3 Items Every Banking Applicant Should Add to Their Resume

February 16, 2025

The Non-Target Playbook 

By Jack Kolb

The first thing banks look at on your resume is how prestigious your school is.

Unfortunately, they’ll probably throw it away after seeing some school they’ve never heard of.

But if you get lucky and they choose to keep reading…

The rest better blow them away if you want any chance of landing an interview.

Problem is, you only have three semesters on campus to beef it up before first round apps are due.

The director of our academy (former partner at a middle market bank in Chicago) told my class to focus on adding these three resume experiences in those first few semesters at school.

They’re the ones banks look for on resumes and end up giving you the most credibility.

This is what I added to my resume freshman and sophomore year to compete for top banks in NYC.

Resume Experience 1 - Case Competition

First place in an IB case comp shows you’ve already impressed a panel of ex-banker judges.

It proves you have the combo of technical and soft skills needed to be a rockstar analyst.

These are basically mini “Bake-Off’s” that mock the real process banks use when pitching.

This article explains the situation in more detail.

Here are the juicy bullet points I was able to add to the experience and honors sections of my resume.

HOW TO SIGN UP

I did four during college and took home first place in two.

Each is only two weeks long, so I’d try and do as many as you can.

They can be hosted by investment banks, campus clubs and other third parties.

  • ON CAMPUS

    • Student Organizations - My first one was freshman year in of our school’s intro to m&a org. The second one I did was part of the application process for our banking academy. In both, we created and presented pitch decks backed by a few different financial models. At my school, other orgs like business fraternities would also host them, but they wouldn’t necessarily be IB focused.

    • Sponsored By Banks - Lincoln came to campus and hosted a two week competition for the 30 kids in our banking academy my sophomore year. Winning that was huge. My team of four all got automatic first round interviews and a nice gift card to a steakhouse in town. This is also common at other schools. For example, I know William Blair hosts every year at Miami University in Ohio.

  • OFF CAMPUS

HOW TO ANSWER INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

The resume bullets show you understand the role of a banker and how they think about positioning a company.

However, to make sure you weren’t the kid on the team that sat back and did nothing…

They’ll grill you with questions to test your true understanding.

Here were the four that I got asked most during interviews.

1. How did you position Crocs? This is about the narrative / storyline you created to support your overarching recommendation. Articulate how you strategically picked certain comps / emphasized particular market trends to build evidence for that story.

2. Explain your approach to valuing Crocs. You should know the numbers & details from that deck inside out.

  • Numbers: Implied multiple range / enterprise value from each method (DCF, comps, precedents, LBO), assumptions (growth rates, expenses, drivers of each), premium, margins, EBITDA, revenue, etc.

  • Names: Five most relevant comparable companies & precedent transactions, CEO, industry classifications, etc.

3. What was your role on the team during the case competition? Focus on one area you “took ownership” of (can be comps, precedents, positioning, etc). They want to see you took initiative on a solo workstream and effectively integrated it in a team setting.

4. How has Crocs performed since your recommendation? What is their current share price? Continue to follow the company even after the case comp is over. They’ll ask if the recommendation you made is still a good one given recent performance.

Resume Experience 2 - Modeling Certification

These can be expensive, so it’s important you choose one that banks actually find credible.

Our director had us get Level I & II certified by Adventis.

Adventis has a 90-minute proctored exam at the end that took me three attempts to pass.

After finishing, they gives you the wording for the bullets to add on your resume.

It’s no secret you do lots of mind-numbing, repetitive tasks in excel as an analyst in banking.

If you’re quick behind a keyboard, you’ll be much more valuable to senior bankers since they want everything done fast.

This is why having some sort of modeling certification can go a long way.

I liked Adventis because of how personal it felt.

There are real people grading your exercises that leave personalized comments in those excel files.

The course is eight hours of videos in total.

In each one, they screen share and walk you through modeling exercises step by step.

The program’s structure can be broken down into three main sections.

  • Section 1 - Videos. There are five chapters / modules. Combined, they cover the three most common types of models used on the desk (3-Statement, Valuation, LBO). The only one not covered is merger models. Check out this link (https://www.wallstreetprep.com/knowledge/merger-model/) for practice on those if you’re interviewing at banks that focus on public company advisory (like the boutique I interned at)

  • Section 2 - Exams. They host one or two live proctored exams every week that you can re-take as many times as you want. It involves building a model from scratch. There's also a short multiple-choice part similar to what you’ll get asked in a technical interview

  • Section 3 - Internship Database. This is a newer function that has all the deadlines for on-cycle applications and other early insight programs

Here’s the link.

And no - I'm not getting paid by them to promote (but probably should be…).

Resume Experience 3 - Campus Leadership

Every finance bro’s extracurriculars will blend together for bankers.

I’m not saying you shouldn’t join business-related orgs on campus.

You need to have those on there and take on leadership to show you have that passion for business.

However - None of that will make you stand out from the other kids.

You need something else that makes you unique that they’ll remember you by.

But starting with the business orgs, here are three that’re the most relevant.

  • Consulting Organizations. I was part of this (https://giesbusiness.illinois.edu/experience/experiential-learning/illinois-business-consulting) student-run, professionally managed consulting org. I worked on semester-long projects for Fortune 500 companies. You produce weekly deliverables and give recommendations to real executives at these companies, which bankers love to ask you about in interviews. Most campuses have three or four of these. If not, they’re super easy to start on your own since you’re typically offering to do research and help businesses for free.

  • Investment Clubs. Tons of schools now have orgs that manage a portion of their student endowment fund. Any organization similar to this where you are regularly doing stock pitches will look incredible on your resume.

  • Professional Business Fraternities. These have tons of leadership roles that you can step up for as an underclassmen. Banks will look to see that you were more than just a “participant” in every org. This is why having the director of new members title my second semester served me well.

Besides the business orgs, my unique differentiator was hockey.

Not only did it show I had interests and passions outside of finance…

But it also indicated I could manage my time in a fast-paced environment, which is cruicial in banking.

The Rule of Three

I picked three areas and chose to go all in.

Hockey, Consulting (with FR YR leadership) and Business Fraternity (also with FR YR leadership).

Committing to more would’ve led to sacrifices in areas like grades and technical prep (such as getting that modeling certification).

Just make sure to keep track of your personal contributions in each activity.

You’ll thank yourself later when it comes time to craft those bullet points for each experience.

If you want the resume template I used, check out this link.

Cheers 🥂

- Jack