The Goldman Sachs resume template, by Goldman Sachs recruiters
It's not easy to get into Goldman Sachs. Last year, 236,000 people applied for 3,000 places on the Goldman Sachs summer analyst program. Acceptance is contingent on submission of a CV; only if that CV is any good will you progress through the GS recruitment process.
But what does a good Goldman resume look like? Fortuitously, we are now in a position to tell you, because Goldman's recruiters have released a template of a generic CV that they really like.
The overall layout looks like this (yes, we know it's blurry, stay with us):
The perfect Goldman Sachs resume
And the content looks like this:
What makes this CV so special? Goldman's recruiters have a few rules.
Speaking during yesterday's advice session for Goldman's 'career pivot' program, Sumeya Ibrahim, a diversity recruiter for engineering and firmwide strategy in EMEA, said good CVs need to be "consistently structured" with a consistent font.
Goldman Sachs recruiters like bullet points ❤️
If you want a job at Goldman, put some bullet points in your CV.
The resume above is good because recruiters can see "very quickly see how this individual has benefited the firms they have worked for," said Ibrahim.
The bullet points describe the actions the individual took at their employers, said Alex Thompson, a recruiter who hires experienced engineers and strats for Goldman. "Quantify your achievements," said Thompson. "Make sure you are putting your achievements in there with the key results." You need to show what you have actually delivered in your roles.
Goldman Sachs recruiters like tailored CVs ✂️
It's not good just sending the same old CV for every job you apply to, though. You need to adapt your CV for each role you go after.
Tailoring your CV is "absolutely fundamental," said Thompson. "Put yourself in the shoes of the person hiring for the role," said Thompson. Think about what's important to them when they're making decisions. "You can see when individuals do that, and it really does jump out."
Don't include your entire work history from the moment you reached adulthood 👶
If you've been working for 20 years, the fact that you started your career running a fax machine in 2002 isn't important.
It's your most recent and most relevant experience that the firm is interested in, said Ibrahim. "What hiring manager wants to see is where you are now and what got you there," she added.
The CV above is one page. There's no room for irrelevant detail.
Goldman Sachs recruiters like reading cover letters 📖
Should you write a cover letter to go with your Goldman Sachs application? Apparently so.
"We always read cover letters at Goldman Sachs," said Ibrahim "Hiring managers love cover letters, they set you apart," she added.
What should go into this cover letter? You need to explain why you're applying for the job, why you're suitable for the job, to draw out two or three specific examples from your CV that back this up and to bring it back to your relevance, said Ibrahim. If you've done any networking with people in the firm, you can also mention it here.
Can you use ChatGPT to write your Goldman Sachs cover letter, though? Ibrahim didn't say.
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