Top 3 Freshman Resume Mistakes

September 21, 2025

My first resume freshman year was pathetic.

It took me 27 iterations to craft the final version I ended up sending to banks.

Most freshmen treat the first draft of their resume like a laundry list of activities.

They fail to make it achievement-based & don’t use specific details to quantify results.

Your resume is the first impression you make & key to secure a first round interview.

Bankers only spend 30 seconds reading it.

It’s your job to grab their attention quick & flex your qualifications in a clean & concise way.

When I was president of my school’s banking academy, I helped over 200 freshmen fix their resumes.

Here are the top three rookie mistakes I saw & exactly how to fix each of them.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

  • MISTAKE #1 - WEAK BULLET POINTS

  • MISTAKE #2 - COOKIE CUTTER INTERESTS

  • MISTAKE #3 - POOR FORMATTING

MISTAKE #1 - WEAK BULLET POINTS

An effective bullet point has three components.

  • (1) Powerful verb that steals their attention.

  • (2) Detailed description of specific actions.

  • (3) Quantification of accomplished results.

This is known as the achievement-based framework.

Most freshmen have bullet points that sound like generic job descriptions.

You need to prove you actually made an impact in your role by detailing your accomplished results.

The formula is simple: “Power Verb + Specific Actions + Quantification of Accomplished Results”.

Here is an example of a private equity bullet point from my current resume.

“Led the operational diligence workstream for a $120.5M transaction in the specialty chemical manufacturing sector, engaging with third-party consultants to evaluate supply chain efficiencies and human capital strategy to identify $10.2M in cost savings”

  • Power Verb: Led

  • Specific Actions: Engaged with 3rd party consultants, Evaluated supply chain efficiencies & human capital strategy

  • Quantification of Accomplished Results: Identified $10.2M in cost savings

The first part is the action verb to steal their attention.

Never use the same verb twice & make sure it’s in past tense form.

A few of my favorites: Directed, Facilitated, Developed, Constructed, Coordinated & Spearheaded

The specific actions part should get in the weeds & list the exact tasks you completed.

Remember these are bullet points, not sentences.

Then the most important part is quantifying results with cold, hard numbers.

If you raised money as fundraising chair - give a dollar amount! Or at least an estimate.

Flipped burgers at McDonalds? How many a day? Resulting in what customer satisfaction score?

MISTAKE #2 - COOKIE CUTTER INTERESTS

Bankers will remember you by the interests section of your resume.

Most kids make the mistake using boring, generic interests like “Sports”, “Music” & “Food”.

That will make you seem like a robot.

The key is to niche down & make them way more specific.

Here’re examples of how to do that with those three generic interests.

  • SPORTS → Iron Man Triathlons | Chicago Blackhawks Hockey | Fantasy Football | Extreme Powder Snow Skiing

  • MUSIC → Taylor Swift | Country Music Festivals | Playing Guitar | Music Production

  • FOOD → Deep Dish Pizza | Chipotle | Baking Cookies | Hot Dog Eating Contests

Here are five real examples of unique interests sections I've seen to get the juices flowing.

Your interests section should spark an interviewer’s curiosity & bait them into asking you to elaborate.

There are two reasons an interviewer will ask you about an interest.

  • (1) They have the same / similar interest

  • (2) It’s so unique they can’t help but ask to hear your explanation

When I saw “Hot Dog Eating Contests” on a kid’s resume, I couldn’t wait another second to hear their explanation & asked about it right away.

My strategy during recruitment was to include a couple from the “unique” category.

The rest were niched-down versions of interests lots of bankers relate to (Sports, Music, Food, Travel).

You can get clever and try to reverse-engineer discussion topics.

For example, putting “Chicago Blackhawks” when interviewing at a Chicago middle market bank full of bankers that grew up in the Chicago suburbs could be a smart move.

MISTAKE #3 - POOR FORMATTING

Attention to detail is one of the top three traits bankers look for in candidates.

A simple mistake like using “200+” in one bullet & “over 200” in another will get your resume trashed.

Here are the table stakes formatting rules you’re expected to follow.

  • Sections In Reverse Chronological Order

  • Submit as PDF; File Name “LAST_FIRST_RESUME”

  • No Oxford Commas

  • Minimize White Space

  • Consistency In “The Tangibles”

    → Font: Garamond Size 10-12

    → Abbreviations: Months, Large #s & Metrics

    Months - Either “November” or “Nov.”

    Large #s - Either “200+” or “Over 200”

    Metrics (Millions/Billions) - Either “MM/BN”, “M/B” or “m/b” 

    → Dashes: Either short or long, don’t mix sizes

    → Alignment: Consistent Indents & Line Spacing (Use MSFT Word Ruler)

    → Capitalization/Bold/Italics: Consistent Headers, Sub-Headers, etc.

  • Remove Skills Section (“Time Management” & “Microsoft Word” are Embarrassing)

  • Remove High School Experiences & Grades

Cheers 🥂

- Jack