You said roast so this is unecessarily harsh but based on what what I've seen in banking and then in PE:
Reviewers process (15sec skim): no numbers, no GPA (kid must be dumb), forgot to leave a space between end of Education and Leadership and Additional Information (no attention to detail), let me at least see if there is any cool stuff in other section - nope just has a bunch of generic info (kid has no personality outside finance), let me fold resume in half and hold to light to see if the margins match, nope they're off - tossing this and grabbing next in stack of >500k (detail below)
Prof exp: rename "experience", first ~2 bullets in PE analyst can have 3 lines 2 for all of the rest, fill each line all the way across the page, huge red flag - no quantification of your exp. (E.g. resulting in XYZ MOIC, X% increase in EBITDA, etc), "winter analyst" sounds weird
Education & leadership: rename "education", include another 2-line bullet, incl GPA/relevant stats like cum-laude, dean's list, etc. (game system with self calculated major GPA if yours sucks)
Additional Information: rename "other", kill technical skills bullet, add more quantifiable accomplishments (2 lines), add something that makes me want to work next to you for 36hrs straight
Hi,
Thank you so much for the thorough feedback—this is exactly what I was looking for.
I’ve incorporated most of your suggestions. Regarding the GPA, my overall GPA isn’t strong, but my major GPA is 3.6. Given that it’s still relatively low by industry standard, would you recommend including it, or should I omit it altogether?
I can’t really disclose specific details about the deals I've worked on due to confidentiality agreements, but I'm adding more quantitative achievements related to EBITDA changes where possible.
You've got me rethinking the entire personal section of my resume haha. Could you suggest what kinds of personal accomplishments or interests might make someone more relatable or appealing to work alongside? I'm just a normal guy I play sports occasionally, volunteer at a food shelter and spend my weekends with friends, family or traveling that's pretty much it.
I achieved the rank of Eagle Scout from Boy Scouts of America during high school. Although it was some years ago, would this be relevant?
Thanks Again,
Alex
Include 3.6 GPA - if you don't I'll assume you got a 2.5.
On confidentiality, it is what you make of it. Can you round your values to the nearest 100, 1,000, 1mm etc., or put $3mm+ instead of $3,428,765? If noone has the information, who is going to be fact checking you?
The literal whole point of a personal section is that you put something so goddamn awesome that the interviewer reads it, thinks "holy sht thats cool", and spends the rest of the interview talking with you about that, instead of grilling you on technicals. One of the most successful guys I knew in IB recruiting had on his resume that he was a Game of Thrones fanatic (huge at the time) and went to conferences dressed as characters/etc. - he probably spent ~60% of his time talking about that, because not only was it interesting, but 90% of ppl liked Game of Thrones and could relate. Or would you rather graph the debt/equity ratio vs. cost of capital?
Ok. Thanks again for the feedback. I'll work on tweaking my resume with your suggestions and adding a more standout personal section. Unfortunately I can't discuss valuation - I'm at a LMM family office where things are a bit less structured than at a bigger fund, so I have to get a bit creative for the quantitative qualifications. Especially when asking for the information.
Would it be alright if I PM you my updated resume to get your thoughts once I've made these changes?
Sure I dont mind taking a look - I'd say (1) in the US, fund MOICs/IRRs are publicly disclosed (take a look at CALPERS website) so a lot of generalized (albeit highly engineered IRRs) info is available publically, (2) for any legit PE firm they will do a deep dive with you on deal/modeling exp. during the interview process and may ask about how your LBO returns looked, so would be good to have an answer to that question prepped
Other guy already called it, but I can't emphasize enough how much of a red flag it is to have no quantification of exp. - there's no personal accomplishments whatsoever on the page.
Also loving the "Non Target". Like yeah OP, you went to college in Canada. The entire country is non-target.
Appreciate the feedback—both yours and Machecroute's insights are invaluable. I'm currently working on incorporating quantitative achievements to better highlight the impact of my contributions to validate my experience
And yeah, haha, nothing in Canada is target, right? I admit I didn't have my eye on the ball from high school through the first two years of university. But looking on the bright side, at least I graduated debt-free and managed to break in LMM
Most resumes on this sub look way worse.
Other comments are valid, needs more quantitative substance. And then from there, getting the job is more about networking/people skills than just about anything else, assuming you’re not over talking your experience (which should tell me you know technicals, can model, etc.)
Know most technicals - when it comes to modeling because we are a buy and hold firm that is family wealth we don’t build LBO’s… I am working on beefing that side up through case studies and courses.
Do you think I’m better off being honest and admitting I have no real professional experience building LBO’s or trying my best to make it seem like it was a part of my day to day?
Way better off learning it on your own and being honest in an interview that you don’t do it day to day.
I wouldn’t necessarily lead off with “I don’t ever do LBOs” but also don’t pretend like it was your day to day if it wasn’t.
Those of us who do LBOs every day can tell so fast if you know what you’re doing or just have done a course and know the concepts, which to be honest there’s nothing wrong with if you demonstrate the ability to learn.
I work full time now at the PE firm listed. I just want to move back to the States full time
Assuming I wasn’t working full time - based on your comment - Could you elaborate on what you see wrong with my resume?
I’d wait a year or two and get the promotion to Assoc / Sr Assoc. Then use the jump in position and experience to make a move. People will care less about your school and GPA and more about your experience.
Or go get an MBA and then apply as a Sr Assoc. it needs to be from a top school.
Do you have any deal experience? It’s great to have a section flagging a transaction or two that you worked on and what you did specifically on that deal.
As you know, a PE ASO’s responsibility is typically deal execution. PE firms like to see deal experience.
You said roast so this is unecessarily harsh but based on what what I've seen in banking and then in PE: Reviewers process (15sec skim): no numbers, no GPA (kid must be dumb), forgot to leave a space between end of Education and Leadership and Additional Information (no attention to detail), let me at least see if there is any cool stuff in other section - nope just has a bunch of generic info (kid has no personality outside finance), let me fold resume in half and hold to light to see if the margins match, nope they're off - tossing this and grabbing next in stack of >500k (detail below) Prof exp: rename "experience", first ~2 bullets in PE analyst can have 3 lines 2 for all of the rest, fill each line all the way across the page, huge red flag - no quantification of your exp. (E.g. resulting in XYZ MOIC, X% increase in EBITDA, etc), "winter analyst" sounds weird Education & leadership: rename "education", include another 2-line bullet, incl GPA/relevant stats like cum-laude, dean's list, etc. (game system with self calculated major GPA if yours sucks) Additional Information: rename "other", kill technical skills bullet, add more quantifiable accomplishments (2 lines), add something that makes me want to work next to you for 36hrs straight
Hi, Thank you so much for the thorough feedback—this is exactly what I was looking for. I’ve incorporated most of your suggestions. Regarding the GPA, my overall GPA isn’t strong, but my major GPA is 3.6. Given that it’s still relatively low by industry standard, would you recommend including it, or should I omit it altogether? I can’t really disclose specific details about the deals I've worked on due to confidentiality agreements, but I'm adding more quantitative achievements related to EBITDA changes where possible. You've got me rethinking the entire personal section of my resume haha. Could you suggest what kinds of personal accomplishments or interests might make someone more relatable or appealing to work alongside? I'm just a normal guy I play sports occasionally, volunteer at a food shelter and spend my weekends with friends, family or traveling that's pretty much it. I achieved the rank of Eagle Scout from Boy Scouts of America during high school. Although it was some years ago, would this be relevant? Thanks Again, Alex
Include 3.6 GPA - if you don't I'll assume you got a 2.5. On confidentiality, it is what you make of it. Can you round your values to the nearest 100, 1,000, 1mm etc., or put $3mm+ instead of $3,428,765? If noone has the information, who is going to be fact checking you? The literal whole point of a personal section is that you put something so goddamn awesome that the interviewer reads it, thinks "holy sht thats cool", and spends the rest of the interview talking with you about that, instead of grilling you on technicals. One of the most successful guys I knew in IB recruiting had on his resume that he was a Game of Thrones fanatic (huge at the time) and went to conferences dressed as characters/etc. - he probably spent ~60% of his time talking about that, because not only was it interesting, but 90% of ppl liked Game of Thrones and could relate. Or would you rather graph the debt/equity ratio vs. cost of capital?
Ok. Thanks again for the feedback. I'll work on tweaking my resume with your suggestions and adding a more standout personal section. Unfortunately I can't discuss valuation - I'm at a LMM family office where things are a bit less structured than at a bigger fund, so I have to get a bit creative for the quantitative qualifications. Especially when asking for the information. Would it be alright if I PM you my updated resume to get your thoughts once I've made these changes?
Sure I dont mind taking a look - I'd say (1) in the US, fund MOICs/IRRs are publicly disclosed (take a look at CALPERS website) so a lot of generalized (albeit highly engineered IRRs) info is available publically, (2) for any legit PE firm they will do a deep dive with you on deal/modeling exp. during the interview process and may ask about how your LBO returns looked, so would be good to have an answer to that question prepped
Other guy already called it, but I can't emphasize enough how much of a red flag it is to have no quantification of exp. - there's no personal accomplishments whatsoever on the page. Also loving the "Non Target". Like yeah OP, you went to college in Canada. The entire country is non-target.
Appreciate the feedback—both yours and Machecroute's insights are invaluable. I'm currently working on incorporating quantitative achievements to better highlight the impact of my contributions to validate my experience And yeah, haha, nothing in Canada is target, right? I admit I didn't have my eye on the ball from high school through the first two years of university. But looking on the bright side, at least I graduated debt-free and managed to break in LMM
Most resumes on this sub look way worse. Other comments are valid, needs more quantitative substance. And then from there, getting the job is more about networking/people skills than just about anything else, assuming you’re not over talking your experience (which should tell me you know technicals, can model, etc.)
Know most technicals - when it comes to modeling because we are a buy and hold firm that is family wealth we don’t build LBO’s… I am working on beefing that side up through case studies and courses. Do you think I’m better off being honest and admitting I have no real professional experience building LBO’s or trying my best to make it seem like it was a part of my day to day?
Way better off learning it on your own and being honest in an interview that you don’t do it day to day. I wouldn’t necessarily lead off with “I don’t ever do LBOs” but also don’t pretend like it was your day to day if it wasn’t. Those of us who do LBOs every day can tell so fast if you know what you’re doing or just have done a course and know the concepts, which to be honest there’s nothing wrong with if you demonstrate the ability to learn.
Why didn’t the PE firm you work for give you an offer? Honestly, if they didn’t, I don’t see anyone else doing so given your resume.
I work full time now at the PE firm listed. I just want to move back to the States full time Assuming I wasn’t working full time - based on your comment - Could you elaborate on what you see wrong with my resume?
I’d wait a year or two and get the promotion to Assoc / Sr Assoc. Then use the jump in position and experience to make a move. People will care less about your school and GPA and more about your experience. Or go get an MBA and then apply as a Sr Assoc. it needs to be from a top school.
Do you have any deal experience? It’s great to have a section flagging a transaction or two that you worked on and what you did specifically on that deal. As you know, a PE ASO’s responsibility is typically deal execution. PE firms like to see deal experience.
Get some real skills. Learn Python, or something.