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Being a part of the finance industry requires anything from providing services like analyzing financial reports, monitoring and auditing accounts and managing company accounts, to preparing tax reports and predicting economic forecasts. Our certified resume writers studied live job postings to craft tailored examples that illustrate how to execute the tips in this resume-writing guide. Use it alongside our finance-friendly free resume templates and examples to help you find your next job.
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Resumes are unique summaries meant to link the skills and experience of a candidate to the requirements of an open job. Successful job seekers need to keep both of these purposes in mind to impress potential employers.
In order to show you’re the best match for a job, you should organize your resume in the format that best frames your career profile, making your candidacy shine regardless of your current career level.There are three resume formats you can consider: the chronological, combination and functional. Each emphasizes and de-emphasizes features (i.e., skills, experience and qualification) of your resume differently to suit your career stage.
We have some examples to further demonstrate how each resume format is used to benefit candidates at different points in their career.
A chronological resume is best for finance professionals with established careers (i.e., over 10 years of experience). Work history is the focal point of this resume, documenting your career advancement, accomplishments and success stories.
Your skills and qualifications get less attention in this resume, given your rich and extensive career history — however, the skills section still plays a crucial role.
Finance professionals could utilize the chronological resume for the following roles and career scenarios:
In a combination resume, skills and career background are given equal weight. This resume is best for finance professionals with a consistent career record lasting less than 10 years.
Professionals adopt this resume while switching jobs, applying for promotion or searching for their first role after graduating with career-relevant internships and education.
Some finance jobs that could use combination resumes are listed below:
Functional resumes are ideal for inexperienced finance professionals starting their careers. Skills and qualifications are the focal points in functional resumes, thus masking limited career exposure.
Entry-level roles, part-time positions, contract roles and recent graduates with no formal experience can use functional resumes to emphasize their strong educational background and skill set.
These functional finance resume examples demonstrate how to market your education and financial skills:
Salary is one of the most crucial factors in choosing your next job. We studied the national average take home pay for these common finance jobs to help you figure out how aggressively to negotiate once you get a job offer.
The pay of finance professionals tends to fluctuate depending on their role, experience level, location, domain expertise and skill set. This data from Payscale shows the role and experience-based salary variation among finance professionals.
Skills are an integral part of any resume, and just including six to eight in their designated section is not enough. You should weave more skills into the following sections:
It’s also crucial to vary the skill type you include throughout your resume. Ideally, you want to show a full range of soft, hard and technical skills. While these skills will vary from role to role and from one professional to another, there are some soft, hard and technical skills that are popular among different finance professionals.
Soft skills represent the characteristics and interpersonal traits necessary to work with and interact with clients, fellow employees, stakeholders and others in a work environment. Finance professionals require the following soft skills:
You gain hard skills through education or hands-on training. They relate to the actual performance of a job-specific task. A few essential hard skills in the finance industry are:
Technical skills represent your efficiency in using digital tools and resources. Finance professionals come across the following technical skills:
Most finance disciplines demand a degree in their specialty, whether that’s finance, statistics or another related major. Additionally, certifications are a way to assert your qualification and enhance the worth of your candidacy. Hence, we have gathered the following certifications favoring roles across the finance industry:
Check out our Resume Builder to accelerate your resume-building process. Our Resume Builder offers premium templates to personalize your finance resume to reflect your career situation. The tool also suggests prewritten content for specific job profiles and role-specific skills associated with various professions. You could create an interview-ready resume and cover letter for your next career move today.
This simple layout features a traditional font and the clever use of section borders to help each section of your resume stand out.
This distinctive two-column resume template identifies your name and professional experience in a bold color and clean presentation.
A clever design that breaks each of your professional accomplishments into distinct sections while following a format that will pass applicant tracking systems.
The elegant initials, simple header and strategic use of bullet points in this template help keep your professional accomplishments well-organized.
The bold use of a colorblocked heading paired with an elegant resume layout helps your name and contact information stand out.
This structured design combines a two-column approach with bullet points to highlight your key accomplishments and professional history.
A traditional template uses a crisp combination of dark text and thin borders to radiate professionalism. Your name sits prominently above your professional history.
This template’s design features plenty of whitespace neatly divided by gray bars to make the information on your resume easy to read for employers.
This two-column resume conveys a very clear breakdown of its sections that allows a hiring manager to quickly scan your resume.
The subtle color accents in this template add visual pizzazz in a classy way, a great option for most traditional industries.
This resume’s modern design and bold use of color make it pop. Its uniqueness is well-suited to those seeking jobs in creative industries.
Everything about this template is assertive from the boxy layout to its all-caps heading text that gives the impression that you’re all about business.
The understated contact information at the top puts attention front and center on your professional summary, skills, work experience and education sections.
The subtle use of red alongside black gives this template a bold feel while still featuring plenty of white space to make it easy to read.
Finance professionals constantly interact with clients regardless of their role, experience level and domain expertise. Refining soft skills become necessary to execute any position you hold successfully. Individuals working in finance should master the following soft skills:
Finance professionals need to stress their competence, skills and career experience, portraying their worth and utility for the recruiters. For example, an experienced account manager could frame their summary statement like this sample:
“Dependable account manager with over six years of experience handling corporate accounts worth over $50 million. Expert in managing expenditure, allocating sales and forecasting investments for corporate clients. Skilled at managing multiple projects simultaneously and maintaining positive client relationships.”
The duties and responsibilities of finance professionals depend on the specific role, experience level, skill set and work setting. Here is a list of a few responsibilities of finance professionals to give you a general idea:
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