Google’s simple formula for resume success applies especially to finance
Lazlo Block, Google’s ‘SVP of People Operations’ has developed a sideline offering careers advice on LinkedIn. In his latest epistle, Block tackles the issue of resumes. He says getting your resume right is easy. You just need to follow this incredibly simple formula:
‘Every one of your accomplishments should be presented as:
Accomplished [X] as measured by [Y] by doing [Z]‘
Specifically, Block’s resume template says you need to start with an active verb, followed by a statement that numerically measures what you accomplished,
Block’s formula applies as much to asset management, M&A or sales and trading, as to tech development. In fact, it applies so much to finance careers that Block actually uses two finance examples to illustrate his technique.
In the first, he says that this statement in a finance-related resume sounds bad:
‘Studied financial performance of companies and made investment recommendations.’
Whereas Block says this statement in a finance-related resume sounds good:
‘Improved portfolio performance by 12% ($1.2M) over one year by refining cost of capital calculations for information-poor markets and re-weighting portfolio based on resulting valuations.’
In the second he says that if you’re a finance or consulting professional, you should not write:
‘Responsible for negotiating service contracts with XYZ.’
When you could write:
‘Negotiated 30% ($500k) reduction in costs with XYZ to perform post-delivery support.’
Or even better, you can say:
‘Negotiated 30% ($500k) reduction in costs with XYZ to perform post-delivery support by designing and using results from an online auction of multiple vendors.’
Ultimately, Block says you need to be specific. You need to provide data. And it helps if you provide a ‘meaningful comparison’ – compare your achievements (favourably) to those of your peers. So, now you know. Don’t even think about sending out another application unless you’re following this resume template throughout .
