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Investment Banking Resume Keywords

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investment banking resume keywordsIn the previous post, I highlighted my favorite action verbs for resumes that drastically improve the tone, personality and likeability of you as a candidate.

Let’s see how we can further customize it for the investment banking job.

Who Read Your Resume — Bankers or HR?

We have to understand who are going to read your investment banking resume, because they are the decision makers for the first round.

If you are applying to the standard investment banking analyst / associate program, you are screened and interviewed by investment bankers.

If you are hired outside of the program (e.g. a recent graduate, or a lateral hire from competitors or other firms), you will be screened first by HR.

For now, let’s assume that you are aiming for the investment banking analyst / associate program.

In a typical investment bank, a handful of analysts/associates are selected every year to take part in the recruiting program. Their task is to screen the thousands of incoming resumes and carry out the first interviews, either on-campus or at the office.

In short, the decision makers are just like you, only a few years older!

Tactics: Find the Common Ground

You have to find a common ground between you and these decision makers, because this is a subtle yet very effective way for them to like you and pick you for the interview.

An effective way to build this common ground is to shower your investment banking resume with relevant keywords, i.e. words that are familiar to these banking analysts / associates. The best choices would be words that are related to their everyday job: analysis & research, finance & business, and projects & deals.

Investment Banking Resume Keywords

Related to Analysis and Research:

  • Analysis
  • Sensitivity analysis
  • Research
  • Study
  • Report
  • Financial modeling
  • Financial models
  • Excel sheets

Related to Finance and Business:

  • Profitability
  • Productivity
  • Efficiency
  • Effective
  • Industry
  • Success
  • Strategy
  • Strategic direction
  • Cost-cutting
  • Industry research
  • Competitor landscape
  • Company profile
  • Pros and cons
  • Brand building

Related to Deals and Projects:

  • Presentation
  • Project
  • Transactions
  • Comparisons

How Should I Use These Keywords?

Match an action-oriented verb with these investment banking resume keywords to describe your experience. Here is an example:

Let’s say you interned at a consumer product industry during the summer. One of the job descriptions could be:

Analyzed the competitive landscape of the food and beverage industry and assessed the pros and cons of the Company’s current strategies.”

You can enhance the sentence with our 5 Golden Rules: insert numbers and details to sharpen the descriptions.

Analyzed in detail 5 competitors in the premium cookie industry and assessed how the pros and cons affect the strategic direction of the Company.”

Tangible descriptions carry more weight. Give it a try!

Next Step… The Interviews