How is a finance CV scored?

Your CV is scored 0–100 across six weighted criteria: metrics & quantification (25%), bullet point quality (20%), role-fit alignment (20%), structure & formatting (15%), education (10%), and skills & keywords (10%). Each is benchmarked against successful candidates at firms like Goldman Sachs, Citadel, and KKR.

Is this just generic CV advice?

No. Every point is specific to your CV — it quotes your actual bullets and explains exactly why each one is weak. The rubric also adapts to your target role, so an investment banking CV and a quantitative research CV are judged against entirely different criteria.

How is this different from my university careers service?

Careers services give general guidance like "use strong verbs". This gives you firm-specific feedback: your exact bullets rewritten in top-tier analyst voice, the precise ATS keywords your CV is missing, and a ranked action plan — all benchmarked to bulge-bracket and top-fund standards.

How long should a finance CV be?

One page for students and recent graduates; up to two pages once you have a few years of relevant experience. Bulge-bracket recruiters treat a two-page student CV as a red flag — fitting everything onto one page is itself part of the test.

What do I get for £19?

The full report: a scored breakdown of all six sections, three of your weakest bullets rewritten in top-firm voice, a role-specific list of missing keywords, a ranked action plan, and a benchmark against a successful candidate at your target firm tier. The score preview is always free.

Is there a money-back guarantee?

Yes — a 30-day, no-questions-asked money-back guarantee. If the full report does not help you improve your CV, email us within 30 days and we will refund the £19 in full.

Is my CV kept private?

Yes. Your CV is analysed in real time and is not stored after the analysis, never sold, and never shared for marketing. We keep only the email you provide to send your report and a short series of follow-up tips, which you can unsubscribe from at any time. See our Privacy Policy for full detail.

What file types do you support?

PDF and Word (.docx), up to 10MB. The PDF must be text-based rather than a scanned image, so the analysis can read your actual CV text. Upload takes about five seconds.

15 June 2026·6 min read

The Best Extracurriculars for a Finance CV

Not all extracurriculars are equal on a finance CV. Here are the highest-signal activities — investment societies, leadership roles, competitions — and exactly how to write them up.

When you have limited work experience, extracurriculars do a lot of the heavy lifting on a finance CV — but only the right ones, written the right way. Recruiters are looking for genuine, self-driven interest in finance and evidence of the soft skills the job demands. A long list of unrelated clubs does not signal that; a few high-leverage activities do.

The highest-signal extracurriculars

Ranked roughly by how much they move a finance application:

Student investment fund / investment committee — running real or paper money gives you a portfolio and a thesis to discuss in interviews. This is the single most valuable activity for IB and AM.
Finance / investment society leadership — a committee role (president, treasurer, head of a division) shows initiative and gives you something to quantify.
Competitions — stock-pitch, M&A, trading, or valuation competitions are legitimate, specific CV entries. Reaching a final or being shortlisted counts even without winning.
A personal portfolio — a documented portfolio with a written thesis per position proves sustained, independent interest.
CFA student affiliate / completed courses — free to join and a clear commitment signal, especially for asset management.

Leadership roles — what actually counts

“Member of the finance society” is close to worthless. A role with responsibility and a measurable outcome is what registers: organising an event series, growing membership, managing a budget, running a competition. The title matters less than what you did with it and what changed as a result.

How to write them up

Treat extracurricular bullets exactly like work experience: strong verb, specific task, quantified outcome. The difference between a throwaway line and a talking point is specificity.

Weak

Helped organise events for the finance society.

Strong

Organised a 6-event speaker series for the finance society, securing 4 alumni from bulge-bracket banks and growing average attendance from 30 to 90.

What to leave off

Drop generic, unexplained memberships and anything that takes up space without sending a signal. One page means every line competes for its place. A finance-relevant activity with a quantified outcome beats three passive memberships every time. For the wider set of first-year mistakes, see the most common internship CV mistakes.

Not sure whether your activities are pulling their weight? A free CV score shows how your CV reads against the standards top firms use — and the full finance CV guide covers the rest.