This is precisely why we are here, we curated this article to provide you with a complete guide and even some bonus tips. This guide will help you understand where to begin when writing a resume, how to make your resume professional resume, how to use resume builder and templates, what should your financial advisor resume look like, and some tips on how to optimize your job application and increase your chances of getting hired. So let's dive in!
How to write a professional resume?
To write a professional resume, you should first know what makes a resume professional. There are certain characteristics of a professional resume that defines them. A professional resume reflects professionalism through language, the language is accurate and the information presented is in the right layout with the consideration of all the professional resume standards.
- Always use past tense and third person language in your financial advisor resume
- Ensure the accuracy of information
- Proofread the resume twice and remove all the spelling mistakes and grammatical errors
- Label the financial advisor resume document in a simple way with your full name and the term 'Resume' or 'CV'
- Use a document format that is compatible with many applicant tracking systems and document viewing mediums, for example, PDF and Microsoft Word
- Use the maximum numbers possible in your resume to quantify the details so that they will have a better impact
- Use as many action words and verbs as you can to make the language more efficient when it comes to creating an impression on the hiring managers
- Ensure the symmetry of margins, white space, font sizes, etc. to manage the visual appeal of your financial advisor resume
- Use the relevant keywords in your financial advisor resume
Once you ensure these simple guidelines for writing a professional resume, are followed in your financial advisor resume, rest assured that your resume will be meeting the professional resume standards. You should also go through more of financial advisor resume examples to get a better idea of what a professional resume looks like. A good financial advisor resume example will show you which standards are visible in a perfect financial advisor resume.
Where to begin?
When you are sitting down at the desk to begin the process of writing your financial advisor resume, you will not be able to get down to it right away. There are a few things that you need to do first.
You should begin with the research. Your role and designation, your industry, i.e. accounting and finance or business finance or whichever it may be, your potential employers and the dream job providers, the job description for your role, many job ads and job postings, job duties defined in the job description- all of this should be explored in-depth.
This research will provide you with a lot of insight into how you should write your resume or how you should present your profile on your financial advisor resume. It will also help you understand the current job market scenario and the job market's trends.
When you have these insights, you will also be able to figure out which is the best way to format your financial advisor resume, so that you will stand out from the pool of your fellow job applicants which in turn will help you impress the hiring managers.
After all of this research, next you will explore the resume formats, resume templates, and resume builder resources to further simplify your task of writing a financial advisor resume.
Using resume builder & resume format
When you are using a resume builder, you will come across many questions. For example- which format to use and which template to use.
Resume formats are simple layouts that help you put the different sections on your resume in a way that will help you optimize your profile presentation so that the most important parts of your resume can be highlighted properly.
- Functional resume format: Functional resume format focuses on skills and education rather than the experience section. This is useful for those professionals who are recent graduates or freshers or do not have exhaustive or even siginificant relevant experience.
- Reverse chronological resume format: Reverse chronological resume format focuses on the experience section which is elaborate and detailed. This is useful for those professionals who have an extensive work history or even notable enough work experience that needs to be focused on as opposed to their education.
- Hybrid or combination resume format: Now if you are looking for a career change and you have skills and experience that are both transferable and hence need to be focused upon in your resume, you should use the combination resume. A hybrid or combination resume uses a layout where both the skills and the experience sections are highlighted and focused upon.
After you have decided upon your resume format, you need to choose a resume template. Resume templates offer you a layout that is visually appealing. It can be the shades used or columns or designs or simply the right margins and white space that are visually appealing. According to your profession and profile, you should choose the most visually appealing resume template.
After choosing the resume format and template, you can explore various resume builders. Resume builders allow you to enter your information and provide you with a resume that is perfectly formatted. You can try out our resume builder where you can also get AI prompts and suggestions to optimize the profile presentation and content on your financial advisor resume. It is similar to how you use ChatGPT.
(Source: https://www.financestrategists.com/financial-advisor/advisor-types/how-many-financial-advisors-are-in-the-us/)
Writing your financial advisor resume
Now, the next question is how to write your financial advisor resume! So we will not answer that question but we will discuss each section and tell you how to enhance every section to highlight important details properly.
Contact information
First will come your contact information section on the top of your financial advisor resume. The contact information should be accurate so that the hiring managers can reach out to you without any difficulties. In case of inaccurate details, the recruiters will not be able to contact you and you will miss out on opportunities that may be potentially really good for you.
Your contact information should include:
- Your mobile phone or cell phone number with the area code and country code
- The professional and formal email address that you use regularly for professional correspondence
- Your LinkedIn profile link (only mention it if your profile is updated and carefully curated, you should also be regularly active on the platform in case the hiring managers reach out to you there.
- Your home address (not mandatory and if you choose to mention it, keep it brief)
- Your professional headshot-photograph in formal attire or outfit (not mandatory so it is up to you if you want to include it or not)
In addition, if you have any portfolio links or such, you can include that in this section as well.
Resume summary
The next section will be the resume summary. A resume summary is basically the highlight of important details that are intriguing, interesting, and the most important in your financial advisor resume. The summary should consist of 3 to 5 bullet points and you should make sure the sentences and details are short, crisp, and concise.
When you begin writing the summary, note your role first. Then start the bullet points where the first bullet point notes your total years of work experience and a little bit of background of your work history. The next bullet points should talk about your most notable details from work history and experience, any achievements, exceptional performances, awards or recognitions, and so on. You should also include relevant and most important skills along with these details.
The last bullet point should talk about how you will leverage your experience, skills, and knowledge to contribute to and help the success of your next employer organization or company or client, or such. You can also state your personal interest and passion to work with a particular employer if you want to customize your resume for your dream job.
Experience/ Work history
Your experience or the work history section is the most important one because it will have all the details that the hiring managers will be looking for. You need to be very thorough and pay attention to details when writing this section on your financial advisor resume.
Your work history should be described in reverse chronological order and it should include some of the details that give an idea of the timeline and experience industry. You need to note your job title or the designation, the full name of your employer, and the time period for which you were employed.
The details of each experience should include all the relevant skills, your job duties and tasks, any exceptional performances and achievements along with any recognition or any other notable information. You should use as many numbers and action verbs as you can so that the information has the desired impact on the hiring manager.
Education
The education section should include all your education details such as your bachelor's degree, any online courses and programs that you have completed, and any other information that may fall under the education category.
When writing the details, you should mention the name of the degree, any specializations (minor, major, etc.), and the name of the education institute or organization, or platform from where you acquired the degree or courses.
Skills
As a financial advisor, you have your own financial advisor skills that you have already mentioned in the experience section as well as your summary. This separate section for skills is to highlight the most important skills and ensure that they are noticed by the hiring manager.
- Financial planning
- Financial advisor skills
- Financial analysis
- Investment portfolios
- Develop customized financial strategies
- Retirement planning
- Managing existing and prospective clients
- Customized financial strategies
- Customized financial solutions
- Undervalued investments
- Financial plans
- Client satisfaction
- Financial management
- Complex financial concepts
- Business management
- Financial goals
- Financial objectives
- Asset management
- Knowledge of financial products
- Debt management
- Investment strategies
- Financial analyst skills
- Best financial performance
- Portfolio solutions
- Managed internal systems
- Manage client accounts
- Knowledge of investment opportunities
- Risk management
- Wealth management
- Manage client portfolios
- Knowledge of investment products
- Strategic planning
- Manage clients financial
- Determine current income
- Strong client relationships
- Taking new clients
- Business growth
- Tax strategies
- Appropriate solutions
- Investment analysis
- Mutual funds
- Organizational skills
- Technical skills
- Soft skills
- Managing client associates
- Knowledge of retirement savings
Extra
In case, you have more relevant information that can help you stand out you can include that in separate sections or extra sections. Such information may not seem as important although if they are relevant, they can help you perform better than the rest in your role as a financial advisor. Such information can be your language proficiencies, your personal interests, or other stuff. It can be any workshops, programs, events, or seminars as well that you have participated in that were relevant to your role as a financial advisor.
Resume tips to write a financial advisor resume
Keywords
You must have heard of the applicant tracking system or the 'AI-driven software that the hiring manager uses'. The recruiters receive many job applications and to manually scan them and filter them for a shortlist can be extremely time-consuming work which will also take a lot of energy and effort.
This is the reason why they use applicant tracking systems or the ATS. It functions on the basis of set parameters that are the relevant keywords to your role, your industry, and your job description. You need to ensure that you include all the important keywords in your financial advisor resume.
- Technical skills
- Mutual funds
- Proven track record
- Risk management
- Risk tolerance
- Business management
- Business growth
- New clients
- Wealth management
- Client satisfaction
- Portfolio solutions
- Financial analysis
- Financial analyst
- Investment strategies
- Financial products
- Financial advisor experience
- Asset management
- Financial objectives
- Financial goals
- Financial plans
- Financial advisor position
- Financial advisor job
- Financial planning seminars
- Certified financial planner
- Personal financial advisor
- Personal financial advisors
- Financial advisor skills
- Financial advisors
- Financial planning
Cover letter
A cover letter is not always mandatory although it can really help you with getting an interview call because the cover letter allows you to pitch your candidacy to the recruiter in a personalized way.
Your cover letter can include all the information about your experience, skills, and education, and more that you mentioned in your financial advisor resume, although instead of sticking to the strictly formal tone, you can take up a bit of an informal tone in your cover letter. You should address the recruiter directly in your cover letter so that the letter is personalized and had a better impact on the recruiter.
The cover letter can allow you to talk about your inspiration, journey, and dedication for the role as well which can reflect your passion for the job and impress the recruiter.
Conclusion
In conclusion, your professional financial advisor resume should meet the professional resume standards and present your profile in a manner that makes the desired impact on the recruiter. This means you need to highlight your skills, important details of your experience, and more properly.
You can use this article as your checklist at the time when you sit down to write your professional financial advisor resume. You should also check out our exhaustive collection of resume examples, resume templates, and resume writing guides that will get you better insight into everything that you need to know. Have good luck with the job hunt.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Should I include my freelance work history on my financial advisor resume?
Yes, if you have any freelance work history that is relevant to your role as a financial advisor, it can be a great value addition to your financial advisor resume.
Do I need a cover letter with my financial advisor resume?
Cover letters are not mandatory however if you include one with your financial advisor resume, it can increase your chances of getting a call back for an interview call significantly.
Do I need a finance degree on my financial advisor resume?
As a financial advisor, your education will need to be relevant. You will need the relevant subjects in your bachelor's degree at the very least so that the recruiter can get the reassurance that you have the knowledge necessary to perform well at the job.
