Financial Analyst Resume Guide & Tips

A strong resume is one of the most important parts of your financial analytics job application material. Not only will a solid resume provide an overview of your skills, education, and achievements, but it also can help you stand apart from other candidates by highlighting your unique credentials. Because positions in finance are competitive, an up-to-date, visually accessible resume with active verbs and brief work descriptions can help you secure a job other candidates with similar skills may be overlooked for. Read on to learn more about what constitutes a strong resume for Financial Analysts and what you should make sure to include in yours.

What to Put on a Financial Analyst Resume

Creating a strong resume in financial analytics takes time but is well worth the effort. Deciding what to include in a resume can be challenging, especially for those who have very little work experience in the field of finance or for those who have an extensive work history that spans years. While there is no one “correct” way to create a resume, some approaches are better than others to attract the attention of employers. Choosing what information to put into a financial analytics resume, where to place it, and how to briefly describe it can also be challenging. 

Some resume items are universal and should be included regardless of the field of work you’re applying in or the industry. The following are the core components of a resume:

• Contact information
• Education
• Work experience
• Skills
• Achievements

In addition, several elements are particular to financial analytics that should also be added to resumes in this field. The following paragraphs explore some of the items you may want to add to your resume when applying for Financial Analyst positions:

Project Samples

Employers are interested in hiring Financial Analysts and search for candidates with a history of contributing to their prior organization. Listing these contributions and briefly describing them is important in a financial analytics resume. Use this space to highlight specific examples from projects where you’ve helped an organization in some tangible way. You may wish to speak about a project in which you cut costs for your company, found solutions to financial problems, increased revenue, or streamlined processes to help with organizational efficiency. 

Keywords

If you’re applying for a Financial Analyst job online, your resume will most likely be run through an applicant tracking system. These systems search all resumes submitted for a job opening and sort them for a Hiring Manager. To find the resumes most relevant to the job opening, some Recruiters use this system to scan for keywords. Because most resumes are only reviewed for a few seconds for their initial read, including keywords relevant to the job at hand is a must. 

However, you don’t simply want to insert words to gain a Hiring Manager’s attention; instead, it’s important to study the job description and use it as a guide to know what skills, qualifications, technologies, or requirements are listed. You can then mirror the language used in the job description. For jobs that ask applicants to have spreadsheet skills, it’s likely not enough to simply add “Microsoft Office 365” to your resume. Instead, find keywords applicable to the Financial Analyst role you’re applying for and speak about your Excel skills using words like “analysis” or more specific verbiage.

While keywords can vary widely for finance jobs, the following are some common words that appear in resumes for Financial Analysts:

• Financial modeling/analysis/reporting
• Reports
• Forecasting
• Income statement
• Balance sheet
• Cost/cost management
• Economics
• Gross margin
• Research
• Financial planning and analysis (FP&A)
• Generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP)
• Profit and loss (P&L)
• Revenue
• Recommendations
• Statistics

Your cover letter will provide the space to expand on any of these keywords in more detail.

Career Objective

If you choose to include a career objective in your financial analytics resume, it should be clear and to the point. Typically, objective statements are one sentence long and are located at the top of the resume, where they’re easy to spot. Vague statements that are interchangeable to all positions in all fields, such as “Interested in a position where I can apply my skills,” may cause your resume to be passed over immediately by Recruiters. Strong career objective statements specifically (and briefly) describe that you’re a finance professional and clarify the type of position you’re applying for. 

You may want to include keywords or active verbs in this statement if they are appropriate. Often, objective statements for Financial Analysts refer to analysis or budgeting skills, if applicable, or to skills like creating financial statements or cutting costs. Regardless of the language you use, make sure to succinctly describe your qualifications in finance. Strong objective statements in finance detail what you can do for an organization rather than what they can do for you. Showing what you can offer that other applicants cannot is a great way to show employers that you can help their company improve. 

Descriptive Bullet Points

Bullet points are a good way to describe your past experiences in a resume. Not only do they provide a visually engaging, clean way to list relevant skills and training, but they also can use active verbs and keywords to do so. Instead of using bullets to simply list your skills, use this space to demonstrate what you accomplished in the past to indicate what you can offer in the future. In particular, it’s good to showcase any experiences or training you’ve had in which your analysis led to results, such as reducing costs or increasing budgets. The bullets you include could also draw from the language in the job description so that you’re sure to list your accomplishments that are most appealing to the employer. One useful formula to think of when crafting bullet points is to begin with an action verb, then add the process/technology/skill you used, and end with the outcome of this process.

Education and Certifications

Certifications play an important role in many Financial Analyst careers. Often, employers seek candidates who have achieved a certain level of education, certification or licensing, which is why it’s important to clearly describe any of these credentials you have or may be working toward. Before listing your educational background on your resume, it’s essential to consult the job listing and the company’s specific requirements. If, for example, they are looking for applicants with a CFA, you may want to list your name and “CFA” directly at the top of the page. 

If you’re new to financial analytics and seeking an entry-level position, you may wish to include a section titled “Education” at the top of your resume, especially if you graduated from a well-respected institution. Some jobs, such as those on Wall Street, search for employees who graduated from top-tier universities. If you’ve been working in financial analytics for some time, you may instead choose to move this section to the end of your resume. Regardless of where the “Education” section is placed, it’s a good idea to lead with your most valuable educational experience rather than the most recent. This may be the degree itself, the projects you completed as part of your studies, or the relevant classes you took and the skills you learned from them. 

5 Financial Analyst Resume Tips

It’s not enough to know what to include in a financial analytics resume; it’s also important to know how to format this information and phrase the content. The following five tips can help your resume make it to the top of the pile when applying for jobs as a Financial Analyst:

Use active resume verbs.

You’ve likely heard it’s important to use active verbs when writing a resume. However, there’s more to it than just including strong verbs; you also will need to carefully select those that specifically describe your skills and training rather than relying on the most common verbs, such as “led” or “managed.” The more dynamic the verbs you choose, the more likely your resume will stand out from others. 

Instead of saying you wrote a report, for example, you may select a more charged verb, such as “conceptualized,” “adapted,” “or “created.” If you’d like to describe the research you did at a former job, you may select verbs like “analyzed,” “gathered,” or “surveyed.” If your resume details your prior experience managing a group or project, you can talk about it using words like “assigned,” “authorized,” “directed,” or “headed.” Listing your background working with figures and numbers can be made more interesting with verbs like “estimated,” “adjusted,” or “measured.” Even the way you describe bringing an idea to life can be expressed with language such as “formulated,” “initiated,” “revitalized,” or “modeled.”

Don’t be repetitive.

Crafting a strong resume requires the art of brevity. You have one, perhaps two pages, to condense a lifetime of professional and educational achievements. That’s why every word must count. When deciding on which active verbs you’re going to use to showcase your training and skills, don’t repeat any. If two descriptions you’re including of job duties feel similar, you may instead ask yourself if both are needed. Odds are one will suffice. No single verb on a resume bullet should be repeated elsewhere to describe other tasks. If you’re struggling to find dynamic verbs, you can always Google “active resume verbs” and “financial analytics” or “finance” to come up with a comprehensive list. 

Create different versions of your resume for different jobs.

Creating a resume takes time, and the temptation once you’ve made one might be to use it when applying for each job. While some of the core elements included in your resume likely will remain the same, such as your education and basic work experience, some will need to change based on the position to which you’re applying. It’s a good idea to create a core resume for the job you most want to be hired for and use this as a template for all other resumes. In financial analytics, your specific responsibilities will vary depending on your industry of employment, the sort of analytics you’ll be doing, and the employer’s specifications. 

Financial Analysts may work in manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, financial services, distribution, or brokerage and insurance firms. This speaks to the importance of selecting a specific job you’re interested in applying for before you start drafting a resume. That allows you to tailor the content and language to that specific role and decide which of your past experiences most apply to that position. Once you complete this resume, you can edit it for other positions. This may require moving certain professional experiences closer to the top, changing keywords, or even adding or omitting certain jobs you’ve held that may or may not be relevant. 

Proofread your resume.

Because a resume is one of the most important documents you’ll write in your professional career, it’s important to ensure it’s as strong as possible. Proofreading your work is essential. Once you’ve drafted a solid resume, it’s a good idea to set it aside for a spell. This gives you some space from what you just wrote, so when you revisit it to edit, you can come at it with a new perspective. Since it’s much easier for most people to spot errors on printed documents than on a computer, you’ll likely want to have a hard copy of your resume to edit. Once you have it in hand, read it aloud to yourself several times with a pen. Each read-through may focus on one specific aspect, such as making sure none of the verbs are repeated or that work experiences that happened in the past are described with past tense verbs. Another reading may target formatting and specifically look for how you use white space. Making sure all bullets are consistently formatted, all headings or subheadings match in size and font, and that the margins or indentation remain consistent throughout is essential to ensure your resume will be given careful consideration.

Get feedback.

When reviewing your own resume, it may be difficult to spot any errors. It’s common for the person who wrote a document to be attached to the content and overlook errors they may have made. Even if you have a strong background in writing, it’s always a good idea to have others look at your resume before submitting it. You may want to have several people read your resume and provide feedback. Asking a former teacher or Financial Analyst to look at the content is important because they may be able to provide feedback that can help you find a better language for describing core financial skills. 

Once you are certain the content you include is as realized as it can be, you may want to seek additional feedback. At this point, asking a strong writer to edit your resume is a good idea. Ideally, this person can offer feedback on grammar and word choice. The more feedback you can get on your resume, the clearer and more grammatically sound it likely will be.

One-on-one mentoring and professional support is available in Noble Desktop’s FinTech Bootcamp for those who want additional help on their resume.

Learn the Skills to Become a Financial Analyst at Noble Desktop

Noble Desktop, an educational provider located in New York City, offers a range of classes devoted to financial modeling and analysis. Financial Modeling Bootcamp is a hands-on, 18-hour course that teaches students fundamental financial concepts, such as corporate valuation, accounting, and finance. Participants in this small class create their own discounted cash flow using Microsoft Excel. Over three days, expert instructors also help students develop a comprehensive financial model for an actual company. As a prerequisite to this bootcamp, students should have intermediate Excel proficiency.

Noble also has a Financial Analyst Training Program that provides expert instruction on timely corporate and financial concepts, such as making a full valuation model. Those enrolled in this intensive program receive instruction on fundamental Excel skills, such as using shortcuts and PivotTables. Advanced Excel techniques are also covered in this 30-hour program, like Goal Seek and cash flow projection tools. All learners also receive instruction on creating a three-statement financial model for a public restaurant company.

In addition to the Financial Modeling Bootcamp and Financial Analyst Training Program, Noble Desktop also has in-person and live online financial modeling training courses. The

Excel Bootcamp offers 18 hours of instruction on core business Excel skills like working with VLOOKUP, INDEX, MATCH, and What-If Analysis for Goal Seek. FinTech courses are also available, like Algorithmic Trading with Python, Python for Data Science Bootcamp, and FinTech Bootcamp. This course provides students with hands-on training from expert instructors in FinTech skills like working with Python and SQL for data analysis, creating machine learning models, and working with different data types like integers, floats, and strings. All students have the option of a free course retake for up to one year, as well as one-on-one mentoring.