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Free Banker BlueprintWhat I’m offering is simple but profound: I will take your resume and transform it into a resume that grabs the attention of finance industry professionals and presents you and your experience in the absolute best light.
When we’re done, your resume will grab bankers by the lapels and not let them go until they’ve given you an interview.
Specifically, here’s what you’ll get:
Want to break into investment banking?
A lot of people do. But the majority of “candidates” never even land an interview.
Each year, over 100,000 hopefuls apply for investment banking jobs – and fewer than 1,000 get in. Your odds are less than 1%!
And with the way the market has been ever since “the crisis,” it’s not getting any easier…
Spend some time browsing around online and reading message boards and comments, and you’ll see people complaining that it’s “impossible” or that “no one is hiring anymore.”
Just one small problem: plenty of investment banks, private equity firms, and hedge funds are, in fact, hiring each year.
After all, junior employees always leave and move elsewhere and senior bankers may “retire” or move to other firms.
And if you can bring in revenue or save time/money for a firm, there will always be a spot for you.
So the demand is there… it’s just that finance firms have been getting more selective about who they interview and hire.
I know this sequence of events all too well because I, too, once struggled to break into investment banking.
I knew I wanted an internship with Morgan Stanley ever since the first semester of my sophomore year.
Everyone else around me was talking about internships on Wall Street and the glamour and prestige of working for banks like Morgan Stanley – I would have given anything just to have been the Excel monkey in a tiny cubicle there!
My problem?
I didn’t have the contacts, and I had no idea how to write a winning resume or cover letter that compelled interviewers to want to meet me.
Sure, I was a good student… plugging away all day in the library working on my assignments and always boosting my GPA. I was very involved with the student investment club, and had already completed an internship at a bulge bracket bank.
That was great experience for my age – but without a great resume I could use to market myself, it meant nothing.
I was desperately searching for any way to land an offer at Morgan Stanley – and I wanted it more than kids on Christmas want to open their presents early.
Have you seen kids rush out in the wee hours of the morning to open all their presents early? That was me trying to break into investment banking… only I couldn’t open my presents.
So I applied to my dream internship at Morgan – and got rejected.
How could they reject a star student like myself?
I had stellar grades, solid work experience, a top university on my resume, and I was a leader in the student investment club.
Heartbroken and dejected, I got really desperate and asked friends in the finance industry to review my resume… and the first thing they did was laugh, because it was just that bad!
I discovered why I hadn’t been getting investment banking interviews: my resume was awful.
This was the wake-up call I needed to adopt a new approach and get much better results.
I ended up winning an even better offer, so this story has a “happy ending.”
But before I get to that, first let me tell you what I tried that DIDN’T work.
When I was first breaking into investment banking, it amazed me that there were no high-quality resume editing services.
Oh, sure, there were tons of “resume critique” services out there… but they were completely useless.
They used reviewers who knew nothing about finance and who kept making irrelevant comments on my resume.
Let’s face it: in most fields outside finance, resumes are a joke. The recruiter might spend more time looking at your photo on LinkedIn than he/she spends reviewing your experience.
But there’s nothing as competitive as investment banking – and to compete, you need an experienced professional. Someone who knows what EBITDA stands for.
Sadly, these services have not improved since I was breaking into the industry.
Here are just a few of the problems I still see with the “generic” offerings out there:
At best, generic services leave you with a resume that sounds like it’s written in a “thick foreign accent” to bankers.
And that can ONLY create a bad impression.
Your resume needs to be written in fluent “Investment Banker” lingo.
I remain shocked to this day at how low-quality these services are.
I had to turn to friends and my own research, and waste months of time and effort to make my own resume stand out.
I knew my resume and cover letter were keeping doors closed for me…
And so I actually put months of time and energy into making both of them better and better.
I read books; I looked into research; and I interviewed IB professionals about what they were looking to see, and how they wanted to see it presented.
I also reviewed the resumes of people who had already broken in, and looked for common success factors.
Eventually, after more than a few iterations, I fixed my resume and ended up landing an interview and then an offer at Goldman Sachs.
My resume had improved so dramatically that I actually got an “upgrade” over the bank I had originally wanted to work at!
It sure wasn’t easy… and I did pour months of time into the process, but it all paid off in the end.
If you’ve been trying to break into investment banking, you’ve already invested a lot of time into the recruiting process…. but you don’t need to make the same mistakes I did.
You can stop wasting your time right now and get more interviews, starting TODAY.
One of the benefits of finally getting into the industry is that I finally got to review resumes myself and decide who received interviews and offers and who did not.
So I got to see firsthand exactly what works and what doesn’t work on a resume – how you get noticed, and how you get ignored.
The difference between landing an interview and never getting the call-back can be as tiny as 3 words!
Make no mistake: a top-notch resume is your key to getting noticed and landing interviews.
But your resume alone cannot guarantee you a job. You still have to develop contacts in the industry and ace your interviews if you want to break in.
So I can’t do all the work for you – but I can do a lot of the heavy lifting.
I know what you’re thinking by now: “Sounds great, but do you have any examples of resumes you’ve edited?”
To show you exactly the level of service you’ll get after you sign up, I’ve linked to 2 example “Before” and “After” resumes below.
One of these resumes is from an experienced professional, and one is from a university student with significant internship experience.
Names, dates, company and client names, and other information have all been modified to protect clients’ privacy, but the substance of the edits is all there.
In addition to giving you these examples, I will also explain exactly what was wrong with each resume and what we did to fix it – after speaking with each client on the phone and getting more details on his/her experiences.
It’s very, very unlikely you’ll have a question we haven’t heard and successfully answered before, or that you have a work experience or educational background that we haven’t seen on a resume in the past.
You’re tapping into a vast reservoir of finance resume knowledge when you use our service.
Note that our clients typically sign up for package deals, so these comments refer to both our coaching and resume / cover letter editing services.
The resume editing process is similar regardless of the country, and firms standardize their recruiting methods – so my critique and editing will apply equally regardless of whether you’re applying to New York, Hong Kong, London, or anywhere in between.
If you’re from Australia but you’re applying to other countries using a standard 1-page resume, we can certainly help. But if you’re using a multi-page resume as is typical for domestic positions in Australia, this service is not for you.
We find that business school or advanced degree graduates often need the most help – whether that’s in recognizing what banks today are looking for in resumes, or knowing what to highlight on your 1-page document.
It depends on how much experience you already have. If you have at least 1-2 internships, and you’re now applying to summer internships at the large banks, yes, these services will be valuable for you.
On the other hand, if you just started university and you do not have any internships (or even student clubs/activities) yet, you should gain more experience first.
If you have questions, or you’re not sure whether these services would be useful for you, please contact us.
This service is appropriate for professionals up to the VP level. It’s not appropriate if you’re a Managing Director or C-level executive, as those types of resumes have very different requirements and accepted styles.
Yes. In fact, we normally review your cover letter at the same time as we review your resume. We also offer more comprehensive coaching packages (please see options below).
Many clients we work with DO start out with a “good” resume – but they’re looking to make it “great.”
Whenever you work on your own resume, it’s all to easy to over-analyze until you “can’t see the forest for the trees”.
We add a professional, third party perspective that can often add substantial value.
Almost every resume we’ve seen could use some improvement – whether in content, formatting, structure, or all of those.
Formatting, in particular, tends to kill otherwise good resumes – we’ve seen plenty of qualified candidates get rejected simply because their resumes were difficult to read.
You wouldn’t want to spend days working on your resume and then get rejected because you misspelled a word, or because your hyphens were different lengths… right?
That’s the level of detail you need to ensure your resume is favorably received.
Yes, both formatting and content are covered. After all, it’s hard to get interviews if your resume looks like a 5-year old scribbled it together with crayons.
We’re not going to sugar-coat this and spin some BS about how “everyone from high school students to seasoned industry professionals can benefit from our services!”
The truth is only a relatively small and exclusive group of candidates is a fit for our services.
Client fit is very important to us, and we only want to work with people we know we can help.
But please be assured that if we don’t feel there is a fit, we will immediately refund what you’ve paid. However, once we do accept your payment and we both decide to proceed, there will be no refunds granted.
So you’ve read through everything here now…
Including this list of 8 important points to keep in mind before signing up.
If you thoroughly understand everything and you’re convinced that these services are right for you, then here are the sign-up options we offer:
Investment Banking Resume / CV Editing ServiceA line-by-line edit of your resume / CV to attract the attention and interest of investment bankers and private equity / hedge fund / other investment professionals, and present your academic and professional history in the best light possible. NOTE: We will ONLY edit ONE version of your resume / CV. If you have multiple different versions and you require editing for all of them, you’ll have to pay an additional fee for each version. NOTE: We use our own resume / CV template as the starting point for this process. Please click here to see several examples of this template. If you do NOT want to use this template or you are looking for a resume / CV that is longer than this, please do not sign up for these services. |
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Diagnostic Phone CallYou’ll speak directly with our Investment Banking Resume and Coaching Specialist, so we can better understand your unique background and provide you with a strong direction for your resume and cover letter. NOTE: This is NOT a coaching call or mock interview. Instead, this is a brief call that lets us understand your background and how we can best position your experience. So it does NOT include extended feedback on your pitch, your story, your networking efforts, and so on – all of that is offered ONLY in the coaching calls. |
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60-Day Expiration DateOnce you sign up, you MUST submit your resume, cover letter (if applicable), and other documents within 60 days, and you must respond to our edits and email requests and arrange your diagnostic call and coaching calls (if applicable) within that time frame. Please do NOT sign up for these services if you’re planning to wait several months to use them. We will not be able to accommodate you, and will instead immediately refund your money if you do not submit everything that is required within 60 days. |
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# of Rounds of Editing (Each round is 5 business days apart)Getting your resume and cover letter “just right” is the goal. We’ll provide several rounds of editing (5 business days apart) to ensure you get a result you’re thrilled with. NOTE: We will ONLY edit ONE version of your resume / CV. If you have multiple different versions and you require editing for all of them, you’ll have to pay an additional fee for each version. |
2 rounds | 3 rounds | 3 rounds |
2 Business Day RUSH Service (Optional)If you’re in a hurry, we can guarantee 2 business day turnaround of your resume and/or cover letter. You must pay the rush service fee for each document you submit. For example, if you need rush service for both your resume / CV and cover letter, you will have to pay the fees listed on the right twice. |
$150 per document | $130 per document | $100 per document |
Investment Banking Cover Letter Editing ServiceIf your cover letter is no good, your resume will never even get noticed. Our industry experts will edit your cover letter to pique the interest of bankers and make them eager to read your resume. NOTE: We use our own cover letter template as the starting points for this process. Please click here to see the template. If you do NOT want to use this template or you are looking for a cover letter that is longer than this, please do not sign up for any package that includes cover letter editing. |
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Email Q&AOur experts will be on call to answer any questions you have about putting your best foot forward in networking and interviews and achieving maximum success. NOTE: This email Q&A expires in 30 days after your initial sign-up. You MUST ask your questions within that time frame, because personalized Q&A expires at the end of this period. If you want to commence your Q&A later than your sign-up date, please let us know your reasons and your time frame in advance, and we may make exceptions depending on your case. Please note that we will not be able to answer individual Q&As after the 30-day period. NOTE: To see exactly what is included in this email Q&A and the questions we can and can’t answer, please read this document that describes the support services. We CANNOT answer questions that are listed under the “What is NOT Included in the Support Services” category. |
30 days | 30 days | |
Revision of EmailsWe will also revise and edit emails of your choosing, including follow-up / thank you emails, interview request emails, introductory emails, and so on. NOTE: This only includes revisions of EXISTING emails that you have written, NOT drafting emails from scratch. |
Revisions of 2 Emails | Revisions of 4 Emails | |
1-on-1 “Personal Pitch” Coaching CallsDuring these 30-minute calls with our Senior Coach Nicole, you’ll get feedback and guidance on how to construct and deliver a winning Personal Pitch – and you’ll get answers to any recruiting-related questions you have. |
One (1) 30-Minute Call | Two (2) 30-Minute Calls | |
Access to BIWS IB Networking ToolkitYou’ll get secure online access to our popular training program, the BIWS Investment Banking Networking Toolkit, including Q&A and support via our help desk. |
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Priority Response to All EmailsYour email questions will go to the “front of the line” for the fastest response. |
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Pitch Perfection ServiceFollowing your personalized coaching call, you can submit your revised 2-3 minute pitch (a 2-3 minute audio file or a 1-page written document). We’ll provide you with feedback and suggestions to revise your pitch and make it “pitch-perfect” within 5 business days. |
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Personalized & Customized Action PlanThis is a 1-page document that sums up our recommended recruiting strategy for you, and gives you a concrete set of Action Steps to follow when networking. Click here to see an example Action Plan for a previous client. |
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One “LinkedIn For Investment Banking” Profile Edit and ReviewLinkedIn is a powerful networking and recruiting tool when used to its full potential. We’ll review and edit your existing LinkedIn profile so that you get more attention from recruiters, win interviews more effectively, and put your best foot forward online. |
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Price |
$497 |
$997 |
$1,997 |
For personalized, industry-specific coaching and support, you will not find better value anywhere else.
Yes, there are some standalone services for JUST resume editing or JUST coaching that may save you a few bucks.
But you get what you pay for.
If you want help from professionals with a track record – who are now doing this as their full-time jobs as opposed to “side projects whenever there’s some downtime in their 80 hour per week job” – then this is the best service around.
What we offer is certainly not for everyone…
But if what you’ve tried so far has not gotten you the results you want at the speed you want them, then we can help you gain traction and get a better outcome for yourself right away.
Choose your preferred option above, and we’ll be in touch to find out more about your situation and advise you on the next steps.
And if you decide that it’s not for you before we begin, or we decide that we can’t coach you effectively, we’ll refund every cent you paid.
We look forward to potentially working with you!
To YOUR success,
Nicole Lee Senior
Investment Banking Coach
Mergers & Inquisitions
P.S. To recap: we believe this is the most comprehensive, IB and finance-specific coaching service available anywhere, online or offline. We have hundreds of testimonials on file from finance professionals whom we’ve helped.
And while this isn’t right for everyone, we DO pledge to only take you on as a client if we firmly believe we can add value. We look forward to hearing from you.
P.P.S. Still have questions? Feel free to contact me and I will be happy to respond to any specific concerns, questions, or comments you have.