Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Luck of the Draw or Draw of the Luck?

REVIEWING RESUMES AND COVER LETTERS

There is an element of luck behind success in the recruiting process. One time at a bulge bracket, a candidate’s resume did not open properly, and the recruiter denied the candidate outright. Another time a recruiter saw that a candidate was also on the squash team at his alma mater and gave him an interview slot.

There are several resources out there that already list what resumes should avoid and what they should include. In this tough market, recruiters have cut their full-time hiring positions and summer analyst classes. The margin for error on resumes is much smaller.

We have written winning resumes that successfully and recently landed us jobs at the top finance and consulting firms. Through our resume help, we have given undergraduates the edge to interview for and eventually land extremely selective positions, ranging from securities traders at Goldman Sachs to associate consultants at Bain.

We know how resumes are really evaluated – what differentiates an outstanding resume from a good one. We have the insider perspective to help you seize the draw of the luck.


WHAT WE OFFER:

SPECIALIZED EXPERTISE ON UNDERGRADUATE RECRUITING

We have received offers from four bulge bracket investment banks and three management consulting firms. We’ve edited tons of resumes, and know what bankers and consultants are exactly looking for from college students.


A COMPREHENSIVE, CRITICAL REVIEW

Recruiters may spend less than a minute on your resume and it’s crucial to know what is impressive and what simply doesn’t make the cut. We review resumes with the attention-to-detail you can expect from bankers and consultants: going word-by-word and line-by-line. We critique your layout and content; dissect and reorganize for effective presentation; accentuate the core competencies firms look for and overcome any weaknesses. We also look at the big picture, making sure that resumes leave memorable impressions.

We will address:

  • Where should you elaborate on your experiences? How should you elaborate?
  • What is a waste of space?
  • How do you include finance buzzwords to describe non-finance activities?
  • How do you incorporate consultant-speak?
  • What can you do to demonstrate that my non-finance/non-consulting activities translate into skills necessary for the job?
  • What will reviewers think? Where in your resume can you ‘add value’?


QUICK TURNAROUND

Once we receive your resume, we’ll send a survey within 24 hours and get started immediately. We’ve helped some students make polished resumes in less than a week. We realize that deadlines approach quickly so let us know of any special circumstances—we will do our best to accommodate you.


WHO HAVE WE HELPED BREAK IN?

Students from all backgrounds (including non-target, non-finance) have asked us for help in improving their resumes.

A student at a target interned at Goldman Sachs and already had a great resume – she asked for our critique and afterwards found we had made vast improvements:

" I had already seen plenty of websites that ‘help people break into’ the fields of banking and consulting, but ultimately fall short by trying to provide too much advice to too many different groups of people. Unlike other resume services, what I really liked about the Chasing Consultants, Breaking Bankers is how all of the advice is specifically tailored to one demographic: undergraduate students.

The resume critique service I received was nothing short of excellent. Within 24 hours of receiving my resume, Chasing Consultants, Breaking Bankers had already analyzed, commented, and summarized the strong and weak points of my resume. I got line-by-line comments on how to improve different aspects of my formatting, language usage, as well as some specific examples of phrases to use and details to mention within each bullet point. The review also included a great summary of the most important things to improve, which included both general and specific advice on how to proceed further.

Chasing Consultants, Breaking Bankersgives accurate and relevant advice that fits the context of the current job market. I can easily say this is one of the best resume review services for undergraduates out there."


PROFESSIONAL, INDUSTRY-SPECIFIC ADVICE AT A DISCOUNT

We have gone through recruiting within the last two years, and advise students based on our experiences in the current recruiting environment. And we offer specialized advice at a discount compared to other places.

A review for either a finance or consulting resume is only $105.

A review of a finance of consulting cover letter is $65.

A review of both the resume and cover letter is only $155.

Additional services:

  • One standard length email (average 100-200 words) is $15
  • Fit or Informational interview (60 minutes, for finance and/or consulting) is $75
  • Case interview for Consulting (60 minutes - two case studies) is $125

FEEDBACK AND "CIRCLE BACK"

Recruiters at McKinsey, Morgan Stanley, and Goldman Sachs have told us that our resumes were at the top of the pack at target schools. We didn’t craft these resumes overnight – resume writing requires hard work and critical feedback.

Here’s what the review process includes:

  1. We’ll send you a survey that lets us know about your background and how we can best help you. Firms look to hire those with the core competencies they are looking for.
  2. We give a thorough word-for-word critique. We comment on everything from presentation and layout to style and word choice. We will request information needed for you to fill in the gaps and rewrite.
  3. We will do a second-round critique of your revision, with again a word-for-word critique.
  4. After the second revision, we will continue to give feedback as you tweak your resume.


NICE! WHAT'S THE NEXT STEP?

  1. Pay through Paypal.
  2. Send your resume/cover letter to recruitingreview@gmail.com.


3 comments:

  1. Do you help graduate students too?

    ReplyDelete
  2. In short, we have helped graduate students. In the recent past, we have critiqued resumes for students enrolled in MBA, Masters in Science, and Masters in Public Policy candidates. Our panel of editors work at the top consulting firms and investment banks -- and we've reviewed resumes at the post-MBA level. Feel free to email us at recruitingreview@gmail.com if you have questions. We can also provide you with contacts of former customers at the MBA-level who were successful in their applications after undergoing our resume review process.

    ReplyDelete
  3. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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