Create a high-impact finance resume with expert tips on structure, skills, and achievements from GoCrackIt.
Read MoreHow to Build a High-Impact Resume for Finance Roles: Guidance From a GoCrackit Expert
- Dec 09, 2025
- Resume for Finance
Meet the Mentor
Nitesh Kumar is a seasoned banking and strategy leader with MBA from IIM Ahmedabad and engineering from IIT Kharagpur. With extensive experience across global powerhouses like Barclays, Citi, and American Express, he brings deep expertise in BFSI, Strategy, and Product Management. Currently a Vice President at Barclays, Nitesh leverages his diverse background to help candidates decode the recruitment process, offering strategic guidance on how to pivot into finance and position themselves for top-tier roles
Pivoting careers is a challenge of perception. You might have the aptitude and the interest for a new field, but if your resume tells the story of your past rather than your potential, recruiters will overlook you.
This is a common struggle for engineers or tech professionals trying to break into Finance. They often possess strong quantitative skills, yet they struggle to get noticed.
We recently observed a resume review session that addressed this exact challenge. The Mentee was a bright engineering graduate currently pursuing an MBA. She had stellar academics and a deep personal interest in stock markets, but her resume was failing to signal “Finance.”
During this deep-dive cv review, Mentor Nitesh Kumar moved beyond basics. He guided the Mentee how to build a resume that signals readiness for Investment & Valuation roles, even without prior work experience in the field.
The "90-Second" Reality Check
The session began with an audit of the Mentee’s current CV structure. She had listed her internships and projects in chronological order. While logical, this approach buried her finance aspirations under layers of experience that didn’t align with her target role.
The Mentor introduced a critical concept regarding recruiter behavior: The 90-Second Rule.
“Whenever recruiters come to campus… they generally tend to review a CV for mostly 90 seconds,” he explained.
Because of this tight timeframe, the “top half” of the page becomes the only section that truly matters. The Mentor advised: “They generally look on the first half of the page. Try and find finance-related points and prioritize them.”
Currently, the Mentee’s top half was occupied by software projects and awards from Google. The Mentor’s advice was clear: prioritize relevance over chronology.
When the Mentee asked if the specific order of her internships mattered, the Mentor clarified the hierarchy: “You highlight those points that are in line with whatever sector you’re looking for.” By freeing herself from strict chronology, she could ensure her most compelling assets were the first things a recruiter saw, rather than the last.
Establishing Credibility
One of the Mentee’s biggest concerns was her lack of professional experience to put on paper. She confessed, “I don’t have professional experience in fundamental analysis… but I have read about it… which I would like to dabble into.”
She had mentioned a “Personal Finance” portfolio, but she had also prominently listed a general blog and Japanese language skills.
The Mentor made a sharp strategic distinction between these interests based on the “90-second” rule.
First, he validated her Personal Finance portfolio. When she clarified that she had a personal portfolio of investments, he immediately said, “You can put it on top.” In the absence of relevant work experience, this portfolio serves as proof of competence and should be highlighted.
In contrast, he identified items that were diluting her profile. He noted that items like “Japanese” language skills and her general “Blog” were “eating up your space.” Since space is limited, he advised that these non-finance interests should be removed or If later space permits moved to the bottom.
This clearing of space was necessary to make room for the signals that actually matter: Certifications.
“Since you are pursuing a career in finance… instead of extracurricular activities, do pick up more certification courses online,” the Mentor advised.
He validated the start she had already made, noting her coursework from NSE Academy and Zerodha Varsity, which she was on the verge of completing. However, to compete for top-tier roles, he advised broadening her scope. He suggested adding specific certifications in Financial Business Valuation, Investment Management, Financial Derivatives, and NISM to her portfolio. He instructed her to move these—both the ones she was completing and the ones he suggested—to the top half of the page, instantly signaling to the recruiter that she is serious about the field.
Structuring for Impact: Responsibilities vs. Achievements
Once the structure was addressed, the Mentor zoomed in on the content of the bullet points. The Mentee had listed her experience with a services company involving a Machine Learning project. The descriptions were wordy and mixed daily tasks with results.
The Mentor introduced a framework to clean this up: Segregate Responsibilities and Achievements.
“You could create two sections: Responsibilities and Achievements,” he suggested.
He pointed to a bullet point about increasing sales and gave specific criteria for what constitutes an ‘Achievement’:
“So wherever there’s volume impact or financial impact… let’s say you achieved X million or X INR incremental Revenue… or if you achieved X percent efficiency. Those things should come under achievements. Otherwise, it should go in responsibility.”
To illustrate this, they deconstructed a complex entry regarding a machine learning project where the points were flowing into multiple lines. The Mentor reorganized the mixed content into two distinct, high-impact lines:
- Before: Managed Services machine learning project to increase sales by 10% and simplified process flows for multiple projects running onboarding and VDI provisioning.
- After:
- Responsibility: Simplified client operational tasks including onboarding, training, VDI.
- Achievement: Developed a targeting strategy to increase sales by 10% through customer segmentation.
He pointed out that the 10% sales increase is the “hook” (Achievement), while the operational task is the “context” (Responsibility). Separating them ensures the win doesn’t get lost in the daily work.
The Mentor emphasized that Finance is a numbers-driven game. “Finance firms want a lot of numbers on your CV. You need quantitative data,” he explained.
He also corrected the flow of her bullet points. The Mentee considered listing the achievement first to grab attention, but the Mentor advised against it. He recommended a logical storytelling flow: First, establish the context (The Task), and then deliver the impact (The Result).
“Responsibility should come on top,” he instructed.
He then rigorously edited her lines to ensure maximum impact with minimum words. For instance, the Mentee had a wordy description about optimizing travel articles to boost readership. The Mentor cut through the noise, replacing the explanation with a punchy metric:
- Before: Assured optimized travel articles to increase monthly active users…
- After: Achieved 90K+ MAU.
He explained that using standard abbreviations like MAU (Monthly Active Users) is strategic because “it helps you take less space so you can write more impactful statements in one line.” By compressing the text, the Mentee gains space to add more data points, effectively increasing the density of “wins” on the page.
The "Academic Achievement" Anchor
For a fresher or a career pivoter, Academics are a safety net. The Mentor noticed that the Mentee had a stellar academic record (94% in high school, high math scores) but no dedicated section to show it off.
“I don’t think you have any section for academic achievements, right?” he observed.
He advised her to create a dedicated “Academic Achievements” section at the very top, right after certifications. This serves as an immediate signal of competence to Finance recruiters who prize intellectual rigor.
He helped her brainstorm what could go there beyond just grades. He offered a specific strategy for highlighting strengths even if the overall GPA isn’t perfect:
“Let’s say you scored excellent grade in four out of 25 courses, mention that, and that’s also an academic achievement.”
He also suggested mentioning admission offers from other top institutes, noting: “Received calls from top colleges… let’s say you converted [received offers from] new IIMs… That’s an academic achievement which is also generally very preferred by finance companies.”
By grouping these scattered accolades into a single, punchy section, the Mentee would be able to create a foundation of excellence before the recruiter even reads about her internships.
The Pivot Strategy: Getting the Shortlist
Towards the end of the session, the conversation shifted from the resume check to the broader strategy of “Pivoting.” The Mentee was anxious about her chances of landing a job in a new field given her background.
The Mentor provided a realistic but encouraging roadmap. He assured her that despite the competition, her background was strong enough to secure an initial interview.
“Why I’m saying this is because you have a decent CGPA… And if you highlight all those academic achievements on top, and your Finance interest, you should get a shortlist.”
He also gave advice on long-term credibility building. If the shortlist doesn’t come immediately, he advised her to “start pursuing FRM, CFA and similar courses on the side.”
“These certifications, if you have them in your CV, again make a very big impact,” he concluded.
This dual approach—optimizing the current CV while building future credentials—gave the Mentee a concrete plan of action beyond just applying and waiting.
Conclusion
By the end of the session, the Mentee’s resume strategy had been completely overhauled.
- Before: A chronological list of tech and media internships, with finance interests buried at the bottom.
- After: A targeted finance resume. The top half now featured Finance Certifications, Academic Achievements, and Personal Finance Projects.
The Mentor’s final advice summarized the entire philosophy of the session:
“Focusing on the first half of your page: put all the financial-related points there, points showcasing Finance, Corporate Valuations, and Investment Banking interest.”
This session proves that you don’t always need new experience to change careers; sometimes, you just need a new narrative. An effective resume review does more than fix grammar—it realigns your history to match your future. By understanding what the recruiter is looking for—and presenting it in the first 90 seconds—you can turn a “misaligned” background into a “high-potential” profile.
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