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.

How much does a finance CV review cost?

Professional CV writers and careers consultants typically charge £100–400, and university careers services are free but give generic feedback. Finance CV Audit gives you a finance-specific score for free, and the full report — your CV rewritten, missing keywords, a ranked action plan, and a recruiting guide — for a one-time £19.

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.

16 June 2026·6 min read

Finance Spring Week CV Tips (First-Year Guide)

How to write a finance spring week CV when you have almost no experience — what to lead with, how to turn limited experience into demonstrated interest, and the mistakes first-years make.

A spring week CV has a problem no other finance CV has: you are a first-year with almost no experience. The good news is that recruiters know this and are not expecting deal sheets — they are looking for demonstrated interest and potential. Here is how to build a first-year CV that still gets shortlisted. (For the bigger picture on why spring weeks matter so much, see the full spring week guide.)

The first-year problem: a thin CV

With little work experience, the instinct is to pad the CV or over-inflate small roles. Do neither. A clean, honest, one-page CV that signals genuine interest beats a padded one. The bar for experience is low; the bar for showing you actually care about finance is high.

Lead with academics — and yes, A-levels

At this stage your academic record is one of your strongest signals. State your degree and predicted classification, and include your A-levels (or IB / equivalent) — they are a genuine differentiator for a first-year and recruiters expect to see them.

Turn “no experience” into demonstrated interest

You build this signal deliberately, even with no internships: join a finance or investment society, enter a stock-pitch or trading competition, complete a free financial-modelling course, start a small documented portfolio, or read and engage with markets daily. Each of these is a legitimate, specific CV entry. See the best extracurriculars for finance for which ones carry the most weight.

How to write up limited experience

Whatever experience you do have — a part-time job, a school project, a society role — write it up with the same discipline as a banking analyst would: strong verb, specific task, quantified outcome. Transferable skills count when they are made concrete.

Weak

Worked part-time in retail, responsible for serving customers.

Strong

Balanced a 15-hour-a-week retail job alongside full-time study; trained 3 new staff and consistently hit the team's weekly sales target.

Common spring week CV mistakes

A generic personal statement (“a motivated first-year seeking...”). Cut it.
Padding to fill the page — white space beats filler.
No evidence of finance interest beyond “I want to work in banking.”
Going over one page. For a first-year, that is almost never justified.
Weak verbs and unquantified bullets — the same mistakes that sink any CV (see the common internship CV mistakes).

Spring week applications are competitive and rolling — a strong CV submitted early beats a better one submitted late. Get a free CV score before you apply and fix the gaps a first-year CV almost always has.