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 2026·8 min read

How to Write a Finance CV (Step-by-Step Guide)

A step-by-step guide to writing a finance CV that gets interviews — the right structure, achievement-led bullets, quantification, keywords, and the mistakes to avoid, whatever your target role.

A finance CV is judged differently from a general CV. Recruiters spend seconds on the first pass, screening software reads it before a human does, and the bar for specificity is high. This guide gives you the step-by-step method that works across every finance track — for the role-specific version, see the investment banking CV guide.

1. Get the structure right

Students and recent graduates: one page, in the order Education → Experience → Extracurriculars → Skills. Experienced candidates: lead with Experience, then Education, up to two pages. No photo, no personal statement, and dates in one consistent, right-aligned format.

2. Write achievements, not duties

The most common mistake is describing what you were responsible for instead of what you achieved. Every bullet should answer “so what?” and follow the structure [strong verb] → [task] → [quantified outcome].

Weak

Responsible for analysing financial data for the investment society.

Strong

Built a DCF valuation of a FTSE 100 stock and pitched it to the society's 40-member fund; the position outperformed the index by 6% over the term.

3. Quantify everything

Numbers turn vague claims into evidence. Deal sizes, percentages, AUM, rankings, team sizes, growth figures — if it can be measured, measure it. A CV where every bullet carries a number reads as the work of someone who thinks in terms of impact, which is exactly how the job is assessed.

4. Tailor it to your target role

An investment banking CV and an asset management CV should not read the same way. Recruiters scan for the vocabulary of their specific function — transaction language for IB, conviction and attribution for AM, backtesting and specific libraries for quant. Mirror the language of the desk you are targeting.

5. Make it machine-readable

Before a human sees your CV, an applicant tracking system often scores it. Use a single column, standard headings, and a text-based file, and weave in the keywords for your role. Follow the full checklist in how to get your finance CV past the ATS.

6. Nail education, skills, and extracurriculars

State your degree and classification clearly, include A-levels as a student, and list specific tools (Excel financial modelling, Bloomberg, Python) rather than “Microsoft Office”. For activities, prioritise the highest-signal ones — see the best extracurriculars for a finance CV.

The final checklist

One page (student), correct section order.
Every bullet: strong verb, specific task, quantified outcome.
Role-specific keywords woven in naturally.
ATS-readable: single column, standard headings, text-based file.
No personal statement, no photo, consistent dates.

When your draft is ready, get a free CV score against the standards top firms actually use — it flags exactly what to fix before you apply.