So I have been searching for a job for 3 months now with only 2 interviews and no offers as of yet. I decided to go ahead and get my resume professionally re-written.
I have 9 Finra licenses and am a level III candidate which I previously had at the very top of my resume. The resume writer put it at the and of the resume. I can understand why, with 10 years + of experience my education was moved to the 2nd page but I am not too sure about the licenses and CFA status. My recruiter friend told me it should be at the top. I questioned the resume writer about this and he said I should not listen to 1 recruiter who may not be aware of resume best practises and that best practises states they should both be near the end.
I would appreciate any comments regarding this. Where does everyone else have this information listed? Has anyone had a prof write their resume and put it at the top?
One other reason why I question this guy is that he initially put that I was taking level III with an expected completion date of June which is a big no no so it makes me wonder how aware he is of the CFA and the importance of it.
I have level 3 candidate near the bottom… if thats the most impressive thing about yourself, to the point where you need to showcase it at the top of your resume, it probably means that there isn’t much that is impressive about you. I note it in my cover letter too, “Have done x, y, & z all while continuing my education as a level 3 candidate in the CFA program.” I also send a sample of my work. Im not activiely seeking new employment though, but I did send out 3 resumes like this and got 2 interviews. What type of jobs are you applying for?
Part of the reason I had it at the top is that I am trying to make a career change. I have 10 years of experience with the last 8 being in ops. The last 6 years I was managing 40+ as an ops manager but I hate operations and am trying to get into an analyst position or into consulting/asset allocation. I am worried that when employers see all of the ops experience they will immediately toss me. I have only gotten 2 interviews so far and one was for an ops management position although I applied for an analyst position. Also employers and recruiters always seem to be very impressed with my 9 finra licenses, and I have found it is fairly uncommon to have so many. My recruiter fiend told me I should move them to the top because so many firms toss the app after reading the summary. I have spoken to recruiters who have told me my best bet is to get an ops job and then try for an internal move. They said it is really difficult to get an analyst position right now, and one of the companies that I did get an interview with told me they were getting 300 resumes per day for the analyst position. I may have to go that route but I am trying not too
IMHO, asset managers looking at your resume will not be impressed with your FINRA licenses. I think you can leave those at the end. The CFA should go at the end as well because until you are done it will not hold a ton of weight depending on whom you are sending your resume to. I would add that I think you are doing yourself a disservice to have only one resume. You should probably be crafting a resume for each position type you are pursuing. You can also make this clear to the recruiter. Taking it one step further, if you have any inside knowledge that the company you are sending your resume to may put a high value on FINRA licenses then put it at the top.
^ I totally disagree with this. Have the CFA at the end?? It should be right behind your name on the very top of the resume. Licenses are a different issue. If you are applying for a relatively junior -mid position, having the licenses at top may be a good idea. Sometimes, employers don’t want to have a fresh hire get licenses, because it delays their ramp up time to studying. If you have many years of experience, it’s more or less assumed you have them, so it’s not important to list them early on.
The fact that you’re a level 3 candidate isnt going to be over looked/missed, if a recruiter looks at your resume its going to be becaues they put “CFA” in their database as a search query. Leave it at the bottom, same goes for the licenses. I second whoever said that nobody is going to be impressed by them, they give you they right to do something, they don’t qualify you as exceptional. I’d also write job specific resumes as another poster suggested. I think that the taking an ops position then trying to make amove inside the company might be your best bet as well.
Thanks for the advice. I will leave it there. I actually just applied for 3 ops positions yesterday, so I am heading down that road. Perhaps a change of scenery and some new challenges will help a bit. I have been tweaking the resume for each job that I apply for.
I suggest put it near the material where you think any interviewer would most probably glance at before calling. Educational qualifications and certifications is one section that I think is the best place.
Hey systematic - how do you go about looking for a job, either seriously or casually, when currently holding a position? Do you submit resume to company or have connections, or know people working as talent hunter, etc? Thanks!
I used my friend’s resume as a template. I really liked the interface, it just seemed professional and bold w/o being over the top. 2) I also submit a little 2 page sample of my work. I took raw data (monthly returns), use Ken French or Robert Shiller’s data and do an analysis of it. Do a little write-up an include a chart and data table. I did one Price multiples (P/E, P/CF, & P/B) and analyzed which one makes a better value sort, measured how many standard errors they were from zero and also included a scatter plotl, just gave my 2 cents. 3) I looked on my local CFA society’s job board… you know they value the charter and if its a smaller company they most likely won’t have time & resources to reach out to thousands of job applicants, this puts you at a huge advantage. I also applied to one of the biggest mutual fund companies(directly on their website), but I didn’t like the position the recruiter wanted me for and they didn’t like me for the positions that I wanted. And I quote, “The kids that fill those jobs are 3 years out of Wharton and already have some serious experience at Lehman or Goldman…” 4) No typos 5) Suit up/be a stallion This has worked OK for me, last year I applied for 1 job and turned down the offer. This year I sent out 3 resumes and heard back on 2; one which I noted above and the other one said they couldn’t pay me what I’d command, not that I make that much. I’ll try more in Feb when I get a raise, I think moving up is going to be hard right now because all the unemployed ppl are willing to do the job you want for 25% less when Im trying to make 25% more
I have gone through 3 job interviews, not at any point did any of the interviewers mention anything about the CFA charter. They all have it and I also have it, only HR cared and probably used it mostly to screen other candidates. If you get to the interview stage with the actual team that you will work with. Most of them don’t care and pretty much know you are studying for it or have it. At that point they care more about your experience. Anywhere on your resume is fine as long as it’s easy enough for the HR employee to screen.
