4 Finance Resume Examples & Templates for 2024

Finance professionals are individuals who manage, analyze, and advise on financial matters for businesses, organizations, and individuals. Their responsibilities include preparing financial statements, developing strategies for financial growth, analyzing market trends, managing investments, budgeting, and more. 

Writing a good finance resume is essential as it effectively showcases your expertise, accomplishments, and technical skills, which are crucial for securing your dream job in this highly competitive and detail-oriented field.

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Finance Resume Example

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Entry-Level / Junior Finance Resume Example

An entry-level or junior financial analyst is typically new to the field and is gaining experience in financial analysis and reporting. They’re eager to learn and contribute to the team while developing their skills. Here's a resume sample for an entry-level financial analyst.

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Mid-Career Finance Resume Example

Finance professionals at mid-career level bring a wealth of experience and expertise to their roles, having developed strong analytical skills, financial acumen, and a deep understanding of market dynamics. Take a look at the mid-career finance resume sample that I’ve prepared for you below:

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Experienced / Senior-Level Finance Resume Example

Experienced and senior-level finance professionals are critical in steering an organization's financial strategy, optimizing performance, and ensuring robust financial health. They’re often responsible for making high-stakes decisions, leading financial teams, and providing insights that drive business growth. Below, you’ll find a senior-level finance resume example that I’ve created:

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Resume Templates for Finance Professionals

After analyzing 11 million resumes using the Zety Resume Builder, these are finance professionals' top 3 resume template choices.

Cascade

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I recommend the Cascade resume template for finance professionals because of its efficient dual-column layout. This design allows you to separate personal details from professional experience, making it easy for hiring managers to locate important information quickly. A distinctive feature of the Cascade template is its ability to present complex financial data and achievements cleanly and organized. The minimalistic style of this resume template ensures that your financial analysis, budgeting, and strategic planning skills are highlighted without overwhelming the reader.

Concept

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In my opinion, the Concept resume template is ideal for finance professionals seeking a modern and practical design. What makes this template stand out is its single-column layout complemented by a stylish sidebar. The sidebar effectively showcases your contact information and core competencies, while the main column provides ample space for detailing your work history and accomplishments. The Concept template’s sleek design not only looks professional but also helps recruiters focus on your financial expertise and analytical skills. The elegant balance of form and function that this unique resume template features makes your qualifications shine.

Diamond

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The Diamond resume template offers a sophisticated and detailed presentation perfect for finance professionals. The two-column layout enhances readability and organization, with personal information and a professional summary on one side and in-depth sections on work experience, education, and certifications on the other. A standout characteristic of the Diamond template is its use of visually appealing bullet points and section dividers, which seamlessly guide the reader’s eye through your resume. This classic resume template design is ideal for presenting your credentials in financial management, investment strategies, and risk assessment in a polished and professional manner.

How to Write a Finance Resume:

1. Use the Best Format for Your Finance Resume Template

The good news is that unemployment in the financial sector is very low, and the number of job opportunities is steadily on the rise. The not-so-good news is that competition is fierce, and recruiters don’t have hours to get to know you.

To get the recruiter to invest in your resume, you need to follow these resume formatting rules:

• Check that your resume contact information is up to date. Double-check your social media footprint for anything that might be seen as unprofessional or unethical. 
• Optimizing your LinkedIn profile is a must. Leverage it as a chance to share more information about your professional experience and interests in finance. 
• Out of all resume styles, the chronological layout is the go-to for finance resumes. It highlights your professional job experience and financial skills, which is exactly what you want to underline. An added bonus is that it’s also the format that most recruiters recognize and is ATS compliant.
• For a clean resume template, choose a resume font that’s professional and easy to read. You know that people rarely read the fine print so make sure to use a good font size and leave some white space for better visibility.
• If you want your resume layout looking like one of your professionally formatted spreadsheets, save it in a PDF format.

There are a lot of questions about how long your resume should be. A good rule of thumb is that a one-page resume template should do the trick unless you’ve been in finance as long as the U.S. dollar.

Read more: Best Resume Structure

2. Create the Perfect Finance Resume Job Description

If you want to land that interview you’re dreaming of; your resume experience section needs to be more appealing than a no-risk high return:

• Start from your current position and then go back in time.
• Make each entry clear and concise by adding: job titles, company name, dates of employment, and 6 bullet points max that mention your accomplishments.
• Lower the number of bullet points with your earlier jobs. Positions in the past shouldn’t have more than 3 bullet points.
• Use an action verb at the beginning of each bullet point.
• Creating a laundry list of duties isn’t the way to go. Instead, use quantifiable achievements to impress. Make the numbers work for you.
• Tailor your finance experience section to the position you want to increase your chances of getting that interview.

When detailing your experience as a finance professional, focus on your analytical skills, financial expertise, and ability to manage financial operations. Here are sample job description responsibilities for finance resumes:

Finance Keywords for a Resume

• Analyze financial data to identify trends, variances, and opportunities for improvement.
• Prepare and present financial reports, including income statements, balance sheets, and cash flow statements.
• Develop and manage budgets, ensuring alignment with organizational goals and financial targets.
• Conduct financial forecasting and modeling to support strategic decision-making.
• Monitor and manage company accounts, ensuring accuracy and compliance with regulations.
• Perform audits and reviews of financial statements to ensure integrity and accuracy.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to develop and implement financial strategies.
• Advise management on financial planning, investment opportunities, and risk management.
• Ensure compliance with tax regulations and assist in tax planning and preparation.
• Utilize financial software and tools to streamline processes and improve efficiency.

To make your work experience section more impactful, utilize action verbs. Check out some of the action verbs examples that I’ve selected for you:

Finance Resume Action Verbs

• Analyzed
• Prepared
• Developed
• Conducted
• Monitored
• Performed
• Collaborated
• Advised
• Ensured
• Utilized

Read more: How Far Back Should a Resume Go

3. Make Your Finance Resume Education Section Shine

Education is important in finance, so you can’t just skim over this part.

Here’s how to get your education section to make recruiters go all in:

• Don’t get into too much detail if you have more than a few years of experience. Just list the following: college/university name and location, years you studied, degree, major, and minors.
• If you only have a year or two of experience or you’re writing a recent college grad resume, beef up your education resume section with wins from your college days (such as a GPA or Latin honors). Make sure they’re relevant and list no more than 4-6 items.

If you’re as new as a crisp bill or writing a finance internship resume, put your education section above your work experience. You’ll be focusing on your strengths, which is the best way to start off your resume with no experience.

Read more: How to List a Degree on a Resume

4. Highlight Your Financial Resume Skills

Skills are the cornerstone of any occupation and that’s especially true for finance where analytical skills are just as crucial as people skills. So you shouldn't neglect adding skills on your finance resume.

Here’s how to list your financial skills on a resume that’ll give recruiters visions of a high ROI:

• Think about the job skills you have—this means soft skills and hard skills, technical skills, and any other relevant skills you’ve got in your portfolio. List them.
• Pick the most relevant financial skills by using the job ad as a cheat sheet. Include those top skills in your financial resume. Always mention skills that both your experience and education sections prove.

Check out some of the best skills for finance resumes that I’ve selected for your convenience:

Finance Resume Skills Examples

• Interpersonal skills
• Accounts receivable and payable
• Due diligence
• Cash handling
• Debt and credit management
• Problem-solving skills
• Time management skills
• Negotiating
• Communication skills
• Computer skills
• Financial analysis
• Collaboration skills
• Risk assessment
• Account reconciliation
• SAP
• Microsoft Office skills
• Conceptual skills

Read more: Employability Skills: Definition & Examples

5. Add Extra Sections to Your Finance Resume

You’ve done a lot, but you’re not done just yet. You still have some room to really drive home the bottom line—you’re the employee they need. 

• Add language skills that can be beneficial to your job. The future of finance will be in emerging markets, so your knowledge of their languages will give you an advantage over the competition.
• Include volunteering, achievements and awards, projects, and even hobbies and interests if they’re relevant to finance or prove a certain skill or know-how. Finance workers need to have a wide array of skills to be excellent and flexible at their job, so include things that can prove that.
• Don’t forget about your certifications! These are absolutely crucial if you’re striving to become a finance director, financial analyst, finance manager, finance specialist, or any other kind of finance specialist. 

Read more: What to Put on a Resume

6. Write a Summary or Objective for a Finance Resume

Make your finance resume introduction through your resume profile, or to be precise, a career objective or summary. It’s a short and sweet paragraph that begins your resume for finance jobs and helps recruiters quickly understand that you’re the shiny penny they want.

If you’ve been balancing the books for more than 2 years, write a career summary:

• Think about the key points in your experience and financial skills, and make notes. Remember about your career accomplishments—they can really wow recruiters.
• Choose 4 great points and add them to your finance resume summary section to show the recruiter that they can bet their bottom dollar on you.

If you’re writing an entry-level resume or finance intern resume, choose the career objective:

• Highlight skills and knowledge you’ve gathered to date and include some points on how good of a fit you’d be for the company.
• Think of relevant transferable skills and quantifiable achievements from other gigs you’ve had throughout your life and school, especially if they can prove certain skills or know-how.

About 3-4 sentences long max is all you really need here. Don’t forget to tailor it to the job description, just like you tailor financial forecasts to the current economic weather.

Read more: How to Start a Resume

7. Attach a Cover Letter to Your Finance Resume

You should include a cover letter, even if the job ad doesn’t ask for one. Recruiters read them, and it gives you more room to prove that you’re a sound investment.

Write a finance cover letter following these points:

• Use a modern cover letter format that shows you’re a professional ready to get down to business.
• Start your cover letter off with a “hook” to grab the hiring manager’s attention.
• Show that your experience and job skills are the returns the company is looking for with specific examples.
• Add an impactful call to action to end your cover letter.

The ideal length of an effective cover letter is around one page, so keep it concise and to the point.

Later on, remember to follow up on your job application! There’s no point in managing a portfolio if you’re not going to track its progress!

Read more: Finance Cover Letter

Plus, a great cover letter that matches your resume will give you an advantage over other candidates. You can write it in our cover letter builder here. Here's what it may look like:

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See more cover letter templates and start writing.

You can also check out our other guides centered around finance:

• Accounting Clerk Resume
• Accounting Resume
• Accounts Payable Resume
• Bank Manager Resume
• Branch Manager Resume
• Budget Analyst Resume
• Entry-Level Accounting Resume
• Entry Level Business Analyst Resume
• Financial Analyst Resume
• Financial Controller Resume
• Insurance Sales Agent Resume
• Private Equity Resume
• Senior Accountant Resume
• Resume Examples for Any Job

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This article has been reviewed by our editorial team to make sure it follows Zety's editorial guidelines. We’re committed to sharing our expertise and giving you trustworthy career advice tailored to your needs. High-quality content is what brings over 40 million readers to our site every year. But we don't stop there. Our team conducts original research to understand the job market better, and we pride ourselves on being quoted by top universities and prime media outlets from around the world.

Sources

• https://www.bls.gov/iag/tgs/iag50.htm
• https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/industry/financial-services/financial-services-industry-outlooks/banking-industry-outlook.html