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What, exactly, is wrong with my CV (7)?

25 June 2009

"I've moved around a fair bit since graduation in 2007. Initially I went into a front office grad scheme, but it didn't suit me. At the start of 2008 it became very difficult to find work, so i took an operations temp contract which lasted 6 months. More recently, I've interned for a proprietary trading firm, as a day trader."

Education

· 2003 - 2007 London University BA (Hons.) 2:2

· 1993 – 2002 A Levels: BCC

· 10 GCSE Passes A* - B

 Work Experience

 12/2008 – 04/09 Trading company, London

 Position: Futures day trader (intern)

 · Intraday Equity Index futures trading

· Identifying arbitrage opportunities between the cash and futures markets

· Using chart and technical analysis to develop indicators for entry and exit points in the market

· Momentum trading

 3/08 – 9/08 European investment bank

Position: Exchange Traded Derivatives Brokerage Analyst

Duties:

· Reconciling and paying brokerage invoices against internal systems and exchanges on a timely basis

· liaising with traders

· Use of GMI & R&N

· Provision of detailed responses to management and traders if requested

· Ensure invoices balanced to a high level to reduce risk of over payment or incorrect payment

· Daily dealings with internal clients, (front office, finance, legal) regional team members and external brokers

· Liaison between onshore and offshore teams

· Training junior members of off-shore team

· Covering and chairing meetings with regional ETD heads

· Taking ownership of counterparty exposure and ‘change the bank’ projects

· Challenging internal systems and processes to identify opportunities for improvement

· Daily trade reconciliation between CME and CBOT exchanges and in house systems

· Liaison with regional CSG teams, internal and external clients to investigate and resolve rate discrepancies arising during invoice reconciliation process

 07/07 - 04/0 Fund management company

 Position: Fund Sales graduate role

 Duties

· Assisting Sales Managers by performing the following functions:

· Obtaining the allocation or break-downs (splits) for client transactions

· Account opening:

· Liaising with clients to obtain client information and documentation

· Account accurate maintenance of client account information in I-Avenue (e.g. updating settlement instructions)

· Liaising between my client advisors and other Sales Desks, Marketing, Legal and other Operational areas (e.g. Client Services, Settlements, RFP teams etc.)

· Provision of phone coverage

· Ensuring that sales relationship data in in-house systems is up-to-date

· Follow up on client queries

· Researching other competitor funds, market trends, and opportunities to sell funds in new markets,

· Supporting management reporting through data extraction and manipulation on an ad-hoc basis

· Assisting with the preparation of presentations

· Increasing product knowledge of equities, bonds and commodities

· Rotation through broker & client services on the UK and offshore desks, responding to a variety of client queries whilst building product knowledge and relationships with product specialists.

08/06 - 02/07 American investment bank

Position: HR (Investment Management and Global Private Clients)

 Duties

· Supporting 2 HR Managers of MLIM/GPC

· Assisting the contracts and IB teams

· Liaising with external consultants and client requests

· Inputting, maintaining and auditing high quality data on Workflow

· Issuing letters for contract amendments, new hire information, leavers, promotions, salary increases, transfers, providing reports and telephone interviewing

· Booking meetings and interviews.

· Liaising with all HR specialist groups including contract, temp, accounts, and ML Executive teams.

· Assisting senior HR management on ad-hoc projects.

Systems Skills

MS Office Suite, Macros, Pivot tables, V look-ups, I-Avenue, FAST, Micropal, Bloomberg, Stellar, TT, CQG, GMI, R & N.

 

If you want your CV reviewed on eFinancialCareers, please email it to our editors at editor@efinancialcareers.com.

 

Comments (40)

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• Comments 1 - 10 of 40

• You have a 2.2 - that's whats wrong. You should get a job in Tesco

  Steve Ewer 25 Jun 2009

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• You are asking the wrong question....
  It's like asking why we got 5 heads in a row for a random coin toss.
  Nothing is wrong with your CV :-). You have a degree plus work experience which is valuable. You should not take rejection personally.

  joe 25 Jun 2009

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• Idiot! leaving FO position was a career destroying move... You're toast dude!

  Asian Trader 25 Jun 2009

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• I hope you understand the kind of comments that you are likely to receive in response to the posting of your CV.
  
  My first concern would be about your ability to demonstrate an ability to improve in areas in which your results could have been better. For example, your A-Level results are disappointing; but to then receive a 2:2 at university suggests that you did not realise that it would be to your advantage to demonstrate that you could do better by getting a good degree.
  
  Additionally, your CV suggests that your attitude towards the importance of education and, more importantly, that you need to be self-motivated and highly driven to succeed in banking and, well, any respectable job really, will lead any prospective employer to wonder what you can bring to their firm.
  
  Ask yourself these questions:
  
  1) You received disappointing A-Level results, but then you also received a disappoing university degree result? Are you not able to learn from your mistakes? Are you capable of developing as an employee?
  
  2) Front Office is significantly different to Operations. Do you know where you want to work?

  Analyst 25 Jun 2009

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• Another question is why would you list your results at A-Level when they are not strong enough to help your application. Instead they will only serve to raise questions about your ability which, of course, will lead the employer to ask for further evidence of your ability!

  Analyst 25 Jun 2009

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• you managed to get on a grad scheme with a 2:2 & you left because "it didn't suit me"?  a wasted opportunity me thinks.
  
  what is wrong with your cv?  you've got pretty poor grades & your work experience shows a lack of direction in what you want to do (HR to sales to analysis to trading?) & the one decent long term  position you did get didn't suit you!!
  i'd suggest you seriously consider what you want to do & what will actually interest/suit you & then tailor any experience you do have to be relevant for that type of role.

  unemployed 25 Jun 2009

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• Lots and lots. Bad A-levels, bad degree (which London university did you get into with BCC???), flitting from job to job, back-office roles in the main. What on earth are you looking to do?

  Baxter Basics 25 Jun 2009

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• u have worked at more places in 2 years than i have in 15

  ted 25 Jun 2009

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• I am going to be blunt here:
  
  The way in which you have written, for want of a better word, your CV is appalling. Absolutely dreadful. The constructs of your grammer suggests that you have no interest in work and view the concept of professionalism as a joke.
  
  In fact, if anybody at a serious firm wrote sentences similar to the the following which I have referenced from your CV, they would be sacked.
  
  "Provision of phone coverage" - That is not a sentence!
  
  "Booking meetings and interviews." - This is pathetic. Do you believe anybody to take you seriously? Really?
  
  In fact, I have been too generous in my advice. Allow me to be very clear:
  
  Your CV is the most incoherent piece of junk that I have ever read; it contains neither a grammatically correct sentence nor a degree of professionalism.

  Analyst 25 Jun 2009

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• "At the start of 2008 it became very difficult to find work" - why walk out on a grad scheme?
  
  Very average education, too many jobs and you've not stuck at anything.
  
  In a good market you'd probably get picked up to work in Ops, in this market you're probably stuck with short term temp work wherever you can get it

  Recruiter1973 25 Jun 2009

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