Alvarez & Marsal (A&M) positions itself as a firm that is fact-driven and action-oriented—the "roll up our sleeves" style, focused on moving clients forward.
Your CV must feel the same: practical, impact-heavy, and execution-first, not "strategy-theater."
What this means in CV terms: Operators > narrators (show you executed, not just analyzed), Pressure-proof (show delivery under time pressure / ambiguity), Numbers everywhere (cost, cash, time, volume, margin, cycle time, headcount, EBITDA, working capital), Client-ready communication (crisp bullets, clear outcomes, no fluff).
What Makes A&M Different
A&M is widely known for work in areas like turnaround, performance improvement, corporate restructuring, and transaction advisory—so your examples should map to these problem types.
What A&M Looks For in Candidates
Across A&M recruiting materials, themes repeat: drive, curiosity, and attention to detail, plus comfort taking ownership. Culture-wise, A&M emphasizes client service and entrepreneurship in a collaborative environment.
Translate That Into Resume "Signals":
- Ownership: "Owned X workstream", "Led Y", "Built Z model", "Drove implementation"
- Detail + rigor: reconciled numbers, validated assumptions, built audit trails, cleaned messy data
- Entrepreneurial: built something new, improved a process, launched a tool, fixed a broken workflow
- Client service: stakeholder management, exec-ready decks, decision memos, workshop facilitation
If you're applying into A&M's turnaround/restructuring ecosystem, add signals of: cash/liquidity thinking, rapid prioritization, operational execution, comfort with imperfect information.
The Ideal A&M CV Format (ATS-Safe)
A&M is a large global firm, so assume standard screening practices apply and make your CV machine-readable and recruiter-friendly.
One-Page, Clean, Brutal Clarity:
1 page (unless you're very experienced), Simple fonts, consistent spacing, No tables, no columns, no text boxes, no icons, PDFs are fine if they're plain and selectable text.
Recommended Structure (In Order):
- Header: Name | City | Email | Phone | LinkedIn
- Education: degree, university, GPA (if strong), key awards
- Experience: reverse chronological, 3–6 bullets per role
- Leadership / Extracurriculars: real responsibility, measurable outcomes
- Skills: Excel, PowerPoint, SQL/Python (if true), languages
What A&M Recruiters Want to See Fast:
"What level are you?" (brand signals + trajectory), "Can you deliver?" (metrics + ownership), "Do you fit their work?" (ops/finance/implementation evidence).
The A&M Bullet Formula (With Examples)
Most consulting candidates fail because bullets describe activities instead of value delivered.
The A&M bullet formula: Action + Context + What you did (how) + Measurable result + Timeframe
A&M-style bullets should feel like: diagnose → decide → execute → measure.
“Worked on a cost reduction project for a consumer goods company.”
“Identified €4.2m annual cost take-out by mapping SG&A spend and renegotiating 12 vendor contracts; delivered €2.8m signed savings within 10 weeks.”
Cost reduction with execution + metric + timeline
“Built a financial model to support decision-making.”
“Built a 13-week cash flow forecast (weekly) for a distressed portfolio company; surfaced a €6.5m liquidity gap and supported actions (payment terms + inventory reduction) to extend runway by 9 weeks.”
Turnaround-specific with liquidity focus
“Helped create a performance dashboard.”
“Built an operations KPI dashboard (OTIF, scrap, labor utilization) and implemented weekly performance cadence; reduced scrap by 1.3pp and improved OTIF from 88% to 94% over 3 months.”
Operational excellence with metrics
Micro-Rules That Instantly Upgrade Bullets:
- Start with verbs: Led, Owned, Built, Diagnosed, Implemented, Negotiated, Reconciled
- Always quantify: €, %, time, volume, headcount, process time, cycle time
- Show decisions: recommended X, chose Y, deprioritized Z
- Show execution: implemented, rolled out, trained, automated, enforced
What to Highlight by Background
If You Come From Audit / Accounting / Controlling:
- Make it less "compliance" and more "decision impact"
- Process improvement, automation, root-cause analysis
- Insights that changed actions (cost, cash, working capital)
- Stakeholder influence (CFO, ops leaders)
If You Come From IB / PE / Corporate Finance:
- Don't only show modeling—show operational thinking too
- Diligence insights tied to value creation
- Post-close execution, KPI tracking
- Cash conversion, pricing, procurement, footprint
If You Come From Industry Operations:
- This is gold for A&M—make it measurable
- Throughput, yield, scrap, downtime, labor productivity
- SOPs, lean improvements, rollout management
- Cross-functional leadership
Keywords to Include (Without Stuffing)
You don't need keyword spam. You need the right vocabulary in the right places (especially in your top bullets). Use keywords that naturally match A&M's service lines (turnaround + performance improvement + restructuring + transaction advisory).
High-Signal Keyword Families:
- Performance improvement: operational excellence, KPI cadence, productivity, SG&A, procurement, footprint optimization
- Turnaround / restructuring: liquidity, cash flow forecast, working capital, covenant, stakeholder management, contingency planning
- Transactions: commercial diligence, synergy, carve-out, integration, value creation plan
- General consulting: hypothesis, analysis, stakeholder alignment, implementation, PMO
Tip: put 3–6 of these naturally inside your top 2 roles (not only in a "skills" bucket).
Common Mistakes That Get You Screened Out
- "Strategy-only" language with no delivery: If your CV reads like "researched / analyzed / supported" with no outcomes, it won't match A&M's execution posture. Fix: replace "supported" with what you owned, add numbers + timeframe + decision outcome.
- No proof you can handle pressure + ambiguity: Turnaround-style work is messy. If everything looks perfect and academic, you may look untested. Fix: add one bullet that shows imperfect data, tight deadline, cross-functional alignment.
- ATS-hostile formatting: Tables/columns and fancy templates can break parsing. Fix: single-column layout, consistent dates, simple section headers (EDUCATION, EXPERIENCE, LEADERSHIP, SKILLS).
Final A&M Checklist
Format (ATS + Recruiter):
- One page, single column
- No tables, columns, graphics, icons
- Dates and titles consistent (MM/YYYY – MM/YYYY)
- Metrics in most bullets
Content (A&M Fit):
- Your top 3 bullets show execution + measurable impact
- At least 1 bullet shows cash/cost/time improvement
- At least 1 bullet shows ownership under pressure
- Skills include Excel + PowerPoint (only if true)
Readability:
- Every bullet can be understood in 6–8 seconds
- No vague verbs ("helped", "assisted", "involved in")
- No fluff adjectives without proof ("hard-working", "passionate")
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