The principles your mentor applies on every review, written out so you can apply them yourself.
A first-round screener reads the top third of page one, checks your most recent role, and looks for evidence of impact. Structure your CV so the strongest evidence lives above the fold: target role headline, most relevant experience, then education. Anything that survives only because 'it's on my CV' is costing you space.
'Supported the M&A team' says nothing. 'Built the operating model for a $340m carve-out, cutting turnaround from 5 days to 2' says everything. Where you don't know the number, estimate honestly and label it: deal size, team size, users, revenue, hours saved, percentage change, rank out of cohort.
Single column, no tables, no text boxes, no graphics, standard section headings, a normal font, and a PDF export with selectable text. Anything a parser can't read is a line the screener never sees. Keep it to one page for internships and analyst roles unless the employer explicitly allows two.
Banking rewards technical precision, deal exposure and a dense one-pager. Consulting rewards structured problem solving, leadership and quantified outcomes. Tech rewards scale, ownership and product impact, with more room for projects and open source. The same experience should be framed differently for each.
Most competitive graduate and internship programmes screen on a rolling basis and close early when full. Applying in the first two weeks of an opening materially raises your odds. Track deadlines per employer and get your CV finished before the window opens, not during it.
Cold outreach works when it is specific, short and asks for insight rather than a referral. Reference a deal, product or piece of research; ask one sharp question; keep it under 120 words. Follow up once. Alumni from your university at the target firm convert best.
The full investment banking resume template — section order, formatting rules, bullet formula and bank-by-bank differences.
