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Investment Banking Resume Template
An investment banking resume is one page, single column and deliberately plain: Education first, then experience written as deals and numbers, then leadership and a short skills line. This free template follows the format bankers expect, with a filled-in summer analyst example you can overwrite.
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What should an investment banking resume look like?
Plain on purpose. Finance recruiters read resumes fast and side by side, so the industry settled on one conservative layout. Ask on r/FinancialCareers why a resume isn't getting interviews and the first reply is almost always “use the standard one-page template”: people get told their design is “too fancy” before anyone reads their experience. The sections, in order:
- Education: school, degree, GPA (as on your transcript), honors, relevant coursework.
- Work Experience: banks, PE, corporate finance, Big 4, consulting; most recent first.
- Selected Transaction Experience (optional): the deals you worked on, by size, type and sector.
- Leadership & Activities: investment club, case competitions, varsity sports.
- Skills, Certifications & Interests: Excel, PowerPoint, Capital IQ, FactSet, Bloomberg, languages, and two or three real interests.
What are the rules banks expect you to follow?
Do
- One page, single column, black and white
- Times New Roman or Garamond at 10–11 pt
- GPA exactly as on your transcript (3.85/4.00)
- A dollar amount or a count in most bullets
- Deals described by size, type and sector
Don't
- A second page as a student or analyst
- Summaries, objectives, photos, icons or colors
- Rounded-up GPAs
- Confidential client names on live deals
- Skills you can't back up in a technical interview
How do you write investment banking resume bullets?
Action verb + the financial work + the size or result. Bankers look for evidence that you can model, analyze and produce materials, so name the analysis and attach a number to it.
✗ Assisted with financial analysis for various clients.
✓ Built a three-statement model and DCF for a $450M sell-side process for a healthcare services company.
✗ Helped with pitch books.
✓ Prepared comparable companies and precedent transactions analyses for 3 live pitches to private equity sponsors.
How do you list deal experience?
One line per deal (size, transaction type, sector and counterparty type) and a bullet on your exact contribution. Keep live or confidential deals anonymous:
Pending $450M sale of a healthcare services company to a private equity buyerSell-side M&A
- Built the operating model and valuation summary used in the management presentation
Will your investment banking resume pass the ATS?
Large banks receive applications through an applicant tracking system before a banker sees them, so the file has to parse cleanly. In HAIRED's analysis of 10,000 CVs, 61% used tables, columns or graphics, and PDFs with columns or tables failed to parse in 52% of cases versus 4% for a plain single-column file. This template is single-column with standard headings. Once yours is filled in, check it free: you get a 0-100 score against a fixed 14-point checklist and the fix for every point you lose.
Get the investment banking template
Download it for Word and Google Docs, then check it free before you apply.
Frequently asked questions
Should an investment banking resume be one page?
Yes, for students and analysts it should be one page. Bankers screen hundreds of resumes in a recruiting cycle and expect the standard one-page format; a second page is usually read as poor judgment, not more experience.
What format do banks expect on an investment banking resume?
A plain, single-column, one-page format: Education at the top (for students), then Work Experience, optionally Selected Transaction Experience, Leadership & Activities, and a final Skills, Certifications & Interests section. It’s the same conservative layout popularized by finance communities like Wall Street Oasis and Mergers & Inquisitions. Fancy designs with colors, columns or photos hurt you.
How do you list deal experience on an investment banking resume?
Describe each deal by size, type and sector without naming the client unless it’s public: “Pending $450M sale of a healthcare services company to a private equity buyer.” Then add one or two bullets on your exact contribution: the model you built, the analysis you ran, the documents you drafted.
How many decimals should my GPA have?
Show it exactly as it appears on your transcript, usually two decimals (3.85/4.00). Never round up; banks verify it.
Should I include a summary or objective?
No. On a finance resume a summary takes space from experience and adds nothing a banker will read. Let the first lines of Education and Work Experience do that job.
Can I use this template for private equity?
Yes. Private equity resumes use the same one-page format; experienced candidates usually lead with Work Experience and a more detailed Selected Transaction Experience section showing deal size, role and outcome.
Is this template ATS-friendly?
Yes. It is a single column with standard headings and no tables or graphics. In HAIRED’s analysis of 10,000 CVs, PDFs with columns or tables failed to parse in 52% of cases, against 4% for a plain single-column file.
Harvard resume template → · Consulting resume template → · Free ATS resume checker → · Tailor your resume to a job posting →
HAIRED is not affiliated with any bank, Wall Street Oasis or Mergers & Inquisitions. Names and numbers in the template are placeholders.