How to create an amazing CV if you work in market risk

The profile of the market risk professional has seldom been higher, and after teetering on the precipice of a boom for over a year, it seems the mooted recruitment is finally happening.

"It's been a buoyant couple of months for market risk professionals across a wide range of asset classes," says Priya Mariannie, consultant, banking & financial services - risk at PSD Group. "Equally on the front office market risk management and the risk reporting side."

"It's a candidate-driven market, especially for market risk professionals who can develop and maintain close relationships with colleagues in the front office," adds Rupert Pitten, who focuses on quantitative and market risk at recruiters Kinsey Allen.

Still, if you work in market risk and are thinking of making a move, you may need to spruce up your CV. Based on conversations with specialist risk recruiters, we've concluded that an ideal CV for a market risk professional should look something like the sample below:

Your name

Postal Address

Telephone Number, Email Address

Personal statement this should be brief and gives you an opportunity to explain your motivations for pursuing a career in market risk while also emphasising your exposure to various asset classes and/or relationships within the business. Eg, 'A senior market risk professional with in-depth knowledge of FX, rates and credit product lines', or 'An experienced market risk manager responsible for developing and maintaining key relationships with trading desks, senior business management and primary control functions.'

NATIONALITY:

MARITAL STATUS:

PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS:

Highlight anything of direct relevance - Financial Risk Manager (FRM) qualification or PRMIA's Professional Risk Manager (PRM) certification, for instance. These become less important as your seniority increases.

EDUCATION (List postgraduate qualifications first. If you have more than three years' full time work experience, list your experience before your qualifications)

· Name of university attended, city and country it was located in

· Degree in X (mathematical or quantitative subject is usually a prerequisite). Degree class (1st 2/1 2/2). Date of graduation.

· If you're a recent graduate, add relevant coursework.

· A Levels: Only add A levels if you graduated within the past five years. Specify grades. If you graduated more than two years ago and have relevant work experience, it is not necessary to specify A level subjects.

· GCSEs: Only add GCSEs if you graduated within the past five years. Specify grades. It is not necessary to state subjects studied.

WORK EXPERIENCE

· Name of the company you worked for, plus the city and country you were based in.

· Your position and the business area you worked in.

· Start date- end date

· Add a very brief description of your role. The important thing here is to emphasise your exposure to methodologies and experience managing the risk on a daily basis, while also highlighting your relationships within the business and how close you are to the trading floor.

· Also summarise your asset class exposure, and just how close your work is to the business, ie, do you market risk reports make it to the senior management?

· In the current climate it's also important to emphasise your regulatory expertise.

INTERESTS, SKILLS & ACTIVITIES

Languages: Not essential but always beneficial Eg. Fluent in French; Conversationally proficient in Italian.

Technical Skills: Normally, mentioning Microsoft Office is a no-no, but be sure to big up your Advanced Excel skills. VBA knowledge also beneficial

Interests and activities: Be brief, but these are surprisingly important. Recruiters say that clients like to see little colour from what are usually fairly quantitative candidates. Reading, and watching films are therefore out.

APPENDIX: Unlike anyone working in M&A or capital markets, risk professionals are not going to have a deal list to wow potential employers with. However, you may wish to emphasise any conferences you have spoken at, academic papers you may have written or simply more detail about projects you have worked on and exposure to the regulator.