How to write a resume for an Asian banking role if you’re a serial job hopper

You’ve been searching in Singapore or Hong Kong for a new banking job and you’ve finally found what you think is a perfect fit. You face one big problem, however: your CV is what recruiters like to call “too choppy” because you have changed companies too often in the recent past.

This is a common enough scenario facing Asian finance professionals, according to a June survey by eFinancialCareers. Compared with the US and UK, Singapore and Hong Kong had the highest percentages (38% and 44% respectively) of respondents saying they moved jobs every two to three years.

Recruiters in the region say they regularly see CVs littered with even shorter job stints of less than two years, while senior finance professionals from JP Morgan, EY and M&G Investments in Asia have told us in the past of their frustration when too many “job hopping” candidates apply for roles.

“Job hopping is an issue in Hong Kong and for candidates this often becomes apparent too late,” says Damian Babis, director of headhunters Capital People in Hong Kong. “My advice is: have three employers maximum in your 20s and two in your 30s. Anything more and you need to manage your CV much more carefully.”

But how should your write your resume if you’ve already broken the above advice? While you can never completely cover up your job hopping, you can make it more palatable to the recruiters and hiring managers. Here’s how:

Highlight your rank at the bank

Unusually in a hierarchical industry like banking, too many candidates highlight their job descriptions on their CVs at the expense of their official rank. “Make your ranks – associate, AVP etc – obvious on your CV, so the person looking at it can immediately see if you moved companies for a step up,” says Natasha Madhavan, a principal consultant at recruitment agency Selby Jennings in Singapore.

Relate your reasons

“People will naturally make their own assumptions as to why candidates leave roles, so it’s important to write an explanation at the end of each job. This need not be long, just a one-liner,” says Madhavan.

Make it clear if it’s a contact

If your short stint at a bank was in fact a contract role, make this abundantly clear. Contract positions are still a comparative rarity in Asia, so don’t expect recruiters in the region to realise the nature of your employment, warns Madhavan.

Love your layoffs

Unless you were laid off for underperformance, you are strongly advised to mention redundancies on your resume. “Hiring managers are more understanding about frequent job changes resulting from company reorganisations. Ensure you indicate on your CV if your move was the result of circumstances beyond your control,” says Stella Tang, managing director of recruiters Robert Half in Singapore.

Point out the positives

“If you haven’t been laid off, always make your career-move reasons positive ones,” says Vince Natteri, director of recruitment firm Pinpoint Asia in Hong Kong. “This could include career development in a specific sector to gain more experience to reach a career goal.”

Accentuate your achievements

It’s bulk-standard advice, but if you’re a job hopper it matters more than ever: focus your resume on your achievements. For those with a particularly choppy work history, you may wish to remove almost all your job duties to ensure the reader sees only achievements. “Highlight significant accomplishments you made to demonstrate exceptional performance on the job. Hiring managers do pay attention to candidates who made a positive difference, even if they had a short tenure,” says Tang.

Pool them all

“Another option is to pool together several related experiences on your CV,” says Tang. “You could use a particular skill as a heading and under it describe your specific achievements in the different banks you’ve worked for.”

Don’t dodge dates

Providing a year and leaving out the month that the job started and ended is a common enough tactic to partly disguise a short tenure. But missing months always raise alarm bells in recruiters’ minds – you’re actually better off being precise about dates.