Walk Me Through Your Resume: IB Interview Answer for Undergrads

"Walk me through your resume" is often the first thing you hear in an IB interview. It is not a biography request. It is a 60 to 90 second narrative that explains who you are, why your choices make sense, and why you are recruiting banking now. Undergrads who chronologically read every bullet get cut off. Undergrads who tell a tight story control the first impression for the rest of the interview.

Timing and structure

Total target: about 75 seconds. If you hit two minutes unprompted, you are editing.

Why interviewers ask this first

They are setting the frame. Your walkthrough tells them what to probe: a modeling internship, a thin resume, a non-target story, a career switcher narrative. If you ramble, they worry about client calls. If you are crisp, they give you credit before the technicals start.

Rules that keep it clean

• Chronological enough to follow, selective about detail
• One sentence per role on what you did, one on what you learned
• Quantify when you can
• Do not recite GPA, test scores, and every club office unless asked
• End on banking; do not trail off into "and yeah, so that is me"
• Match the resume they are holding; do not invent a parallel universe

Template you can actually use

"I'm a [year] at [school] studying [major]. I got interested in finance through [class/club/first internship], where I [specific task]. This past [summer/semester] at [employer/club], I [strongest proof bullet], which pushed me toward investment banking because I liked [modeling / client work / dealing with ambiguity under deadlines]. That is why I am recruiting for a summer analyst role, and I am especially interested in [group/industry] because [specific reason]."

Write your real words into that skeleton. If it sounds like everyone else's template, add one concrete artifact only you have.

Strong vs weak lines

Weak: "I was a finance club member and learned leadership and teamwork."
Strong: "In the investment club I built a DCF on [company] and defended the terminal value assumptions in front of 30 people."

Weak: "I interned in corporate finance and did various analyses."
Strong: "I built a weekly revenue variance report for three product lines and had to explain a 4% miss to my manager by noon Fridays."

Weak: "I have always loved markets."
Strong: "Following [announced deal] is what made advisory click for me: the valuation debate was the interesting part, not the stock price move."

Weak: "I did a lot of work in Excel."
Strong: "I owned the operating tab that fed our valuation; when growth assumptions changed, I could update the full case in under an hour without breaking links."

Different resume shapes (adapt the story)

Non-target, limited finance experience

Lead with the artifact you built. Make the bridge explicit: "I knew I needed proof, so I [built X]. That process is why banking."

Strong internship, weak storytelling

Your problem is compression. Pick the two bullets that map to analyst work. Cut travel, orientation, and soft skills filler.

STEM / non-finance major

Translate your work into banking language: incomplete information, quantitative rigor, deadlines, communicating to non-experts. Then bridge to why transactions, not labs, are the goal.

Career-interested PE already

Do not make the resume walkthrough a PE pitch. End on banking training and deal exposure. Save PE for later if asked about long-term goals.

HireVue-specific tips

• Look at the camera lens
• Light your face; silence notifications
• Do not read
• If you flub a sentence, finish the structure; do not restart three times
• Leave cushion before the timer cuts your ending
• Practice sitting still; nervous swaying is distracting on video

Common failure modes

How this pairs with other early questions

Interviewers often ask two of these back to back on purpose. Keep each able to stand alone.

Building the story if your resume feels thin this month

You cannot fake a bulge bracket internship overnight. You can add proof:

1. One public company model + one-page memo
2. One deal tear sheet refreshed weekly
3. One club pitch with a clear recommendation
4. One quantifiable leadership/work example with a deadline

Then rewrite the walkthrough around those artifacts. Empty adjectives will not survive a follow-up.

Multi-day drill plan

Day 1: Write bullets only (not a paragraph novel)
Day 2: Record two takes; cut anything that does not earn its seconds
Day 3: Deliver to a friend allowed to interrupt with "so what?"
Day 4: HireVue simulation, one take, same outfit/lighting as real
Day 5: Prepare follow-up depth on each experience you named (they will pick one and dig)

Follow-up depth examples

If you mentioned a DCF: what WACC did you use and why?
If you mentioned a club leadership role: what conflict did you resolve?
If you mentioned an internship model: what broke and how did you fix it?

The walkthrough opens doors. Depth behind each sentence keeps them open.

Final checklist

• 60 to 90 seconds
• Clear present identity
• One or two proof experiences
• Explicit banking bridge
• Group/industry preference only if genuine
• Matches the PDF resume exactly
• Practiced out loud this week

When the walkthrough is tight, every later behavioral question gets easier because you already framed the story on your terms.