it easier for recruiters to understand what you did without needing extra clarification.

Let’s say you were employed as an intern at a company for 6 months. You would write your experience like this: “My internship at Company X was highlighted by my work on the production of new product line, development of process improvements, and successful completion of research project.”

If you were working in call center management, use action verbs to describe the important things that you did when recruiting and training new employees. For example: “I recruited new talent from across the country and trained them on how to answer customer inquiries effectively with my team” or “I managed all aspects of our brand's social media accounts including scheduling, content creation, and strategy planning.”

 

Tips For Focus On Teamwork And Collaboration, Not Individual Accomplishment Or Leadership Skills

Especially in the job market, you want to emphasize team-oriented skills over individual accomplishments. Leadership and individual skills are important, but they’re not as valuable as teamwork and collaboration.

List your strengths on the top of your resume and use them to show what sets you apart from other candidates. Highlight how you've worked with teams and helped others achieve success.

Make sure to include your experience at the head of your resume. If you have a long list of experiences, start with your most recent and work backwards. This will help to make it easier for potential employers to find what they are looking for in order to get a sense of your skills and capabilities.