For every ambitious business professional, there one instrument that you should always have prepared and ready.
This document is your blueprint in the working world. It reflects your history, skills, your goals, personality and names of those who can vouch for your intellectual and work competency.
This of course refers to your CV.
Your CV for a Finance Role
Hiring mangers want to gauge who you are as a person, the quantitative skills you can contribute to their organisation as well as the work experience and accomplishments you bring to the table. This often determines your salary and benefits the organisation would be willing to grant.
- Can you research and interpret numerical data to analyse a problem and make appropriate recommendations?
- Can you look at the incoming numbers from cash flow statements, bank reports, economic statistics and government documents to provide management with an accurate and comprehensive overview of the circumstances the company is facing?
- Are you also able to provide quantitative value to other departments so they can identify the implications of undertaking a particular marketing strategy or project?
What does a Finance Professional Do?
These are some of the challenges company executives face and need finance professionals to provide much needed intelligence. Financial responsibilities cover a wide range of subject areas of various complexity. Many hiring managers would be looking for key skills in your CV including:
- Management – Finance involves a great deal of management. From company books, preparation of financial statements, cash flows, investment portfolios, credit facilities as well as saving and retirement funds, management is a significant part finance. Companies and Individuals need your expertise to manage their money which they may not have the knowledge or time to do. Hiring managers want to know from looking at your CV, can this person manage finances and data well?
- Auditing – A finance professionals well-trained eye and sharp, analytical sensibilities are needed to certify companies are operating and reporting financial data within regulation and law.
- Investing – As a finance expert, you will be required to invest or have a sound knowledge on investing to allocate a company funds accordingly or provide advice to a client. Your CV will reflect of you have the capabilities to do this successfully.
- Advise – A hiring manager will be evaluating your CV to determine if you have the necessary qualifications, training and relevant experience to advise their company on financial matters.
What Should My CV in Finance Include?
Your finance CV, therefore, must speak to the hiring manager that you understand your profession, have confidence in your skills and the experience you’ve worked hard to cultivate.
1. Professional Summary
The professional summary states in four (4) to six (6) lines how do you perceive yourself, your core skill set, experience and the value and intentions that you will be bringing into your new organisation.
2. Education
For entry level or junior workers, one page is sufficient. For mid-career or advanced level professionals can extend to two pages. Keeping your focus on what is relevant. Start with your first degree and list the qualifications you have obtained since then. Important ones to include for a finance CV are MBAs, ACCA designations, special licenses or certifications such as FLMI (Fellow Life Management Institute) for insurance, for example. You can also list any further courses or training that you would have undertaken. However, be sure it is relevant to the job on hand. If it’s not finances related, feel free to omit!
3. Skills
Skills can include:
- Software – Computer software that you can use at an advanced level that can be used in finance. State if you’re an expert at Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Project Management, SPSS for statistical analysis, QuickBooks or even advance knowledge of Google Sheets or Excel.
- Selling – If you have sold policies, plans and have maintained exceptional relationships with past clients, list those of on your finance CV. People skills are vital in every industry.
- Problem-solving – A person becomes an expert in a field by offering relevant solutions to problems.
- Interpreting data and people – When dealing with money, hiring managers require persons who can look deeper beneath the surface to analyse a situation or a client’s needs to provide the relevant solution. This will be a vital skill to include on your CV.
- Management – Finance people work with figures, data and money. All of which must be effectively managed to avoid financial or legal consequences. This is an important skill to include to show hiring managers you can manage their finances as well as time and yourself.
Employment History
State the names of the organisations you worked for, your job title and the length of time you worked there. To make your finance CV highly attractive, depending on the length of your work experience, state the last two or three companies you worked for. Under each company identify three or four main accomplishments that you are particularly proud of. Start each accomplishment with an action verb – that is, with one of the skills you have identified above.
Take each listed skill you listed and state how you used it to achieve something. Use a variety of skills, not just the same two or three to avoid becoming repetitive. For example, start each accomplishment with, “Sold…..X amount of policies within X time period”, or “Managed X number of portfolios for X number of clients” or “Used X computer software to record, and interpret information for X purpose or to solve X challenges the company was facing”.
This certifies that indeed you are a credible finance professional and you can proudly boast of using the skills you say you have.
References
The references will be the cherry on top of your robust, finance CV. Of course, you will list three or four names of people who will vouch on your behalf and provide confirmation of your achievements to the hiring manager.
Hobbies/Personal Achievements
Include if you’re part of volunteer organisations, if you plan events, manage treasury or another volunteer work. If you play team sports, this shows you can operate as part of a team. Hobbies such as writing, photography or art can show you nurture your creativity skills which always have a place on a CV, such as the following template.
Download here the CV template in Finance and adapt it to your profile. Below, you can find the full transcription.
CV TEMPLATE
Writing your finance CV must articulate your specific skills and achievements to signal to hiring managers, you are their candidate. The template below can be used to highlight such.
Your Name
Address:
Email:
Telephone (or mobile):
Professional Summary
Qualified finance professional with over X years of experience. Proven accomplishments include managing top client portfolios and generating new business. Experienced in business strategy, investment dynamics, market analysis, and client relationship management. Focus on forging relationships with new clients and forming strategic partnerships with business stakeholders.
Education
Name of University attended:
Number of years studied there: Eg. 2015 – 2018
Name of qualification: Masters, Bachelors, etc.
List educational achievements in chronological order from starting with your highest qualification and then come down.
Skills (Tailor your skills accordingly)
- Proficiencies in QuickBooks, Sage 50, Excel, Quicken, and Google Sheets.
- Excellent writing and communication skills
- Well-trained and superb customer service skills
- Developed exceptional selling and marketing strategies
- Resource and Client Management
Employment History (Tailor your experiences accordingly)
Your past job title e.g. Financial Advisor
Date of employment: e.g. June 2010 – September 2015
- Developed strategies to market and sell investment policies for clients based on an analysis of their lifestyle, income and other factors.
- Reviewed weekly investment market trends including stocks, bonds, mutual funds, securities, to provide up-to-date knowledge for clients.
- Performed telemarketing, online recruitment and attended networking events, to achieve a 20% in customer base over the past 12 months.
Your current job title e.g. Financial Officer
Date of employment: e.g. September 2015 – Present
- Communicating financial information to provide relevant facts, figures and credit opportunities to assist client’s decision-making.
- Collaborated with companies to discuss alternative methods of capital management and advise on cash liquidity to avoid future problems.
- Managed databases with sensitive information and worked to increase business development revenues in excess of $X million during the 2017 financial year.
Hobbies and Interests (Potential hobbies which you can alternate accordingly)
- Sports (cricket, football, tennis etc)
- Creative pursuits (singing, dance, writing, art)
- Outdoor activities (Travelling, hiking, swimming etc.)
- Attending social events, (functions or any clubs you belong to)
