You’re excellent at managing the financial health of your company, but can you manage the health of your career? Read the guide below to discover how to craft a financial manager resume that will speed you to your next interview.
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A dynamic finance manager resume is like a carefully balanced financial plan. It envisions a bright career future and demonstrates how to get there. A stale resume could stall your job hunt before it gets started. Garner high interest with a resume that elevates your assets and yields those interviews.
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What gives a resume that power? Clear vision, passion and a balanced portrayal of your value.
As a finance manager, you know that when you present a budgetary plan, you need to impress from the start with a clear goal and the data to back you up. Without that initial buy-in, you’ll have a tough sell. For a hiring manager, your resume is that first impression. Don’t let your career stagnate. Craft a finance manager resume that elicits trust in your skills and gets you a step closer to that great new job.
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This resume guide and the embedded finance manager resume example will cover the following:
Before you begin writing your finance manager resume, you need to know how to structure it. Your resume should contain the following key sections:
Applying for a job equates to selling your financial budget. How will your ideas translate into higher revenue for the company? In other words, what value will it bring in the short and long term? This is what an employer wants to know about you. What value will you bring? To answer that question, research the company and its culture to direct your resume squarely at the needs and style of each firm.
These points will help you make the most of your assets:
Optimize for the ATS
HR departments use ATS, or applicant tracking systems, to scan and rank resumes based on keywords and phrases from the job listing. Their algorithms decide which resumes will pass through to a human.
To enhance your chances, plug in those words. For example, if the finance manager job ad asks for:
Your summary for this position could say:
“Finance manager with five years of experience in the software services industry. Keen skills in financial modeling, forecasting, and variance analysis. Presented recommendations that led to 7% increase in revenue year-over-year during my tenure.”
Our article, Resume ATS optimization, provides more tips and hints for managing the ATS. An ATS resume template may also fit the bill.
Trustworthy, organized and flexible—these are traits of a great finance manager. Reflect them in the design of your resume.
If you’ve taken a linear career path, the best format for your finance manager resume is reverse chronological, because it allows you to create the story of your career’s forward progress. Your employment history section begins with your most recent job and proceeds in reverse chronological order. Below is an example of this format.
If you are moving from an assistant finance manager resume and looking for a promotion, seeking your first job, or have made a career shift, consider a functional or hybrid format. This format gives the flexibility to highlight skills over your employment history.
Our resume builder contains dozens of templates. Choose the format that best suits your situation. You can also view any of the three formats as completed resume examples.
A finance manager resume design should be clear and organized. We recommend a professional layout that makes it easy for the hiring manager to easily find all the information they seek.
Just as your business card contains everything needed to reach out to you, so should the header of your finance manager resume. Secondarily, the header gives you some space to express yourself visually.
First, however, make sure all you information is accessible and professionally presented.
Orlando, FL – Willing to relocate
30 W. Amelia Street
Orlando, FL – Willing to relocate
How do you introduce yourself in a friendly manner while letting new contacts know where your expertise lies? The way you present your credentials can lend gravitas to your financial opinions. You want them to trust your knowledge and accept your ideas.
The summary of your finance manager resume performs the same function. Briefly—using no more than 3 sentences—tell the employer how your financial prowess will improve cash flow, increase revenue and insulate them from economic downturns. The best summaries make a strong case for your value add.
Write with active verbs such as accounted, analyzed, assessed, recommended, or presented and follow them up with what your actions achieved.
Use the first sentence of your summary to crystalize your overall career success. No need to repeat information found in your work history. Space is at a premium. Instead aim to showcase the unique combination of skills and attributes that make you a great finance manager. For example: “Forward-thinking finance manager accomplished at driving financial strategies and optimizing operational efficiencies to maximize profitability and mitigate risks within home construction industry.”
Here you have the opportunity to craft the image you want the hiring manager to see. Are you detail-oriented? A big picture thinker? An expert at financial regulations or tax mitigation strategies? Highlight the aspects of your professional personality that best mesh with the company’s requirements.
Need inspiration for your summary? Check out our related resumes:
You can find adaptable finance manager resume examples summary below:
Entry-level adaptable resume summary/profile exampleDedicated finance professional with a strong academic background and a passion for financial analysis, eager to take on finance manager role. Oversaw finance committee 5-year forecasting report and recommended investment shift leading to 15% increase in available funds for personnel budget. Strong foundation in drafting contracts, developing budgets, and forecasting profit and loss.
Copy to clipboard Mid-level adaptable resume summary/profile exampleFinance manager with five years of experience in $1.5 million logistics company. Proficient in financial analysis, budgeting, forecasting, and team leadership. Committed to delivering strategic insights and solutions to support organizational growth and success. Collaborated with strategic planning department to realize 10% increase in profits in one year.
Copy to clipboard Senior-level adaptable resume summary/profile exampleSenior finance manager with 10+ years of experience leading finance teams and overseeing complex financial operations in hospitality industry. Innovative strategies for analyzing hotel occupancy led to increased efficiency in staffing and reduction in operational expenses across multiple properties. Adept at fostering collaborative relationships across departments and delivering actionable insights to senior leadership.
Copy to clipboardBeginning with your most recent position, the employment history section of your resume takes the hiring manager through the story of your career, achievement by achievement. Stick with relevant jobs and go back only 10-15 years.
Each bullet point lists a contribution you have made to your employers during your career. Follow this formula for developing your items:
Eliminate extraneous words such as “I was responsible for” or “I was tasked with” and get right to the point.
A resume job description sounds like the job ad is unlikely to impress a recruiter. Review the bullet items:
These barebones items fail to pique a company’s interest by telling them what you will bring to the accounting and finance department. These sound generic and don’t give the hiring manager any idea of what the candidate is capable of.
Details and data make all the difference. What ideas did you put forward after analyzing the data and how did they improve the bottom line? What atmosphere did you promote within your team? That’s what the hiring manager wants to know.
Check out these revamped bullet items:
Take a look at the finance manager employment history resume sample below:
Adaptable resume employment history exampleSenior Financial Analyst at Delta Air Lines, Atlanta
September 2018 - Present
Financial Analyst at UPS, Atlanta
June 2015 - August 2018
No one starts their finance career as a manager, but you may not have direct management experience. How do you craft a resume that will get you that promotion to manager without having been one?
Consider any committees or projects you have led that had tangible success. Were there times you acted as second-in-command or performed the manager’s duties when she was on vacation? These demonstrate your ability to lead.
Add any management courses you have taken that provided you with foundational skills or internships in which you used skills such as communication or collaboration that will transfer to the role you desire.
Demonstrating that you have the skills necessary to manage even if you have not had the title will show recruiters that you are ready even with no direct experience on your resume.
A well-crafted skills list gives recruiters a picture of your professional expertise and style – all within a few carefully chosen words. In your finance manager resume skills list, craft a blend of the best of your hard and soft skills to demonstrate your overarching financial expertise.
Put hard skills like forecasting and budgeting, data analysis, financial software proficiency, and specific industry knowledge front and center since they form the basis of your career.
All finance professionals need soft skills such as strong communication, adaptability, honesty, and integrity as well.
Our resume builder suggests pre-written key skills that you can opt for, or write in your own skills. Add your proficiency level to complete the picture.
Here’s what the skills box looks like in our finance manager resume template.
While the skills section provides the bones of your expertise, your entire finance manager resume fleshes it out with quantifiable examples and successes. Thread your skills throughout each section of your resume.
For example, your work history and summary sections can highlight your
Analyze the job listing to make the best choices of skills to highlight.
The education section of your resume lists all your academic degrees. Finance managers typically need at least a bachelor’s degree in business, finance, economics, or another related field. If you have extensive training, an MBA, or other post-graduate degree, you may drop your high school diploma from this section.
Formal education is not the only way to gain financial knowledge. You may add:
Consider a functional format if your education section is more compelling than your work history. This format provides you with expanded room to highlight your learning.
Adaptable example for education and certificationsMaster of Business Administration (MBA), Goizueta Business School, Atlanta
August 2013 - May 2015
Bachelor of Science in Finance, Terry College of Business, Atlanta
August 2007 - May 2011
When you’re ready to present your forecasting deck, you need to have the art department (aka the PowerPoint whiz) finesse its looks to back up your stellar ideas. If the first impression the finance chiefs get of your analysis is a confusing batch of numbers, you’ll have lost them before you begin.
The design of your finance manager resume serves the same purpose. To get the hiring manager to read through your carefully crafted resume, you first need to attract them with an eye-catching layout that’s clean, organized, and reader-friendly. This will also help them remember your application as they turn to the next ones in their pile.
Finance is a fairly conservative profession, so avoid gimmicks and graphics, and think carefully about any use of color. If you do choose color, opt for a muted or dark tone and choose a font color that contrasts for easy reading.
For finance managers, try bold display type to signal authority. Use clean lines with clearly distinct sections.
Developing a compelling resume from scratch can’t be done in haste, but our field-tested resume templates offer a shortcut. They remove the formatting and designing barriers so you can focus on the content and enter the job market more quickly.
As more and more data becomes available to companies, they need experts to manage and analyze that data. That means more jobs for finance managers in the future.
Statistical insightThe median salary for finance managers in 2022 was $139,790, with a typical range of $104,150-$203,720. Finance managers in New York and San Francisco earn the highest average incomes, at $230,200 and $223,270.
Finance management is a career in high demand and an excellent resume can open many doors. Showcasing forethought, analytical skills, and leadership abilities along with an assurance of trustworthiness throughout your application document and with a professional-looking design will elevate your candidacy.
Streamline the application process and avoid the trouble of formatting with our online resume builder to get your job hunt going more quickly.
