Guide

Investment banking resume: template, format and examples

Updated November 1, 2026

An investment banking resume is a one-page summary of your education, work experience, leadership and skills, written in short, quantified bullets and laid out in a plain format. Students put Education first, list everything in reverse chronological order, and show a clear interest in finance. Banks screen it fast, so every line has to earn its space.

Format norms from Penn, Harvard, MIT and Yale career centers, read November 1, 2026Free template below, no download

What should an investment banking resume include?

Five parts: a header, Education, Experience, Leadership and Activities, and Skills and Interests. That's the layout of the template on this page, and it covers what career centers and training sites say banks look for.

• Header: your name, city, phone, school email and LinkedIn URL. Harvard's guide lists a missing email or phone number among its top five resume mistakes (Harvard).
• Education: school, degree, major, expected graduation date, GPA, honors and relevant coursework. Penn suggests listing accounting and finance courses here, and says quantitative courses such as macroeconomics also show ability (Penn Career Services).
• Experience: internships and jobs, each with two to four bullets about what you did and what changed because of it.
• Leadership and Activities: clubs, teams and organizations, especially roles you led. Penn names finance student organizations and finance-related roles as useful evidence of interest (Penn).
• Skills and Interests: software, languages, certifications and a few specific interests.

Penn says a bank resume should show three things where it can: a real interest in finance, examples of impact, and leadership (Penn Career Services). Leave out a photo, your age and gender, and a references line. Harvard and MIT both advise against them on U.S. resumes (Harvard; MIT).

What does an investment banking resume template look like?

Like the skeleton below: one page, black text, clear section rules, dates on the right. Copy the structure into a blank document and replace every placeholder with your own details. MIT suggests starting from a blank page instead of a heavily formatted template, because templates get harder to edit over time (MIT).

Everything in the template is a placeholder. Write "Incoming" before a title for an internship you've accepted but not started. Penn recommends exactly that (Penn).

What format do banks expect?

One page, a simple layout, Education first while you're a student, and reverse chronological order inside each section. Career centers agree on the basics:

On GPA, Penn calls it one factor among several, says banks hire students across a range of GPAs, and notes that some applications ask for SAT or ACT scores too (Penn Career Services). If you're unsure whether to list yours, ask your career center. There's no published cutoff that applies to every bank.

Proofread more than once. Penn notes that small mistakes get noticed in a field built on attention to detail, and says not to trust spellcheck alone (Penn).

How do you write investment banking resume bullets?

Lead with an action verb, say what you did, and end with a result, using a number wherever you honestly have one. Yale's career office calls this Action + Project + Result, and its tips are to use strong verbs, quantify impact and give a baseline so the number means something (Yale). Penn suggests asking how your work helped the project or organization, such as revenue gained, costs cut or time saved (Penn).

Only use numbers you can defend. Penn warns that anything on your resume can be checked, so don't stretch titles, deal sizes or results (Penn Career Services). Interviewers also ask about any line, so each bullet should be something you can talk about for a minute.

What goes in the skills and interests section?

Software and data tools, languages, certifications, and two or three specific interests. Penn names Capital IQ and FactSet as examples worth listing, and notes that many people will assume you already know Excel (Penn). If you've done a modeling course, list it here.

Interests give interviewers something easy to ask about. Financial Edge says hobbies and interests show you balance work with outside life and bring some personality to a team (Financial Edge). Be specific: "marathon running (3 finishes)" says more than "running." Only list what you could happily talk about for five minutes.

What if you go to a non-target school?

Then your resume has to do more of the work, and networking matters more, because fewer bankers will see your school's name on a recruiting list. Penn says many candidates win IB internships without prior finance experience, and suggests showing how you added value in other roles and building a clear story for why banking (Penn Career Services).

• Show interest in finance on the page: finance coursework, an investment club, a case competition, a bank insight day. Penn says you can list selection into employer events such as insight days (Penn).
• Quantify everything you honestly can, including part-time jobs.
• Pair the resume with outreach to alumni. See how to cold email an investment banker.

For the full plan, including timelines and which banks recruit beyond core schools, read recruiting for investment banking from a non-target school.

Do you need a cover letter for investment banking?

Often not, but write one when a bank asks for it or allows it. CFI says cover letters at most banks are barely read and that screens start with school and GPA (CFI). Penn notes that some firms don't accept cover letters at all (Penn).

When you do send one, keep it to one page. Penn's career office advises 11 to 12 point type, the same header as your resume, a named reader when you can find one, and no "To Whom It May Concern" (Penn). CFI suggests three parts (CFI):

1. Introduction: your school, major and GPA, and how you came to apply, such as a banker you spoke with or an information session.
2. Experience and fit: one or two paragraphs tying your experience to the work and to what you learned about the bank.
3. Close: a short thank-you and how to reach you.

If you had a good conversation with someone at the firm, mention their name and one specific thing from the call. Penn suggests this, and says to keep it brief (Penn).

How does your resume connect to "walk me through your resume"?

Your resume is the outline of your answer. When an interviewer asks you to walk through your resume, they expect a short story that moves through the page in order and ends with why you want banking. Penn advises planning how you'll explain the way your past roles prepared you for banking (Penn Career Services).

Two checks help. First, every line on the page should fit the story you tell. Second, practice saying it out loud and time it. See how to answer "walk me through your resume" for a structure and a sample, and how to answer "why investment banking?" for the ending.

Frequently asked questions

How long should an investment banking resume be?

One page. Penn Career Services says not to exceed one page for investment banking internships, even if you have to cut older experience, and CFI says longer resumes are often skipped.

Should education go first on an investment banking resume?

Yes, while you're a student. Harvard's guide says to order headings by importance, and for students the school, GPA and coursework are usually what banks screen first.

Do investment banks read cover letters?

Often not closely. CFI says most banks barely read them and Penn notes some firms don't accept them, but write a short, tailored one-page letter when a bank asks for one.

Formatting norms are the published guidance of the career centers and training sites named, not rules set by any bank, and expectations vary by firm and country. The template and bullet examples are illustrative placeholders. Superday Room isn't affiliated with any bank, university or publisher named here.

Sources

• Penn Career Services, “Investment Banking Insights: Creating an Effective Investment Banking Resume”, February 6, 2021; read November 1, 2026.
• Harvard Mignone Center for Career Success, “Harvard College Guide to Creating a Strong Resume”, undated page; read November 1, 2026.
• MIT Career Advising & Professional Development, “Resumes”, undated page; read November 1, 2026.
• Yale Office of Career Strategy, “Writing Impactful Resume Bullets”, undated page; read November 1, 2026.
• Corporate Finance Institute (CFI), “Investment Banking Resume”, May 15, 2019; read November 1, 2026.
• Financial Edge, “How to Write the Perfect Investment Banking Resume”, June 14, 2018; read November 1, 2026.
• Penn Career Services, “Write a Cover Letter”, undated page; read November 1, 2026.
• Corporate Finance Institute (CFI), “Investment Banking Cover Letter”, May 16, 2019; read November 1, 2026.
• Penn Career Services, “Investment Banking Insights: Networking to Enhance Your Chances of Securing an Interview and Offer”, February 7, 2021; read November 1, 2026.