The vast number of estates and personal accounts within the finance industry require a steady influx of financial advisors who are adept with numbers and client management. The field is expected to hold at a growth rate of four percent through 2029, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, with a median income just shy of $90,000 in 2020.
Financial advisors help clients manage their accounts, and should have a current understanding of the various types of financial accounts clients could be enrolled in. As you’ll be dealing with individual clients on a one-to-one basis, it also helps to have a working knowledge of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software.
Since you’ll be working with numbers, having a mathematics background is useful - though it’s worth noting that financial advising software can handle all of the heavy lifting in that department. Being detail oriented and accurate are therefore the best traits for financial advisors.
Read on to take a close look at three financial advisor resume templates and review industry-based tips to build your own resume with. At the bottom, we’ve listed key action verbs and skills you should include to attract the attention of hiring managers and get past automatic screeners.
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As a financial advisor, you play a crucial role in helping clients make informed decisions about their financial future. The industry constantly evolves with new regulations and investment opportunities, so companies are seeking well-rounded, knowledgeable candidates. Resumes are particularly important in this field, as they serve as your first impression and demonstrate your expertise in managing finances.
In today's competitive job market, hiring managers are looking for financial advisors who can stay ahead of trends and adapt to changing market conditions. Your resume should showcase your proficiency in financial planning, as well as your ability to build strong client relationships and communicate complex financial information effectively.
As a financial advisor, having the right certifications can set you apart from other candidates. Make sure to list any certifications you hold, such as the Certified Financial Planner (CFP) or Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designations, as these demonstrate your commitment to continued education and industry expertise.
Financial advisors need strong interpersonal skills to build trust with clients and effectively communicate financial strategies. Use your resume to highlight achievements that demonstrate your ability to collaborate, build rapport, and empathize with clients, such as a high client satisfaction rate or successful team projects.
As financial advisors are expected to have experience conducting numerous tasks, you should aim to reference a selection of accomplishments from your past employers. Additionally, showing instances where you’ve been promoted early or recognized with awards is a quick method of indicating your capabilities.
Financial advisors handle a variety of different tasks, so it's good to include a range of appropriate action verbs in your bullet pointed accomplishments. For example, you may have "produced", "sourced", "executed", or "increased" for previous employers, each of which tells hiring managers that you have an understanding of the work involved in financial advising positions.
Few accomplishments are as impressive to hiring managers as rapid promotions. If you have been promoted within a company before, particularly for financial advising positions, you should include your promotions and, if relevant, the amount of time it took you to be promoted (i.e. “Promoted within 18 months”). This demonstrates proven competency.
As a Financial Aid Advisor, you play a crucial role in assisting students and their families in navigating the financial aspects of higher education. The industry has evolved rapidly in recent years, with a growing emphasis on technology and data analysis to streamline processes and improve financial aid outcomes. Employers in this field value attention to detail, strong communication skills, and a deep understanding of financial aid regulations. A well-crafted resume is essential for showcasing your expertise and demonstrating your ability to adapt to this changing landscape.
Crafting a targeted resume that highlights your skills and achievements specific to financial aid advising will help you stand out to potential employers. Make sure to emphasize any certifications, professional development, or relevant experience that demonstrate your commitment to the field and your readiness for new challenges.
As a Financial Aid Advisor, you'll need to demonstrate your in-depth understanding of financial aid regulations, policies, and procedures. Include any relevant certifications, such as NASFAA credentials, and mention specific knowledge areas like the FAFSA, state grants, and scholarship opportunities.
Strong communication and customer service skills are vital for a Financial Aid Advisor, as you'll be working directly with students and families. Highlight any experience you have in customer service or student support roles, and emphasize your ability to explain complex financial information in easy-to-understand terms.
Financial aid advisors work specifically in academic settings, meaning you’ll need to have (or build) an understanding of student loans, scholarships, and grants. As with all financial advisor resumes, you should rely on quantitative values in your bullet points, and include any volunteering you’ve done.
Since financial advising is based on numerical data, it makes sense that every one of your bullet points should include a numerical value where possible. If you can indicate how much you increased or reduced a value by, or what percentage of your reports were in compliance, it shows you know your field.
Pro bono and volunteer activities for community organizations or companies are important to include as it shows that your passion for financial advising extends beyond the workday. Aim to bolster the inclusion by clarifying how much time you volunteer each week/month, or how long you’ve been volunteering with the organization.
As an entry-level financial advisor, you're aiming to help people manage their finances effectively. This field has seen an increase in demand for personalised, tech-enabled services. Thus, firms are looking for candidates who can not only understand complex financial concepts but also build relationships, and navigate financial tech platforms. When preparing your resume, focus on showcasing the skills that set you apart in these areas, while keeping it concise and impactful. A great resume should capture your ability to excel in financial analysis and client management, even at the start of your career.
Since you're at the entry level, you may not have lots of job experience to share. However, you can show your financial aptitude by highlighting relevant coursework or certifications. This could include classes in economics, financial management, or even data analysis. Any certification you've earned, like a CFP or CFA, should also be prominently displayed.
Entry level financial advisors can indicate their proficiency in the position by ensuring that their bullet points include relevant skills and their technical skills are listed separately. Additionally, you should list your program name and coursework to emphasize your academic training.
While entry level financial advisors may not have a lot of field experience, you can still show you know the position by including your background with relevant skills like consulting, advising, and creating financial plans. You should also include a skills bank at the top or bottom of your resume to list your technical skills.
Financial advising generally requires a four year degree, and you should include your program name when you list it. It also helps to specify your strongest courses (such as Financial and Operational Management or Financial Accounting) to indicate to hiring managers that you are educated in those fields.
As a Portfolio Manager, your role involves a lot of strategic decision-making, so it's important to showcase your ability to make informed, successful investment choices. It's not all about finance knowledge - soft skills are increasingly valued in this field, with a trend towards a more client-focused approach. When you're writing your resume, remember that your goal is to illustrate your potential value to prospective employers. It's a balancing act between demonstrating your financial acumen and highlighting your ability to build relationships with clients and teams.
Over the last few years, there's been a shift in the industry, with more emphasis on ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) investing. This means it's essential to demonstrate any experience or interest in this area. Use your resume to paint a picture of yourself as a forward-thinking Portfolio Manager who's in tune with industry trends and prepared to adapt.
Portfolio Managers aren't just expected to manage investments, they're expected to make strategic decisions that benefit their clients financially. In your work history, provide examples of when you have strategically allocated resources, implemented investment strategies, or enhanced Portfolio performance.
Given the growing emphasis on ESG investing, it's important to show any involvement in this area. Whether it's through professional experience, training, or personal interest, make sure to include any ESG-related knowledge or skills in your resume.
A portfolio manager is a finance and investment professional who is responsible for managing and trading an investment fund's assets. They oversee the investment strategy and manage day-to-day fund trading. They may manage portfolios for large corporations to individual investor groups. Portfolio managers can take different approaches to managing investments. However, they are always responsible for overseeing, securing, and ideally, creating profitable investment portfolios for others.
To become a portfolio manager, you’ll need a strong background in finance and trading. You will need a minimum of bachelor's degree in finance or business, though a master’s degree can help you land this job more easily. Additionally, hiring managers will look for candidates with previous experience in finance and risk management, in roles such as a financial analyst or investment consultant. It’s important that aspiring portfolio managers showcase certain skills, such as knowledge of the stock market and trading principles, investment forecasting, portfolio analysis, and more.
Whether the client is a company or individual investor, one of the most important things for portfolio managers to know is how to effectively communicate and perform for their clients. You should highlight any experience you have communicating and effectively meeting client desires.
Portfolio managers need several hard skills to be successful, such as investment analysts, risk management techniques, and financial modeling. On your resume, it’s important to list these skills, and also how you have used them successfully in previous roles or scenarios.
Portfolio managers oversee investment portfolios for individuals and companies. They’re tasked with choosing the right types of assets for their clients’ needs and making prudent investment decisions based on available data. To become a portfolio manager, use your resume to emphasize a strong background in investment as well as financial analysis.
Being a portfolio manager usually requires some hard skills such as financial modeling, asset management, and investment. Use your skills section to highlight these abilities as well as any technical skills that might be relevant (e.g. Python, MATLAB, or other technical skills).
Portfolio manager roles are senior positions that often go to more experienced candidates. If you want the job, your resume should show a track record of successful portfolios that you’ve managed. Using strong action verbs such as “introduced”, “conducted”, or “trained” shows that you played an active role in your past achievements.
We spoke with hiring managers from top financial firms like JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and Morgan Stanley to gather their best tips for creating a financial advisor resume that stands out. Here's what they shared:
Make sure to prominently feature your relevant certifications and licenses, such as:
Hiring managers look for these to quickly assess if you meet the basic qualifications. Don't make them hunt for this info. For example:
Certifications:
- Certified Financial Planner (CFP), 2019
- Series 7 and 66 FINRA licenses, 2017
A resume summary, also known as a professional summary or summary statement, is an optional section that appears at the top of your resume, just below your contact information. While it's not a mandatory component, a well-written summary can effectively showcase your most relevant qualifications and help you stand out from other candidates. It's particularly useful if you're a career changer or an experienced professional looking to highlight your expertise.
When crafting your summary, focus on your key strengths, accomplishments, and the value you can bring to the role. Tailor it to the specific financial advisor position you're targeting and avoid using generic or vague statements. Remember, your goal is to capture the hiring manager's attention and encourage them to read the rest of your resume.
Your work experience section is the heart of your resume. It's where you show hiring managers how you've applied your skills to make an impact for previous employers. For financial advisors, this section is especially important because it's where you can demonstrate your ability to drive results and grow your client base.
In this section, we'll break down the key steps you need to follow to craft a compelling work experience section that will catch the eye of hiring managers and help you land your next financial advisor role.
The action verbs on the left are among the most effective for the financial advisor field. Aim to utilize these action verbs at the beginning of your bullet points, which should each describe an accomplishment and include a numerical value for best effect. Don’t overuse any single verb, though where one is appropriate in multiple instances, it can help to reiterate it up to two times.
Remember that financial advisors perform a spectrum of duties and try to indicate the breadth of your responsibilities when listing your accomplishments.
For a full list of effective resume action verbs, visit Resume Action Verbs.
While financial advisors perform a variety of tasks, hiring managers are looking for specific skills to be referenced in your resume. On the left, we’ve listed the most applicable skills for the financial advisor industry.
As a financial advisor, part of your work may involve giving presentations to clients, meaning providing an initial summary may be called for. One way to incorporate your skills is to include a short summary at the top of your resume, as this both gives you the opportunity to highlight them and shows your aptitude for summarization.
You should also include these skills in the body of your resume to help support your capacity as a financial advisor. Lastly, a skills bank that lists your technical skills and the tools you’re familiar with will complete the picture.
You can include the above skills in a dedicated Skills section on your resume, or weave them in your experience. Here's how you might create your dedicated skills section:
This word cloud highlights the important keywords that appear on Financial Advisor job descriptions and resumes. The bigger the word, the more frequently it appears on job postings, and the more 'important' it is.
You should use bullet points to describe your achievements in your Financial Advisor resume. Here are sample bullet points to help you get started:
Analyzed brand's pricing, advertising and distribution data and identified seasonal trends and white space by integrating consumer insights; recommended strategic changes in portfolio and marketing plan to C-suite executives, reversing sales slump (+6.5%)
Formulated implementation plans for transactions in collaboration with senior members of trading, sales, compliance and legal teams; generated annual profits of $10+ million
Built complete investment pitch books for 4 deals at advanced stages and liaised with 12 prospective international co-investors
Developed web scraping program in Python to help the firm download public data, including over 10,000 company descriptions and stock quotes, enriching internal data and increasing research efficiency by over 50%
Developed a sell-side ideas pitch book of acquisition targets for a ~$650MM bedding company
For more sample bullet points and details on how to write effective bullet points, see our articles on resume bullet points, how to quantify your resume and resume accomplishments.
Thank you for the checklist! I realized I was making so many mistakes on my resume that I've now fixed. I'm much more confident in my resume now.
