Did you ever wonder what profession is always going to be wanted at the job market?

Do you know that there is a profession which can`t be replaced by machines and robots (in the near future, at least)?

Well, today we are going to cover how to apply to work in such a profession!

Today, we will cover the subject of how to write a perfect resume for the position of a financial analyst!

No matter how much technology has advanced, machines still don’t come close to people when it’s time to make decisions.

There are certain factors which influence decision making that can’t be quantified so that machines can understand them.

For example, experience and that gut feeling you have that tells you what is right and what isn’t are things that machines still don’t have.

That is why people who are able to analyze financial data and make good conclusions for businesses.

You might have studied finance or economics at college, you might have learned it by doing it somewhere, or you completed some courses on the subject, and you can’t wait to find a new opportunity for you to demonstrate how good you can be with numbers!

Whatever your case may be, we’ve prepared this guide to help you write a dashing resume and leave a great impression on the recruiter!

Remember, if you want to shorten the process of writing your resume, you can always use our resume builder.

Let’s dive into it!

Financial Analyst Resume Example

Right

Senior Financial Analyst Example

Right

GUIDE ON WRITING THE PERSONAL INFO SECTION

If you want your resume to be one of the best the recruiter will get, your resume needs to start strong. How will it do that?

Well, first and foremost, you need to write a good personal info section.

You need to write it so that it’s professional, informative and precise.

Nothing will leave a better first impression than a clean and well-organized personal info section.

No matter how obvious it might be to you that all you need to do here is to write actual information about yourself, keep in mind that people get some things very wrong.

These mistakes happen accidentally usually, and that is exactly why we want to prevent you from making them because they really can be easily avoided!

If you want to beef up your financial analyst resume, you can visit our free resume templates and use a pre-made template, follow the steps you are given and easily create an excellent resume!

Full Name

First, your personal info section starts off with your full name.

Here you should write exactly as it says and nothing more – your full name.

Don’t put your nickname from a video game, your Instagram username and don’t joke around with your name. Imagine you are meeting the interviewer face to face and you are introducing yourself.

You would say your full name, and that’s it, right?

Well, this is exactly like that.

Sofia Parker
Right
Sofianance Parker
Wrong

Profession

Keep it short and simple. A simple “financial analyst” will do for most people really, no need to complicate it further than that.

If you are specialized or want to specialize in a certain area of financial analysis, feel free to write that instead.

For example, you could be a marketing analyst, a business analyst, a research analyst, and so on. Narrowing down your area of expertise helps the recruiter form the right expectations about you.

Photo

All you need to do for this part is to find a nice picture of yourself and put it in the resume.

The picture can be a headshot, a classic resume picture.

This picture can also be a picture of you working (at a desk, with a laptop, at a meeting, etc.).

Avoid putting pictures where there are other people around you, and you are not the absolute main focus. Also, don’t put pictures from parties or silly pictures (for example, memes).

This is not the part where you are supposed to be funny.

Phone Number

Some recruiters prefer calls instead of e-mails when it comes to professional communication.

Having that in mind, make sure that the phone number you put in your resume is the one you are actually going to use (every day).

If you miss a call from a recruiter and don’t return it, the chances are that someone else will be contacted and take your place, so be responsible.

Address

Honestly speaking, this is one of the least important parts of the resume.

But, just because it’s less important than others, that doesn’t mean that it’s useless information for the interviewer. Matter of fact, for some positions, where you live is key.

The company might consider giving you a car if you live far or you might need to relocate if you live very far away.

The good news here is that this part of the section is a no-brainer – simply write your current living address and that’s it.

E-Mail Address

Just like with the part where you write your phone number, you need to make sure that the e-mail address you write in your resume is an address where you could be reached fast.

If you don’t check that e-mail every day, either write another one or start checking it!

Nothing like shooting yourself in the foot by not replying to an e-mail from a company regarding your application for a position in their team.

An important thing to mention is that you write your e-mail, which is professional and representative. If you don’t have one, well that’s really not a problem.

If anything, creating another e-mail address online is as easy as pie now. Avoid putting down e-mail addresses which can be interpreted the wrong way.

parker68sofia@gmail.com
Right
parker666sofia@gmail.com
Wrong

Social Media Profiles

Ah, social media, the invention of the 21st century! Your social media is your digital ID. To be honest, your profile tells even more things about you than your ID.

While on professional social media like LinkedIn, people can see everything you’ve been up to in your professional life, on private social media, people can see what you’re really like and what are your interests.

The importance of having a nice and detailed LinkedIn profile is very high.

Even if you don’t put your LinkedIn profile in the resume, if the recruiter knows what he or she is doing, they will easily find your profile online.

If you don’t have it, then that also says something about you (and it’s not good for the recruiter).

We always insist on putting your LinkedIn profile in your resume, while the other social media profiles are optional and entirely up to you based on comfortable you are sharing them (Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter…).

GUIDE ON WRITING THE SUMMARY SECTION

It’s always best to use this part of the resume as a brief overview of yourself, what you did, and why you’re good for this position.

Use the career summary section as your own elevator pitch about yourself.

State your previous responsibilities and achievements to help the recruiter form clear expectations about you and your work.

Let’s take a comparative look at the right and wrong example:

Summary

Highly educated and trained financial analyst with over 3 years of experience working with CFOs in different businesses on their budget preparation, spending management, ROI calculation. My advice on financial decision making helped increase profit by 20%, and I successfully created 2 new financial models for 2 clients.

Right
Summary

Highly educated and trained financial analyst, my advice on financial decision making helped this business grow and upscale its own operations. I’m currently looking for new opportunities.

Wrong

When we compare the Wrong (right) and Right (left) example, we see that the Wrong one is very generic. If you read that as a recruiter, would you be amazed? Exactly, neither would we.

The Right example is more likeable for the recruiter just because it’s much more precise!

GUIDE ON WRITING THE EXPERIENCE SECTION

Since you’re applying for a position which is very precise on its own, to prove that you can be precise when needed, you have the perfect opportunity in your resume in the experience section.

The more concrete you are here, the better. Everything you can quantify, try to do so.

Let’s take a look at two examples again:

Right
Wrong

For example, in the experience section, you could say that it was in your job description that you need to create new business models.

Instead of writing just that, give the recruiter more information about your accomplishments.

Write down how many new business models you’ve created.

Writing a great resume for a job opening you really care about can sometimes be a very long and painful process.

That is exactly why we’ve felt the need to create something which proves that writing your resume doesn’t have to be a bother.

GUIDE ON WRITING THE EDUCATION SECTION

In the education section, it’s enough that you write down your last degree (university or high school, if you didn’t attend university or you dropped out).

If you don’t put that you went to a university, nowadays that is not a deal-breaker since some companies stopped paying attention to that at all, but expect that a question about that choice might pop up during the interview.

Right
Wrong

Looking at the two examples mentioned above, we see that the Right one is much more detailed.

It not only shows information about your college education but your other relevant certificates and activities.

While the Wrong example simply states poorly-organized information, which is lacking any other interesting facts about you and your extracurricular activities.

Here are some tips on how education section can work for you.

GUIDE ON WRITING THE SKILLS SECTION

The skills section is the part of the resume that gives a more in-depth look at your capabilities.

The truth is, the recruiter can only test your skills if he or she invites you to the interview, but still this is not an excuse to lie in your resume by putting something as your skill even though you don’t know how to do it.

Seriously, don’t write down skills just for the sake of writing them down and making your resume look better.

Let’s take a comparative look at the right and wrong example of the skills section:

Skills

Financial analyst skills:

  • Microsoft Excel
  • Financial modeling
  • Budgeting
  • Financial reporting
  • Project management
  • Forecasting

Other skills:

  • Facilitating
  • Effective communication
  • Conducting effective group meetings
  • Leadership

Languages:

  • English – native
  • Spanish – proficient
  • Portuguese – basic

Right
Skills

  • Microsoft Excel
  • Financial reporting
  • Project management
  • Facilitating
  • English
  • Effective communication
  • Conducting effective group meetings
  • Leadership
  • Spanish
  • Portuguese

Wrong

They are split into 3 different groups to help the interviewer skim through this section easier, while still having the ability to check if you have the main skills necessary for the job.

You can easily see how the Wrong example is much more disorganized and harder to understand.

TIPS & TRICKS

Finally, after going through this guide and learning what you can do to create a great resume and what you should avoid doing, for the end, we’ve saved for you some tips and tricks you can use while creating your resume.

Let’s take a look at them!

  • Include these main financial analyst skills – Microsoft Excel and Access, financial modeling, financial reporting, accounting, economics, mathematics, budgeting, business performance analysis, trend analysis, project management, asset management, risk management, documentation
  • Include these main soft skills for a financial analyst – Detail-oriented, analytical, problem-solving, insightful, strategy developer, concept implementation
  • Don’t put everything in your resume – Always tailor your resume to the company and the job you are applying for. Once you see the job opening, do some research about the company and ask yourself what is relevant to put in your resume. For example, if you are applying for a financial analyst at a bank, it’s not really relevant which high school you went to and that you worked at a bakery at that time. If you don’t have experience yet, then just...
  • Include the activities you did that can be useful for your new job – If you don’t have experience yet, think of what you did in your life that is similar to the job you’re applying for. For example, you going to the national competition in mathematics in elementary school shows that at one point in time, you did really well in math. You can also put that you were the financer in a school project, or maybe you are always the one who is collecting money from friends when you’re traveling together or making a party.
  • Update your LinkedIn profile – Since you can’t put everything you did, every skill you have and every interest you have on one page of your resume, work on your LinkedIn profile so that it has every little detail. The chances are that the recruiter will search for you there. Who knows? Maybe you even get a job offer there because you were active!

CONCLUSION

In order to create a great resume for a financial analyst position, you don’t need to analyze a lot, simply follow this guide and you will do just fine! Remember, half the preparation for the interview is when you’ve sent a great resume!

To make sure you do that, visit our online resume builder templates and create one without noticing how much time has passed.

Hopefully, you’ve enjoyed reading this! We wish you the best of luck in finding a perfect opportunity for yourself!

Financial Analyst Resume: Sample & Complete Guide

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