Overview
Risk analyst roles in banking and financial services are among the most quantitative graduate positions available. Employers want to see that you can work with data, understand statistical models, and communicate findings to people who make decisions about billions of pounds in exposure.
Wei Chen is a mathematics and statistics graduate from the University of Nottingham who completed a summer internship at Lloyds Banking Group within the credit risk team. His resume stands out because it combines strong academic credentials with hands-on experience monitoring models on a multi-billion pound portfolio.
What Makes This Resume Work
Banking internship with portfolio-level numbers. Monitoring 4 credit scorecard models on a £3.2 billion portfolio is a headline number that immediately tells the reader this was real, high-stakes work. It anchors the rest of the resume in a credible professional context.
Automation that created measurable time savings. Building Python scripts that saved 6 hours per week shows Wei went beyond completing assigned tasks. He identified an inefficiency and fixed it, which is exactly the kind of initiative risk teams value.
A First Class degree with a relevant dissertation. A 73% average in mathematics and statistics is excellent, and the Monte Carlo simulation dissertation connects directly to risk management. This tells the recruiter that Wei's academic work aligns with industry methods.
Self-employment that demonstrates responsibility. Tutoring 8 students and achieving strong results shows organisation, communication skills, and the ability to explain complex concepts clearly, all of which matter in a risk team where you need to present findings to senior stakeholders.
Key Takeaways
For junior risk analyst roles, lead with the quantitative tools you know (Python, SQL, SAS) and show how you have used them on real or realistic data. Name the portfolio sizes, the number of models, and the business outcomes of your work. If you do not have banking experience, a dissertation or personal project involving risk simulation, statistical modelling, or financial data analysis can serve as strong evidence of your capabilities.
