The Unapologetic Financial Sector Resume

 A common occurrence at our firm is that someone will email their resume along with a note of apology which goes something like this: "Attached please find my first attempt at an updated resume. As it's been awhile since my last career move and I'm not a professional resume writer, your input would be greatly appreciated.

A well-known author of investment books was once asked what advice he had for the average investor. His response was: "Don't be an average investor." This mirrors our view on financial technology resumes. Don't market your professional capabilities with a general resume that contains a "Here's what I've done. Now you figure what to do with me," value proposition. Over the years we've seen what works and what doesn't when it comes to resumes. If you want to stand out from the pack read on.

1. Does the resume include a Professional Summary? - It should.   

2. Where in the Professional Summary have you defined with exact precision the competitive market landscape you intend to engineer solutions for? If you can't define what the competitive market landscape is, how can you position yourself as a candidate who will satisfy its needs? The most serious mistakes candidates make are usually the result of poor planning. Going after the wrong market, with the wrong value proposition at the wrong time, is a classic recipe for failure.

3. Where on page one of your resume have you made mention of the simple timely proposition to a known competitive market landscape problem that you're uniquely positioned to address?

4. Are your accomplishments presented in a way to satisfy the demands of a reader looking at hard decision criteria vs. soft ones? Ex: Hard decision criteria include domain expertise in credit derivatives, proven architecture experience in distributed C++ and java software development environments; attainment of $3 million in annual sales revenues, proven experience in strategically growing account revenues from $10 million to $20 million in one year; P & L responsibility for a $30 million, 400 person division; an actual 360 degree case study documented in a paragraph on the resume that would constitute a strategic win in the eyes of the reader; economic buyer contacts and relationships that you're bringing to the table ( ex: heads of buy-side trading desks, evaluators of infrastructure technology, chief compliance officers, etc. that the reader should be concerned about)?

5. Have  you honed in on the heart of ROI concerning your particular candidacy? For every position that you're been considered for, the big question in the minds of the individuals that are considering your candidacy is "Will this individual pay off for us?" Have you included your past accomplishments' ROI on the resume in terms of hard numbers? 

6. If not, would someone reading your resume be justified in saying, "I see the high salary requirement/cost associated with bringing this individual on board, but I don't clearly see the benefit of this individual as it relates to our needs and thus have a hard time cost-justifying his or her financial requirement?"

7. Does the resume reflect your stake in the forward progress, innovation and top-line growth of a specific business category or market segment? Where have you detailed a unique approach that you took to solve a problem which should interest the reader  within the segment?

8. Have you laid out your case in such a way that the people reading the resume will feel the pain or get excited about going after missed opportunities that you're positioned to address? If not, what's the readers' compelling reason to fast track a hiring decision?

9. Does the resume highlight you as an individual transacting profitable business in the reader's specific world?

10. Is the resume helpful in clearly and simply facilitating a positive reception from the reader, or will it be perceived as a hindrance as it's too general and not granular enough to pique reader interest?

11. Does the resume include the words managed, maintained, trained, business development, liaison  and relationship often and as central themes to your candidacy? While individuals who execute on those words and what their connotation mean are employed by every company, they are not words that fit into the particular area of the value chain (building viable solutions and driving profitable results) that we and our clients are focused on. Please remove those words and replace them with: built, led, sold, drove, lead, executed, spearheaded, catalyzed, architected, developed, negotiated, innovatetd, accelerated, etc.

Who's Hiring and Why in the Financial Services Technology Sector 

December 12, 2006 - Source: Finextra - Todd Rudley Joins FirstRain as VP of Sales

firstRain, a premium research service that uses search technology to provide targeted and relevant information to fuel clients' insights, today announced that Todd Rudley has joined the company as vice president of sales.

With 20 years of experience providing technology-based solutions to the investment industry, Rudley is responsible for driving lead generation, client management and the overall sales operations for the firstRain customized research service for investment professionals and money managers.

 firstRain's Comments: "We have been experiencing a tremendous uptick in interest from the marketplace," said Penny Herscher, president and CEO of firstRain, "Todd's experience leading sales organizations that provide investment-technology solutions to major financial services institutions has given him a deep understanding of the needs of these professionals and how technology can help them make better financial decisions. This insight offers firstRain clients great value as we expand our client base."

Todd Rudley's Comments: firstRain has set a very high standard in terms of the types of clients using the service, as well as the quality of service delivered," said Rudley. I look forward to applying my years of experience in this market to provide investment professionals with the service they now need to remain competitive."

Todd Rudley's Credentials: Prior to joining firstRain Rudley drove the sales strategy of portfolio management and investment technology solutions for Mellon financial. Rudley worked closely with top buy-side institutions to seliver technology solutions tailored around their workflow and information requirements.

Rudley has also held major sales leadership and management positions at Eagle Investment Systems, Golden Source (then Financial Technologies International) and Advent Software. He started his career at Goldman Sachs and Company. 

December 12, 2006 - Source: Crains New York - J.P. Morgan Hires Former SEC Shark

J.P. Morgan Chase & Co, said Tuesday that it hired a former Securities and Exchange Commission enforcement shark to be its new general counsel.

Stephen Cutler, who spent six years with the SEC, will start his new job in February and report directly to J.P. Morgan Chief Executive Jamie Dimon. Mr. Cutler was most recently a partner at Washington, D.C., law firm WilmerHale for about a year.

He joined the firm following one of the busiest periods at the SEC for prosecuting white-collar crime.

Mr. Cutler joined the SEC in 1999, becoming director of the Division of Enforcement in 2001. He ran investigations that uncovered a slew of mutual fund trading scandals in 2003, WorldCom's $11 billion accounting fraud in 2002, and the 2001 Enron collapse.

J.P. Morgan was no stranger to Mr. Cutler's team, having paid more than $4.2 billion to settle claims involving securities fraud and biased investment research over the past few years.

Mr. Cutler, 45, joins an exclusive club of other former SEC enforcement chiefs at investment banks, including Richard Walker, general counsel at Deutsche Bank, and Gary Lynch, general counsel at Morgan Stanley.

"I am very pleased that Steve Cutler will be joining J.P. Morgan Chase in this critically important role," said Mr. Dimon in a statement.            

December 6, 2006 - Source: Finextra - Fiserv Appoints Rahul Gupta Group President Payments and Industry Practice 

Fiserv's Comments: "We are very pleased to have Rahul join the Fiserv leadership team," said Jeffrey Yabuki, President and CEO of Fiserv. "Rahul's proven experience leading payments and risk management businesses is a strong fit with the growth opportunities in the market today. In addition, his work globally will bring an important dimension that complements our initiatives within Fiserv 2.0."      

Rahul Gupta's Comments: "The market leader is looking for integrated solutions from a single provider. Fiserv has the greatest range of solutions for the financial services market and is already a market leader in the payments space. As such, it is positioned to be the provider of choice in this industry. I am pleased to be joining this market leader and helping realize the Fiserv 2.0 vision." 

Rahul Gupta's Credentials: Gupta joins Fiserv after almost four years at eFunds, a leading payments and risk management solutions provider, where he served most recently as President, U.S, Operations. In that role he had responsibility for all of its domestic operations, including electronic payments, risk management, and global outsourcing. While at eFunds, he played a key role in transforming and positioning the risk and payments businesses to accomplish significant top and bottom line growth. This was achieved by successfully integrating multiple strategic acquisitions, launching leading edge solutions and deepening major tier-one relationships. In addiiton to working for eFunds, Gupta has more than 20 years of experience in financial technology management with firms such a Pricewaterhouse Management Consultants, Fidelity Investments and i2 Technologies.

November 29, 2006 - Source: Bobsguide - The Quantitative Services Group LLC (QSG) Continues the Expansion of its IT Group (Hires Xin Liu as Developer)

QSG's Comments: "Our clients expect QSG to deliver the best stock selection signals and trading insights in the industry. We accomplish this by leveraging substantial amounts of data and computing power, said Tim Sargent, QSG's President. Xin will be instrumental in assuring that we are using the most powerful technologies within an architecture that delivers a scalable advantage to our clients." 

Xin Liu's Comments: "I am excited about the opportunity to contribute to the exciting new solutions QSG is developing for equity portfolio managers and traders."

Xin Liu's Credentials: "Xin Liu has been structuring financial data solutions for more than a decade. Prior to joining QSG, Xin worked at FactSet Research Systems Inc.  

November 29, 2006 - Source: Finextra - Wall Street Systems Appoints Dousteyssier Regional Director, Southern Europe

Wall Street System's Comments: "Xavier's appointment is a strategic one that will enable us to build and consolidate our business further in these key European markets (France, Spain, Portugal and Italy). We welcome Xavier to our management team and are confident that he will lead the region to great success," said Joel Mandelbaum, president and CEO at Wall Street Systems.

Dousteyssier's Comments: "With the combined strength of Wall Street Systems and Trema, our leading treasury, FX and back-office solutions can satisfy all needs from the basic treasury requirements to the most complex, high throughput trading and back-office environment. Building on a roster of of satisfied blue-chip clients, I look forward to sharing the benefits of our extended product portfolio with existing customers in the region, and to growing our business in the months ahead."

Dousteyssier's Credentials: In-depth knowledge of the financial markets, based on more than twelve years experience in business development and sales to financial institutions and corporate treasuries. Prior to joining Wall Street Systems, Dousteyssier spent eight years with SunGard developing its trading and risk software business. Between 1994 and 1998, Dousteyssier held several positions at Reuters including sales manager and capital markets specialist.