Looking for a new position in Finance or Accounting? The first step in any successful job search is to review and update your resume to align with your career goals. In this article, we’ll share basic resume best practices and tips for making your resume stand out when applying for an accounting or finance position.
Resume Best Practices
- List your most recent experience first and keep everything relevant
- Put experience first, education after
- Use important key words from the job description when describing your experience
- Focus on skills relevant to the job, don’t try and list every skill you have
- Demonstrate your soft skills in your bullet points
- Include licenses and certificates that improve your credibility
- Be aware of ATS systems and optimize your resume for ATS friendliness. Check out our blog post here for more information on this subject.
- Ensure you have your email, phone number, city, and zip code listed. According to recruiters, your specific address is not needed
- Do not list your references. A hiring manager will request a reference if they need one
- Always apply to a job using a PDF of your resume, but have a Word copy available so you or a recruiter can make any edits.
Once you’ve mastered the fundamentals of any resume, it’s time to tailor your resume to the field you’re applying for. Let’s talk tips for applying to accounting and finance positions:
- Hiring managers no longer want an objective or summary.
- Hiring managers prefer to see what hard skills and systems you have worked with. Display this information in bullets at the very top of your resume before listing your experience
- If you are no longer employed at a job, describe your accomplishments and experience in the past tense. Many people do not use past tense or combine the present and past tense, giving the impression that they are unconcerned about details.
- Focus on your most notable achievements/projects you’ve worked on and give specific examples.
- Show what you have achieved in a quantifiable way
Your resume creates the first impression for a recruiter or hiring manager. It is critical that it is properly formatted and tailored to the position for which you are applying. Review your resume on a regular basis so that you do not have to make major changes all at once when applying for a new job.
If you’re seeking a position in accounting and finance and want to learn more about how to land your perfect role, listen to the We Are VIP Podcast and view our latest job openings. We’d love to help you take the next step in your career.
