A trader resume can require a lot of tuning to show that you have the necessary skills and expertise for a new position. It’s necessary to show superior skills in an extremely competitive employment market.

Issues for Trader Resumes

Although stock and securities trading does have a generic element, in practice all trader jobs and all employers are different. Stock trading firms work as individuals with their own special services, operating principles and products.

These are the primary issues for trader resumes:

• A basic trader resume simply listing jobs and implying expertise in areas of trading, isn’t good enough. It’s essential to show clearly that your areas of expertise relate strongly to the position you want.
• Specialist trading like investment trading, wholesale trading, day trading, and derivatives trading are specialist areas. The resume must show direct evidence of experience and qualifications in these fields, unless it’s an entry position.
• Familiarity with financial services, products, and specific markets is also essential. It’s necessary to research any trader job to understand fully the needs of the employer and the requirements of the job.

Resume Formatting

Because a trader’s work can be multi level, a resume can become unwieldy and difficult to read if it contains too much information. You do need to spell out the relevant parts of your resume in detail, but everything else has to be managed to avoid clutter.

For example:

Trader A works as an all rounder, trading various forms of stocks, options and derivatives for a broker. The new job Trader A wants is all about options trading, for a day trading firm.

Clearly, a lot of Trader A’s current resume is therefore irrelevant to the new position.

Trader A rewrites the resume entry for the current job thoroughly:

Current position: Equity trader, ABCDEFG Brokers Inc.

Responsibilities: Purchase and sale of equities, options and derivatives based on management trading programs and orders.

This is a very basic job, buying and selling on orders. So far, no changes to the resume.

Now a whole new sentence is added:

Trade of options relates to large scale orders for corporate clients on a short term investment basis.

This single sentence completely reinvents the basic trader from a very common equity trading position into a credible job prospect for the day trader position. Options trade over specific time frames in large volumes daily, and this is a common buying and selling pattern. Trader A has shown clear knowledge of the options trading concepts, and is working with large amounts of money, also common in high turnover trading.

Trader A also simply doesn’t mention the irrelevant areas of the current job. That one sentence is all any screening officer needs to see.

Resumes for Working with Specialist Trading Requirements

Trader A’s example also applies to special trading situations. If you’re working with specific types of trading, like Exchange Traded Funds, mutual fund units, or other niche or index based forms of security, your resume has to reflect your experience and understanding of the processes of these markets.

Include in each relevant part of your resume a statement incorporating proof of trading experience and knowledge of these markets. Keep entries simple, and make sure they demonstrate the right level and market context for the position you want.