M&A and finance work-study CVs: structure, examples and mistakes

An M&A CV does not need spectacular design. It should let an analyst understand your level in under thirty seconds and then find enough material to ask you about for thirty minutes.

The most useful rule is simple: one page, facts, and no line you could not defend in an interview.

Order your sections

For a student or recent graduate, a common order is:

1. contact details and availability;
2. education;
3. professional experience;
4. selected society experience or projects;
5. technical skills, languages and interests.

If you already have several highly relevant roles, you can place experience before education. The aim is to put the strongest evidence for the role first.

State the contract type and availability near the top: “Six-month internship from January 2027” or “12-month work-study placement, three weeks at work and one week at university”. Do not make the recruiter guess.

Turn a responsibility into evidence

A useful bullet point contains an action, an object and, where possible, a result or indication of scale.

Too vague: “Participated in financial analysis.”

More credible: “Analysed margins and working capital for 12 European competitors to support a positioning recommendation.”

Too decorative: “Advanced use of Excel and PowerPoint.”

More credible: “Built a monthly tracking model that automated consolidation of eight operational files and prepared the summary presented to the management committee.”

The number does not need to be impressive; it gives a sense of scale. Never invent a financial impact you did not measure.

If you have no finance experience yet

Do not dress up a student job as a transaction. Look instead for transferable skills: reliability, analysis, initiative, teamwork and meeting deadlines.

An academic valuation, sector study, society treasury role or side project can make a useful entry if it produced something concrete. For example:

• “Prepared DCF and comparable-company valuations of a listed business, including WACC and terminal growth sensitivity analysis.”
• “Managed a society’s €45,000 annual budget and introduced monthly variance tracking.”
• “Presented an acquisition recommendation as a team to a panel of professionals.”

A project does not replace experience, but it can show that your interest led to work.

Which technical skills should you list?

Do not claim mastery if you cannot work independently. An honest scale—basic, intermediate, advanced—is more useful.

For an M&A CV, relevant skills can include Excel, PowerPoint, financial-statement analysis, valuation methods and financial databases you have actually used. For a corporate-finance work-study placement, adapt the emphasis: management accounting, reporting, budgeting, variance analysis or business intelligence tools may matter more than a DCF.

Short certifications are useful when supported by practice. A long list of online badges often takes space better used to describe a project.

Writing your CV in English

Do not translate French qualifications and job titles word for word. Keep your school’s official name and add an explanation where needed. Avoid photographs, age and personal information that are not expected in UK and other English-speaking recruitment processes.

Use direct verbs: analysed, built, prepared, supported, coordinated. Keep dates and punctuation consistent throughout the page.

If you are targeting a summer internship, our finance summer internship guide explains the timetable and programmes.

Checklist before sending

• Give the file a professional name, such as First_Last_CV.pdf.
• Make sure the PDF remains readable on a phone.
• Use a consistent date format.
• List experience from most recent to oldest.
• Keep alignment consistent and avoid crowding text to save a line.
• Be precise about language levels.
• Choose interests that can support a real conversation.
• Do not hide information in a graphic that applicant-tracking software cannot read.

Read each line as a recruiter might: “What would I ask about this?” If you do not want to answer that question, rewrite or remove the line.

Tailor the CV without starting again

The substance stays stable. You can reorder two bullet points, highlight a sector project or use the exact wording of a skill you possess. Tailoring should make the CV easier to read, not create a different identity for every application.

On Screeningpass, browse finance jobs to compare the skills requested, then keep a main CV and an English-language version.

Frequently asked questions

Should I include a grade average or test score?

Only if it is strong, understandable and relevant. Do not fill the education section with every result since secondary school.

Include a photo?

In France it is possible, but not necessary. For international applications, omitting a photo is generally the safer choice.

Can I use two columns?

Yes, if the result remains fully readable. A simple single-column structure reduces extraction problems for applicant-tracking software and makes quick reading easier.