Resume Check

[Juked07]

I'm a sophomore in college, and this is my first real resume. I'm planning on dropping it at various places for trading and/or analyst summer intern positions, and I thought I'd run it by ATOT for some scrutiny before I send it in.

My first draft had somewhat more white space, so I included some things which I don't really think are very important. In particular, I think some of the scores I listed under High School and pretty much all of my Activities and Volunteering are pretty trivial. Also not sure if I should have listed the waiting job, but I didn't want employers to think that I sat around doing nothing that summer.

I think it looks better than it did before I included those items, but I could be wrong. I may try to be less vague about what I did at GE, but I'm not really sure how much I'm allowed to say about the projects I worked on because they are proprietary.

I think the formatting looks pretty standard/readable, but any tips here would be appreciated too.

Resume

Edit: I did not include an objective statement because most of the positions I am looking at require a cover letter. Should I still include an objective if I am submitting a cover letter as well?

Edit2: Also, would employers want to know if I have a solid winrate playing online poker over a large sample (over 200k hands)?

 

[JJChicken]

Originally posted by: Juked07
I'm a sophomore in college, and this is my first real resume. I'm planning on dropping it at various places for trading and/or analyst summer intern positions, and I thought I'd run it by ATOT for some scrutiny before I send it in.

My first draft had somewhat more white space, so I included some things which I don't really think are very important. In particular, I think some of the scores I listed under High School and pretty much all of my Activities and Volunteering are pretty trivial. Also not sure if I should have listed the waiting job, but I didn't want employers to think that I sat around doing nothing that summer.

I think it looks better than it did before I included those items, but I could be wrong. I may try to be less vague about what I did at GE, but I'm not really sure how much I'm allowed to say about the projects I worked on because they are proprietary.

I think the formatting looks pretty standard/readable, but any tips here would be appreciated too.

Resume

Edit: I did not include an objective statement because most of the positions I am looking at require a cover letter. Should I still include an objective if I am submitting a cover letter as well?

Generally looks quite good, maybe remove the subject list and shore up your experience section.

 

[JJChicken]

also dunno if you did this but go to their website and find out all the keywords that they mention in the "about us" section, and try to tailor your resume to that, e.g. dedicated teamplayers, driven to succeed etc.

 

[JJChicken]

i liked your skills section, quite relevant to the area you are applying to

 

[JJChicken]

and how you quantified your voluntary experience but still kept that section nice and short

 

[JJChicken]

the second work experience one (waiter) looks a bit out of place compared to the other two in terms of details, maybe mention some other stuff you did there, e.g. took responsibility when etc etc happened, trained new staff, etc etc

 

[superandroid]

cover later is good enough. but in case u dont want to give a chance to anyone it wud be safe to have a objective.
IMP thing in ur objective is that u shud mention the word PROFIT.

 

[JJChicken]

otherwise very impressive. i would hazard to guess that even in its current form, i'd see you in an interview, if you do make it, PM for any interview advice, i recently graduated and also work in IB (although accounting side of things) so I might be able to give some pointers if I'm not too busy

 

[JJChicken]

Originally posted by: superandroid
cover later is good enough. but in case u dont want to give a chance to anyone it wud be safe to have a objective.
IMP thing in ur objective is that u shud mention the word PROFIT.

also mention that one of your goals in life is to get bailed out by the Fed

 

[Juked07]

Thanks a lot Barack.

Can anyone recommend me a good resource for improving my cover letter writing skills? A number of my google results seem to be pretty poor references.

 

[SJP0tato]

Originally posted by: Juked07
Edit2: Also, would employers want to know if I have a solid winrate playing online poker over a large sample (over 200k hands)?

Not sure if this is a joke or not, but if you're serious: absolutely not. You want to tend to stay away from topics such as gambling, drinking, partying, etc. Sometimes during an interview you might get into smalltalk with the interviewer, and it "might" be okay to briefly touch on these subjects if they bring up the topic themselves.

Otherwise looks pretty solid, you might want to organize the skills either by putting what's required for the job first, or alphabetize all the rows.

You might want to go into a little more detail about what you did at GE. Maybe describe things on a project level, right now it's a little difficult to understand exactly what you really did, and this will be your most relevant experience (write more about stuff that would apply to the job you're applying for). Some employers will appreciate the Steak n Shake experience, others won't. Since you only had 4 months experience there you may want to leave it off.

For the cover letter follow the typical formatting found online. For content, read the requirements for the job, envision your skills being useful for that job, and explain to the reader exactly why your skills/personality are good for accomplishing what they have described in the job description.

Good luck!

 

[LordMorpheus]

Originally posted by: Barack Obama
the second work experience one (waiter) looks a bit out of place compared to the other two in terms of details, maybe mention some other stuff you did there, e.g. took responsibility when etc etc happened, trained new staff, etc etc

He was a waiter at steak 'n' shake, other than him being able to force himself to keep going to work at a waiting job, there is no real relevent information and any lines about him taking responsibility will be transparent resume wanking.

The first thing I did when I needed to shorten my resume was drop some of the bullshit jobs. OP is young, GE and Hospital Job should be enough to show prospective employers that he's got experience working.

 

[pontifex]

Originally posted by: Barack Obama
also dunno if you did this but go to their website and find out all the keywords that they mention in the "about us" section, and try to tailor your resume to that, e.g. dedicated teamplayers, driven to succeed etc.

i had to recently update my resume due to a layoff and everything i read said you do not want to put that crap in there. the people looking at your resume want to see your relevant experience\education, not some feel good crap.

 

[Farang]

I'm unemployed don't listen to me but I think you have enough volunteer and work crap on there to look good, so take off the test scores. I don't think really in any case test scores should be on your resume.. I guess maybe the LSAT for new grads but most law firms probably don't care either. Also take off communication and analytical skills from your "skills" because you are probably going to say that in your cover letter, and with all of your volunteering and being a former server you're expected to have good communication skills


edit: also "built interpersonal" skills sucks on the job description. Did they hire you to build interpersonal skills? Did your interpersonal skills need building at a restaurant?

 

[Injury]

Yup, nix the SAT/ACT scores... I don't know what the AIME is, but unless that score is highly relevant to your chosen field I'd get rid of that, too.

Drop the "Calc I" and "Calc II"... obviously if you have Calc III on there you've taken Calc I & II.
Intro courses are pretty "Meh."

Your work experience suggests that you don't work while you're in school. Is that right, or are you leaving off a job you do while at school?

Split the "Skills" in to two columns


I wouldn't normally say this, but I think you need an objective. You're in a great position to have one, considering you're still in school. Don't make something generic like "To further my skills" yadda yadda.

 

[IEC]

Originally posted by: LordMorpheus

Originally posted by: Barack Obama
the second work experience one (waiter) looks a bit out of place compared to the other two in terms of details, maybe mention some other stuff you did there, e.g. took responsibility when etc etc happened, trained new staff, etc etc

He was a waiter at steak 'n' shake, other than him being able to force himself to keep going to work at a waiting job, there is no real relevent information and any lines about him taking responsibility will be transparent resume wanking.

The first thing I did when I needed to shorten my resume was drop some of the bullshit jobs. OP is young, GE and Hospital Job should be enough to show prospective employers that he's got experience working.

^This, I don't list the summer I worked at a Subway. Not that I have space anyways...

 

[IEC]

Originally posted by: Injury
Yup, nix the SAT/ACT scores... I don't know what the AIME is, but unless that score is highly relevant to your chosen field I'd get rid of that, too.

Drop the "Calc I" and "Calc II"... obviously if you have Calc III on there you've taken Calc I & II.
Intro courses are pretty "Meh."

Your work experience suggests that you don't work while you're in school. Is that right, or are you leaving off a job you do while at school?

Split the "Skills" in to two columns


I wouldn't normally say this, but I think you need an objective. You're in a great position to have one, considering you're still in school. Don't make something generic like "To further my skills" yadda yadda.

8/15 on the AIME is probably like 95 percentile or something. May even be higher.

 

[jagec]

Looks pretty decent, but I'm not sure that I'd list the classes that I'm taking...in fact, I wouldn't list any of them. Just the university, your major (they don't care about the name of the school, so just say "Dual major: Economics and Bioengineering"), Dean's list status and GPA.

High school...you're applying to work, not grad school. They really don't care about your standardized tests. Leave the National Merit Scholar bit on there, axe the rest.

Drop Steak n Shake, add another bullet to GE or Children's or both, depending on what sort of job you're applying to. (I assume engine blades = turbine blades; turbine sounds more technical so you might want to list it as that)

I'd be tempted to leave off "strong communication skills", because everyone says that whether or not it's true. Let your cover letter and interview convey that portion of your skillset.

Strong resume for a college kid. Congratulations.

Originally posted by: Juked07
Edit2: Also, would employers want to know if I have a solid winrate playing online poker over a large sample (over 200k hands)?

It might actually be worse than posting your Counterstrike ranking, and certainly no better.

 

[CRXican]

I was impressed by your SAT score. Nerd.

 

[polarmystery]

Originally posted by: CRXican
I was impressed by your SAT score. Nerd.

As impressive as his education is knowning what I know now about the professional world, people skills are way more important than what you know. And this is coming from an electrical engineer.

 

[Tiamat]

I like your setup of the resume. One thing I noticed is that I don't know why you did your tasks (e.g. at GE). I know what you did, but what good did they do? Why did you do them? Did you learn anything from the task?



Used excel and analysis tools...

Maybe: Performed durability analysis tasks for engine blades using MS Excel and other proprietary analysis tools... (leading to product specifications?)



Played a role... What role did you play (be specific using action words).

Maybe: Developed and advanced the use of light probe tests to identify... (in an effort to study the effect? Make a design specification?)


Coded MATLAB... These needs to be reworded to sound more important.

Maybe: Created engine test simulations in MATLAB which were used to analyze flaws... (what did this lead to?)


Steak n Shake: I don't have any experience here, but I don't like the way it sounds. Never have a bullet standing on its own. Bullets signify lists, lists cannot just have 1 participant. Frankly, I'd be tempted to delete it from the resume as it doesn't add any value esp. with your hospital and GE experience.

Children's Hospital: Perhaps change wording to something like the following?

Developed and performed experimental trials to determine the effects of normobaric oxygen...

Why did you perform necropsies, what were you supposed to learn from them?

How did you quantify infarctions, did this lead to a better diagnoses of this condition? What kind of statistical analysis did you run? Did you learn anything from it? Did the trend agree with literature? Did you find something new? Is the statistical analysis going to be used for future general knowledge?




I'd get rid of the Skills section as you get more professional experience. By reading your professional experience, I already know you are good at all the things in your skill section, so it is wasting valuable space (or space that will become valuable as you gain experience).

Fluent in Mandarin is very important but, I think it is something best left for the cover letter, or the personalized resume you send out to companies that require Mandarin.

Also, nobody cares that you have strong communication skills on your resume. They will determine this within 10 seconds on a phone or live interview.

Also, I would put all your honors in its own special section. I don't think you need to list your standardized tests scores -- those are only important to getting into the school you are already attending. Your course work is only mildly important. I would tone it down, combine them (Calculus 1-3, Intro. Micro/macro econ., Eng. Prob & Stat., etc.)

You might not even need your high school information. You certainly won't need it when you get your dual degree.


Also, get involved (if possible) with your bioengineering local chapter.

 

[sjwaste]

Originally posted by: Barack Obama
the second work experience one (waiter) looks a bit out of place compared to the other two in terms of details, maybe mention some other stuff you did there, e.g. took responsibility when etc etc happened, trained new staff, etc etc

I disagree. I would list that, because I want to know by looking at the resume that I'm not about to interview some mutant who can't interact.

If you managed to stick through an entire summer waiting tables, at least know you can work with and put up with people.

 

[Juked07]

Originally posted by: Tiamat
I like your setup of the resume. One thing I noticed is that I don't know why you did your tasks (e.g. at GE). I know what you did, but what good did they do? Why did you do them? Did you learn anything from the task?



Used excel and analysis tools...

Maybe: Performed durability analysis tasks for engine blades using MS Excel and other proprietary analysis tools... (leading to product specifications?)



Played a role... What role did you play (be specific using action words).

Maybe: Developed and advanced the use of light probe tests to identify... (in an effort to study the effect? Make a design specification?)


Coded MATLAB... These needs to be reworded to sound more important.

Maybe: Created engine test simulations in MATLAB which were used to analyze flaws... (what did this lead to?)


Steak n Shake: I don't have any experience here, but I don't like the way it sounds. Never have a bullet standing on its own. Bullets signify lists, lists cannot just have 1 participant. Frankly, I'd be tempted to delete it from the resume as it doesn't add any value esp. with your hospital and GE experience.

Children's Hospital: Perhaps change wording to something like the following?

Developed and performed experimental trials to determine the effects of normobaric oxygen...

Why did you perform necropsies, what were you supposed to learn from them?

How did you quantify infarctions, did this lead to a better diagnoses of this condition? What kind of statistical analysis did you run? Did you learn anything from it? Did the trend agree with literature? Did you find something new? Is the statistical analysis going to be used for future general knowledge?




I'd get rid of the Skills section as you get more professional experience. By reading your professional experience, I already know you are good at all the things in your skill section, so it is wasting valuable space (or space that will become valuable as you gain experience).

Fluent in Mandarin is very important but, I think it is something best left for the cover letter, or the personalized resume you send out to companies that require Mandarin.

Also, nobody cares that you have strong communication skills on your resume. They will determine this within 10 seconds on a phone or live interview.

Also, I would put all your honors in its own special section. I don't think you need to list your standardized tests scores -- those are only important to getting into the school you are already attending. Your course work is only mildly important. I would tone it down, combine them (Calculus 1-3, Intro. Micro/macro econ., Eng. Prob & Stat., etc.)

You might not even need your high school information. You certainly won't need it when you get your dual degree.


Also, get involved (if possible) with your bioengineering local chapter.

Wow, thanks a lot. This is very helpful!

I'm working on rewriting the descriptions of my jobs, and your suggestions are surprisingly good considering I failed to provide any real specifics on what I did the first time around. The GE piece is particularly annoying because it's difficult to explain what I did concisely.

I'm pretty sure I can't talk about the specifics, but I will definitely try to make it clearer and post an update soon.

Also, to address the poker thing.. I see now that it would be a very bad idea because the vast majority of people don't see the situation the way I do. The reason I thought it could possibly be valuable at first is that developing a firm understanding of the game is the single most tangible real life application of my ability to analyze probabilities, expected values, accurately estimate information given minimal inputs, etc. These, I feel, mirror the skill sets required in finance analysis very closely. The connotations of gambling and debauchery, however, clearly outweight any benefits I might have gotten.

 

[IEC]

"Hey Chester, an 8 on the AIME ain't nothing to brag about"

-Friend

 

[SoulAssassin]

Excel and Word are part of Office.