Finance Resume Examples
Years of Experience
- Entry-level
- Mid-career
- 10+
Rebecca Rebel
(222) 333-4444 | [email protected] | 222 Second Street, New Haven, CT 22222
Profile
Finance Professional with 2+ years’ experience. Skilled communicator who puts complex math and finance topics in clear terms for managers, executives, and stakeholders. Consistently raise the bottom line by finding and making key cost reductions. Equally effective working independently or on a team. Master of Science (MS) in Financial Data.
Key Skills
- Advanced Mathematics
- Business Data Analysis
- Cost Reduction & Elimination
- Jirav Business Planning Software
- Microsoft Office Suite (Advanced Excel, Outlook)
- Microsoft Teams
- Oracle Essence
- Reporting & Documentation
- Team Collaboration
Professional Experience
Junior Finance Specialist, Tri-State Solutions, New Haven, CT | July 2020 to Present
- Analyze and update budgets in support of project managers
- Research market trends and conditions, and flag potential disruptions
- Pay vendors and reconcile client accounts
- Prepare finance-focused after-action reports for senior staff at each project conclusion
Highlight:
- Found and canceled unnecessary subscriptions, cutting monthly costs by $500 to date
Financial Intern, Hartford Industries, Hartford, CT | March 2020 to May 2020
- Provided various assistance to a financial analyst
- Messaged and followed up with clients on payments
- Reviewed income statements for discrepancies
Highlights:
- Researched financing options for a $2M real estate purchase
- Modeled impact of proposed local tax changes
Education & Credentials
Master of Science (MS) in Financial Data, Connecticut School of Finance, New Haven, CT | 2020
Bachelor of Science (BS) in Business Operations, Durham Business University, Durham, NC | 2018
Certified Excel Specialist, Microsoft Training University
Allison Rosenberg
(123) 456-7890 | [email protected] | 123 Santa Maria, San Francisco, CA 12345
Profile
Investment Banker with 7 years of experience, specializing in equity research, strategic investing, and financial modeling. Strong history of performing due diligence on investment opportunities to maximize ROI potential for high-net-worth clients.
Key Skills
- Client Relations
- Economics
- Financial Analysis
- Investment Banking
- Portfolio Management
Professional Experience
Investment Banker, Johnson & Goldman Inc., San Francisco, CA | October 2017 to Present
- Develop financial models and investment strategies for client portfolios valued at $300K-$1M and provide recommendations for valuations, M&A, and product offerings
- Conduct equity research, identify long-term investment opportunities in companies with best-in-class management teams and business models, and recommend investment opportunities in businesses committed to solving complex customer problems
- Conduct in-depth valuations of intangible assets for purchase price allocations by evaluating income, market indicators, and company financials
Investment Banker, Invest Today Inc., San Francisco, CA | May 2015 to October 2017
- Performed financial analysis and determined valuations for startup technology companies, which included providing recommendations to investors on business based on economic data, product use case, and organizational effectiveness
- Created in-depth financial models using data and long-term market indicators to inform investment decisions and establish long-term ROI potential
Education
Bachelor of Science (BS) – Economics, University of San Francisco, CA | 2015
Certifications
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) | 2015
- Series 7
- Series 63
- Series 65
Rachel Racket
(999) 999-9999 | [email protected] | 111 First Avenue, Baltimore, MD 22222
Profile
Chief Financial Officer (CFO) with 15+ years of advancement and experience. Draw on broad, deep finance knowledge to make viable budget decisions and set strategies for double-digit growth. Recent highlights include cutting department costs by 18% and financing a $40M equipment purchase.
Areas of Expertise
- Budget Analysis
- Corporate Change Leadership
- Cost Reduction & Elimination
- Cross-Functional Coordination
- Financial Forecasting
- Organizational Development
- Project & Program Management
- Regulatory Compliance
- Revenue & Profit Growth
- Stakeholder Relations Management
- Strategic Business Planning
Professional Experience
Chief Financial Officer, FFF Solutions, Baltimore, MD | December 2017 to Present
- Guide financial interactions between clients, vendors, and company’s 400+ staff members
- Focus on finding and pursuing cost-reduction opportunities to help raise the bottom line
- Oversee financing of large-scale projects
Highlights:
- Streamlined finance operations, reducing yearly expenses by 18% to date
- Coordinated financing of a complex $40M equipment purchase
Senior Accounting Manager, General Industries, Columbia, MD | December 2009 to November 2017
- Oversaw accounts receivable and inventory purchases, maintaining positive relationships with government clients
- Led, motivated, and developed 6 mid-level managers
- Used Sage50 Cloud software to analyze and suggest budget options to CFO
Accounting Officer, SSS Software, Owings Mills, MD | July 2006 to November 2009
- Analyzed and reported on project budgets on behalf of project managers
- Modeled company performance in anticipation of market changes
- Researched and proposed tax-saving strategies that reduced the firm’s corporate tax burden by 5%
Education & Credentials
Master of Science (MS) – Accounting, Business School of Greater Maryland, Columbia, MD
Bachelor of Science (BS) – Finance, Maryland University, Annapolis, MD
Certified Public Accountant, CPA Association
Tips for Writing a Better Finance Resume
Your resume has one purpose: to get you interviews for jobs you want. You can ensure your resume serves that purpose by focusing on your most relevant skills and displaying them as clearly as possible. The tips below will help you give your resume the focus and clarity it needs to move your job search forward.
Capture your relevant finance background
To write a great finance resume, you’ll need to first take the full measure of your relevant background. Follow these three steps:
- Step 1: For each job in your work history, brainstorm and write down your answer to the question: What are you most proud of about this experience? Don’t worry yet whether the details you’re jotting down are relevant or well-organized. The point here is just to generate plenty of positive information you can then curate.
- Step 2: Now with everything in front of you, go through and remove any details that don’t speak to your target job. Review each detail one by one, always answering the same key question: Does this overlap with the duties you’d like to have in your next finance job? When in doubt, move the detail to a separate document so it’s no longer part of your current writing process.
- Step 3: Organize and format your remaining details as the basis for your finance resume.
The order of these steps is important. Don’t start reviewing and removing details until you’ve brainstormed plenty about your positive work experiences. And don’t start organizing details until you’re done removing the irrelevant ones. Otherwise, you’ll probably waste time polishing up work details that you just delete later on. For a more detailed overview of this method, see the “How to write a successful resume” section of our Resume vs Curriculum Vitae (CV) article.
Avoid non-finance jargon
Any time you use a long word when a short word would do, that’s jargon. A classic example: People use the words “utilize” or “utilization” when they should use “use”.
Jargon can be especially tempting in the finance and accounting fields, where plenty of specialized terms (like “amortization”) don’t actually have a shorter option. These terms have a place on your resume, as long as they’re relevant to your goals. The problem is when you let words that should be short and simple become words (often ending in “-tion” or “-ment”) that are long and clunky.
Companies and other authorities use jargon all the time to soften the blow of bad news. For instance, General Motors once described a plant shutdown as a “volume-related production-schedule adjustment”. (You’ll find this and many other examples of corporate jargon in William Zinsser’s classic book “On Writing Well”.)
Take the opposite approach on your resume. Your goal with this document isn’t to conceal bad news, but rather to shed light on the good news of your candidacy for a job opening. Any time you find yourself using a long word, stop and ask: Is there a shorter synonym? This habit will help make your resume a clear, concise record of what you offer to employers.
Example
Good
Used strong math skills to find more effective amortization schedules and methods.
Bad
Utilized advanced mathematical abilities to identify more efficacious amortization schedules and methodologies.
Keep a clean, simple format
For accounting professionals, a conservative resume format is usually best. Try using a traditional serif font like Century or Cambria for your body text and a clean sans serif font like Calibri for your subject headings. Use color sparingly, if at all. Avoid fancier Microsoft Word format options like WordArt, Tables, and Text Boxes (which can muck up ATS anyway).
This conservative approach is well-suited to your field, but it’s also often the best way to display your career information. As Leonardo da Vinci once said, “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”
Common Key Skills for Finance Resumes
Companies looking to fill a position often use an applicant tracking system (ATS). This computer system scans each submitted resume for keywords relevant to the job at hand. When the ATS scans a resume with many relevant keywords, it’s more likely to flag the document for the hiring manager.
For this reason, you should add a keyword-rich “Skills” or “Expertise” section to your finance resume (as in the examples above). With this section, you can show the breadth of your skill set and boost the chance your application gets noticed. Below are common keywords for finance:
Key Skills & Proficiencies | |
---|---|
Accounting | Accounting Software |
Budgeting | Business Data Analysis |
Cash Flow Management | Complex Problem-Solving |
Cost Reduction & Elimination | Cross-Functional Coordination |
Data Management | Financial Planning |
Financial Reporting | Financial Statements |
Personnel Management | Portfolio Management |
Regulatory Compliance | Risk Management & Mitigation |
Strategic Planning | Task Prioritization |
Tax Preparation | Team Collaboration |
Common Action Verbs for Finance Resumes
One of the most common resume mistakes is using too few verbs. When you repeat the same generic verb (say, “Manage”) several times, it distracts the reader and fails to show the dynamic nature of your work. The following list will help you mix up the verbs on your finance resume:
Action Verbs | |
---|---|
Analyze | Budget |
Collaborate | Communicate |
Create | Eliminate |
Enhance | Generate |
Improve | Innovate |
Launch | Lead |
Lower | Negotiate |
Organize | Prepare |
Raise | Report |
Solve | Strategize |
How to Align Your Resume with the Job Description
Follow these four steps:
Step 1: Jot down a few notes on the type of work environment you like best. For instance, you may prefer an environment that’s:
- Client-focused
- Collaborative
- Fast-paced
- Forward-looking
- Process-oriented
- Quality-focused
Step 2: When you find a job posting that intrigues you, look for any details about the office environment or work culture. They will often appear in any description included about the hiring company or team you’d be part of.
Step 3: Compare those details against your preferred work environment, and highlight any overlap.
Step 4: Add a line or two to your Profile emphasizing that similarity. For example, say you prefer a work environment that’s customer-focused, and the posting says “We are a business that places client satisfaction at the center of every decision”. You can then add a Profile line such as:
- “Thrive in client-focused work environments.”
- “Committed to helping a company maintain positive long-term relationships with customers.”
This simple exercise can make your resume more accurately show why you’re a great fit for the hiring company as well as why they should call you for an interview.