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The job outlook for Loan Specialists is expected to be healthy through the next eight years, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates. Of course, that means you can expect strong competition for open positions in this field if you’re a loan officer trying to advance your career. To compete with other job seekers and ensure that you stand out from the crowd, you’ll need a truly personalized Loan Specialist resume that showcases your capabilities and unique value proposition to prospective employers.
The good news is that our Loan Specialist resume guide can provide all the tips and tricks you need to learn how to craft a compelling resume that earns more interviews. Here, we’ll provide the advice you need to learn how to create a powerful resume narrative that highlights your most relevant core competencies, professional experience, and notable achievements in a way that helps you land more interviews.
How to write a resume
Writing a great Loan Specialist resume may seem like a difficult challenge, but it’s easier than it looks once you understand the fundamentals. More importantly, learning how to create a basic resume that showcases your potential value as an employee can give you an advantage over rival job candidates whose resumes may be nothing more than a dry recitation of their skills and previous jobs. But how do you create that compelling resume?
The following tips can help you with that process, including how to choose the best format for your resume, how to lay out the document so that employers can easily find the information they want to see, and how to ensure that your resume gets past any applicant tracking systems (ATS) that the company might be using to screen candidates.
Format
Of the three basic resume formats in use today – functional, hybrid, and reverse-chronological – the latter is by far the most popular choice with hiring managers. Of course, that’s because the reverse-chronological format offers the clearest presentation of your career trajectory by listing your relevant career experience in reverse order, beginning with the most recent job.
Layout
Once you’ve selected your format, the next step is to create an outline that structures your resume. We recommend a simple layout that organizes similar types of information into their own sections. This will enable the employer to scan your resume to locate the information that they want to see rather than trying to read it word-for-word.
Here are the basic sections that you should use to create that resume layout and populate it with your skills, experiences, and achievements.
Contact: This section is placed at the top of your resume so employers can easily find the contact information they need if they want to reach out and schedule an interview. Include your name, physical location, phone number, email, LinkedIn URL, and other relevant contact details.
Headline: Some people like to simply list the job title on this line, but we recommend adding a few descriptive words to ensure that your resume headline stands out from the crowd. For example, “Business and Consumer Loan Specialist with 12 Years Experience in Risk Management.”
Summary: Your summary statement is like a salesperson’s elevator pitch – a short paragraph that summarizes your skills, experience, and accomplishments. The goal here is to use three to five sentences to really showcase the type of value that an employer can expect to receive if they decide to choose you over other candidates.
Core competencies: The core competencies section is sometimes labeled “Key Skills,” “Areas of Emphasis,” or just “Skills.” This is where you list your most relevant abilities, including relevant keywords/phrases listed in the job posting. Aim for twelve to fifteen skills; it’s also a good idea to format this section into two or even three columns so that you can limit your resume to no more than two pages in length.
Work experience: This is where your reverse-chronological format can help you showcase your career progression and value. List each relevant job in reverse order, going back no more than ten to fifteen years. For each listing, include the company name, position, dates of employment, and several bullet point examples of the type of value your achievements provided for those employers. Use real numbers to demonstrate that value.
Education: This section is self-explanatory. Include the name of the schools you attended, the years you attended, relevant coursework, and degrees that you earned. You can also include any continuing education, certifications, or professional development that may be relevant to the position.
Satisfying the ATS
You’ll also need to focus on aligning your resume with the job posting to satisfy applicant tracking systems. One of the easiest ways to accomplish this goal is to spend some time analyzing the job description. You’ll likely notice that many of the qualifications required for the job use specific terminology to describe skills, educational achievements, and experience. Make sure that you include these exact terms, or keywords, in your resume skill, experience, and summary statement sections. This will help ensure that your resume gets past the ATS.
Loan Specialist resume example
Now that you’ve had a chance to read through those tips, you may be interested in seeing how they come together to help you craft a real resume. Below, we’ve provided a Loan Specialist resume example so that you can get an even better idea of what a great resume looks like.
As you review it, take note of how the different kinds of information are grouped together so that hiring managers can easily locate your key qualifications. Use this example as inspiration or a template that you customize with your own skills, experiences, and achievements.
Name
Title
City, State or Country if international
Phone | Email
LinkedIn URL
LOAN SPECIALIST PROFESSIONAL
Detail-oriented, driven, bilingual/multilingual Loan Specialist highly regarded for excellence in lending, as well as specialized accounting and auditing. Exceptional analytical skills, with the ability to examine and understand business needs and deliver comprehensive, actionable reports while exceeding stringent expectations. Accustomed to managing multiple projects and client accounts simultaneously in fast-paced, deadline-driven environments. Strong collaborative skills with experience working in a team environment, able to work effectively alongside individuals from diverse backgrounds.
CORE COMPETENCIES
Budgeting
Balance Sheet
Business Acumen
Financial Statements
Lending
Accounts Reconciliation
Leadership/ Coaching
Market Analysis
P&L Analysis
Cash Flow Projections
Partnerships
Process Improvement
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Loan Specialist
Company | Location | Year to Year
Responsibilities
Counseled department managers on financial trends and expected impacts.
Reviewed and advised on quarterly expenditure analysis for different program budgets.
Optimized and managed research and development spending through collaboration with key business leaders.
Maintained integrity of general ledger, including the chart of accounts.
Created presentation formats for monthly/quarterly reviews of expense charge-outs.
Discovered major instances of fraud, embezzlement and large balances due.
Analyzed monthly balance sheet accounts for corporate reporting.
Loan Specialist
Company | Location | Year to Year
Responsibilities
Supervised and coordinated assigned audits promptly and professionally.
Supervised accounts receivables clerks, team of five.
Responsible for client asset base including bond funds and city funds.
Prepared accurate financial statements at end of the quarter.
Worked with managers to develop annual expense plan goals.
Cooperated with engineering, manufacturing and corporate accounting to verify that quality standards were met.
Reconstructed accounting records from clients' checks and cash receipts.
Proposed and published metrics and KPIs to be incorporated into the monthly financials and scorecards.
Junior Loan Specialist
Company | Location | Year to Year
Responsibilities
Prepared documents, reports and presentations using advanced software proficiencies.
Reviewed collection reports to determine the status of collections and the amounts of outstanding balances.
Analyzed and researched reporting issues to improve accounting operations procedures.
Provided extensive clerical and administrative support to department staff.
Created periodic reports comparing budgeted costs to actual costs.
Prepared financial pages for presentation to senior management.
Performed prescribed scripts and utilized friendly but firm attitude with full knowledge of contractual requirements and legal remedies.
EDUCATION
Complete School Name, City, St/Country: List Graduation Years If Within the Last Ten Years
Complete Degree Name (Candidate) – Major (GPA: List if over 3.3)
Relevant Coursework: List coursework taken (even include those you are planning on taking)
Awards/Honors: List any awards, honors or big achievements
Clubs/Activities: List clubs and activities in which you participated
Relevant Projects: List 2-3 projects you have worked on
Key hard & soft skills for a Loan Specialist
As a Loan Specialist, you use a variety of different skills to help your customers navigate the complex lending process. It is important to ensure that employers can find these abilities when they review your resume. That’s where your “Core Competencies” or skills section comes into play. Make sure you include a balanced mix of relevant hard and soft skills in this section
Essential hard skills for a Loan Specialist resume
Loan Specialist hard skills include a variety of technical and knowledge-based abilities that are critical for success in their roles. Your resume should include several of these key hard skills in your “Core Competencies” section to ensure that employers can readily identify your qualifications.
Below, we’ve listed just a few of the many critical hard skills employers would like to see when they read your resume.
Loan processing
Underwriting
Consumer lending
Compliance
Risk analysis
Finance expertise
Credit Analysis
Vital soft skills for a Loan Specialist resume
Those hard technical abilities may ensure that you can perform most of your job duties, but employers also want to see that you possess the right soft skills, including skills that help you organize your work, manage relationships with colleagues and customers, and communicate important information to stakeholders in the loan process.
Some of the essential soft skills you’ll want to consider adding to your Loan Specialist resume include:
Analytical thinking
Attention to detail
Strong verbal communications
Organizational skills
Relationship building
Time management
Negotiation
Summary & last words
Many job seekers view their resume as nothing more than an extension of a standard application. As a result, they often just list their skills and work experience without giving much thought to the overall message that they’re conveying. To truly capture an employer’s interest, however, your Loan Specialist resume needs to present you as the best candidate for any open position by focusing on the value that you offer as a potential new hire. By following the tips in this guide, you can make sure your resume achieves that goal by making the best possible impression on employers.
Introduction to ZipJob: Professional resume writers
Of course, there are many reasons why skilled professionals may not want to create their own resumes. Some lack the time. Others are simply uncomfortable bragging about their own achievements. Fortunately, ZipJob’s team of expert resume writers is always available to help with that process. By partnering with one of our experienced writers, you can rest assured that you’ll receive the tailored, personalized resume you need to win more interviews and land great job offers.
Why you should make use of our resume writing services to land your next job as a Loan Specialist
Loan Specialist resumes need to be something more than just a generic job tool. Your resume needs to accurately reflect the full range of your knowledge, abilities, and commitment to value. With ZipJob as your trusted resume partner, you can ensure that your resume provides the unique and powerful message hiring managers are looking for when they select candidates for this vital position.
Resume writing service for a Loan Specialist: Let us write your resume
An investment in your Loan Specialist resume is an investment in your future career success. Our expert writers are ready to work with you to create a resume product that will help you secure that future. Contact us today to learn more about our services and discover how you can benefit from a professionally crafted resume.