Whether you accidentally call them Bank Tellers or Clerks, Personal Bankers are one of the most important people you’ll come into contact with at a retail bank. That’s because they’re the ones in charge of opening your checking and savings accounts, and are the point of contact for anything to do with credit cards, financial services, and loans.
This makes them different from your average investment bankers, bank tellers, and retail bank clerks. And that’s not where differences stop; in addition to needing specific information on personal banker resumes, personal bankers also earn a high salary between $72,000 and $130,000 annually, which is much higher than that of a teller or a clerk.
So what job responsibilities can you expect for a personal banker? Here’s a quick overview:
Not sure how to integrate those JDs into a resume? Look no further than this article on how to write a professional personal banker resume that comes with three examples (including a personal banker resume with no experience), plus a detailed guide on how to craft your relevant work experience and skills sections. Oh, and four top secret tips.
Table of Contents
A personal banker is a financial banking employee who helps resolve client issues at retail banks. Issues can include opening new checking and savings accounts (and closing them), investigating fraud, processing new credit cards, selling loans and retirement plans, and a whole lot more.
In other words, personal bankers are first and foremost customer service-centric. They’re the ones you talk to on the phone and in person behind the desk, and they’re the ones who sell you new financial products.
This means that the ideal skills and work experiences needed for personal banker resumes are quite different from bank teller resumes and general banking resumes as personal bankers do a lot more than just process deposits and withdrawals, and cash checks.
So, how should you go about writing a personal banker resume then?
The format of a personal banker resume is just like any other, with a resume headline, resume summary, resume objective, work experience, education, possible certifications, and a skills section. But how do you tailor each section to a personal banking position? Let’s find out.
When it comes to resume headlines and resume summaries, the two are not the same. Where a personal banker resume headline is a short phrase that sums up your resume summary and is the first tactic used to grab the recruiter’s attention, a resume summary is a paragraph that expands on what you’ve already said.
Below are a few examples of stellar resume headlines for personal banking resumes.
Personal Banker Resume Headline Examples:
Now that you’ve caught the hiring manager’s attention, it’s time to deep dive into who you are, what your personal banking-related experience is, and what exceptional achievements and skills you can boast about. But you only have one or two sentences to work with; it is a summary, after all.
Help recruiters get an idea of who you are as a candidate by utilizing the structure in the following personal banker resume examples.
Personal banker resume examples for resume summaries:
Also known as a career objective, a resume objective is a quick sentence that lets recruiters in on what your career goals and motivations are. While they’re optional for personal bankers with experience, it is absolutely essential that candidates creating an entry level personal banking resume include a resume objective as it helps draw the attention to what you possess, not what you lack (which is experience).
💡 Pro Tip: Though resume objectives can be integrated into your resume summary, they are more often than not placed at the end of a personal banker resume summary.
Personal banker resume examples for resume objectives:
Your work experience is the most important section of any resume, and a personal banker resume is no exception. Ensure your resume stands the test of the ATS and picky hiring managers by doing the following:
This is also why we’ve created the nifty table below with 30 action verbs specifically tailored to personal banker resumes.
| Leveraged |
Developed |
Demonstrated |
Communicated |
Facilitated |
| Streamlined |
Managed |
Led |
Achieved |
Identified |
| Analyzed |
Conducted |
Identified |
Consulted |
Supported |
| Delivered |
Introduced |
Educated |
Processed |
Utilized |
| Reviewed |
Recommended |
Established |
Collaborated |
Ensured |
| Assisted |
Handled |
Exceeded |
Approved |
Prepared |
Below are some personal banker resume examples.
Personal Banker Resume Work Experience Samples:
KeyBank Summer Retail Internship, KeyBank
June - Sept. 2020
Associate Personal Banker, DBS Bank
2014 - 2018
Personal Banker, HSBC, London, U.K.
The way skills are formatted in a personal banker resume depends on the resume format, however you still need to consider what the most relevant personal banking skills are for your resume.
There are plenty of hard skills - technical skills - needed to perform well in personal banking roles, however recruiters are also looking for a decent number of transferable soft skills to determine whether you have the capability to ace the position.
Luckily, we’ve compiled the top 40 skills that you’ll find on any professional personal banking resume. Just remember to include an equal number of hard and soft skills to really convey your comprehensive background.
Hard skills for personal banking resumes
Soft skills for personal banking resumes
Though you may be considering omitting the education section if you have years of experience, it is still essential for personal banker resumes to indicate proof of studies, especially if you have a finance-related academic background in business, mathematics, economics, or finance.
This is still the case if you’re in the process of a career change, although in this case relevant work experience in financial roles should take center stage with your academic background in the wings.
Personal Banker Resume Example Education Section:
Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) Finance
Boston College, USA
Relevant Coursework: Financial Analysis & Reporting (3.7 GPA); Consumer Lending &
Credit Analysis (4.0 GPA)
2020 - 2024
MSc Finance, National University of Singapore, Singapore
2012 - 2014
BSc Finance, University of Maryland, USA
2009 - 2012
B.A. Business, University of Manchester, U.K.
2003 - 2006
💡 Pro Tip: Only list academic coursework and GPA if you’re currently studying, recently graduated, or if you’re crafting an entry level personal banker resume.
While you’re not expected to have this section for entry level personal banking resumes, anyone with personal banking experience should remember to list any licenses or certifications that they’ve acquired over the years. Not only will this make you stand out to recruiters, but this will also give proof to your professional caliber as a personal banker.
Examples of Personal Banker Certifications:
💡 Pro Tip: If you’re swamped with certifications, try to only mention certifications that are relevant to the role you’re applying for.
Choosing the right resume format is not as simple as selecting a pre-made personal banker resume template when it comes to considering the impact of the ATS (Applicant Tracking System). While a favorite of HR, ATSs are a pain for applicants because they struggle to recognize pictures, tables, charts, and columns.
This means that your personal banker resume could be rejected if the ATS didn’t understand the content of the stylish resume that you labored over for two hours, for example. Luckily, an easy way to steer clear of this issue is by using CakeResume’s ATS-friendly templates or by adopting a simple resume template.
Like taking keywords from the JD, you need to ensure that every element of your personal banker resume is tailored to the job you’re applying for. The first, and arguably the best, way to do this is by copying and pasting relevant keywords from the JD into your resume (as we’ve established).
The second, and equally easy way, is by doing your research on the company and the position in question. This may impact what you choose to state in your resume objective and the experience and skills you wish to highlight in your work experience section.
In addition to your professional personal banker resume and cover letter, you should also consider adding links to any side projects, portfolios, or personal websites if they are related to the skills and experiences required for the position.
💡 Pro Tip: Portfolios created using CakeResume’s free online portfolio tool can be seamlessly added to resumes created on CakeResume.
It’s highly likely that, in addition to a personal banker resume, you’ll need to create a one-page stellar personal banker cover letter to make a full application. If that’s the case, be sure to focus on elaborating on the work experiences mentioned in the resume and how they make you the perfect candidate for the job.
💡 Pro Tip: You may wish to review what a compelling banking cover letter looks like before starting to plan your own personal banker cover letter.
Looking for professional personal banker resume examples? Look no further than these three samples that can also be used as personal banker resume templates - just remember to customize and omit the parts that don’t apply to you!
In this section, we’ll share with you:
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When writing a personal banker resume with no experience, you need to first emphasize the skills you gained during your finance-related degree, as this will serve as formal proof of your knowledge of the personal banking industry. Next, you need to highlight the transferable skills developed during any relevant internships and work experiences that would help you in a personal banking position.
Additionally, entry level personal banker resumes need to include an attention-grabbing resume objective that can help shift the recruiter’s attention away from your lack of experience and onto your passion for being a personal banker. You may also wish to include a portfolio, as these make personal banker resumes with no experience look better qualified.
There are four resume formats to choose when writing a personal banker resume, however the only two you really have to consider are the chronological format and the functional (skills-based) format. Deciding which is best to adopt differs from candidate to candidate as not everyone has the same academic or professional background.
That said, it’s important to remember to carefully evaluate your skills and experiences before selecting a resume format, as the wrong personal banker resume format can be detrimental to your success as an applicant.
CVs vs. resumes: is there a difference? While you’ll sometimes see the two used interchangeably, this is actually incorrect as they are not the same thing. Where CVs are used for academic and medical applications by outlining all of your past working experiences, resumes only address your most relevant working experiences, skills, and academic studies.
That makes resumes the most common document needed for job applications, such as your personal banking application.
As we’ve established throughout this article, there’s a lot that makes a personal banker resume stand out from other banking resumes. First, there are the basic job responsibilities, which are customer-focused in that they’re more about how you can help clients understand financial products, how you can prospect leads, and how you can deliver exceptional customer service.
Second, there’s the difference in personal banking skills and achievements, which draws us back to number one in that your work experiences have to indicate an active role in customer service and experience dealing with financial services or products. As long as you remember to highlight these two aspects, it doesn’t matter if you’re writing an entry level personal banker resume or a senior level resume.
Liked this article and looking for more tips on how to make the most of your banking career? Look no further than CakeResume, the internet’s best resource for resumes, cover letters, interview strategies, and application tips, featuring hundreds of articles geared towards making achieving your dream career a piece of cake!
--- Originally Written by Eva O'Mara---