<p>Hi, can you guys read the cover letter below that I am planning to send to Goldman Sachs for a new analyst position? Let me know if I should change anything and if it is good enough.</p>
<p>To whom it may concern;
I am recent graduate of XXXX XXXX with Bachelors Degrees in Electrical Engineering and Physics. I am planning on pursuing a career in Investment Banking and I believe the Goldman Sachs New Analyst Program is an ideal opportunity for me to build my career.</p>
<p>Even though I graduated with an engineering degree, I choose to divert my career in to finances as I have developed a passion for investment banking from an early age. I believe the quantitative skills and work ethic I have gained by majoring in two rigorous subjects have given me the potential to succeed in the rapidly changing financial industry. I would like to assure you of my capability to become a successful analyst since I am equipped with necessary education and experience. I have completed a yearlong internship at XXXX XXXX where I regularly interacted with clients, developing and maintaining an in-depth understanding of specific product lines, product applications, competition, and markets. I am also fluent in database administration and related programming languages and have completed a computer track curriculum for my engineering degree. </p>
<p>I am certain that you have a vast amount of applicants with the same qualifications and skills that I have to select from for the above mentioned position. However, I believe my determined nature and refusal to quit until I achieve my goals is absolutely unique. I am ambitious towards building a long term career at Goldman Sachs, growing professionally with the company. It is an honor to be considered for an opportunity at your prestigious firm and I assure you that my performance will not be a disappointment.
Yours Sincerely,</p>
<p>I’m not a huge fan of this cover letter. Here is some feedback</p>
<ul>
<li>Goldman does on campus recruitment and doesn’t really hire entry level employees outside of that. Their full time recruitment is already over and they are working on filling their class for next year. In December, they are going to switch gears to focus on recruitment of interns - summer internship recruitment begins in January and goes through the end of March. With that said, this exercise may be in vain.</li>
<li>When you’re writing a cover letter, especially to a company like GS, throwing in descriptors of the firm as “prestigious” is silly and unnecessary. Anyone reading your cover letter knows that Goldman is a top tier company; anyone applying should know that as well, so it is really just wasted space.</li>
<li>You say that you graduated with an engineering degree and decided to divert your career path because you were interested in investment banking from an early age. So which is it? Why did you do engineering, get engineering internships, and then abandon that path after you already graduated? I’m left with more questions than answers here. If you wanted to do i-banking, why didn’t you do it from the start? You could get banking internships as an engineer, so why didn’t you do that?</li>
<li>You say you are good at computers. Do you know how that can relate to banking? Your letter mentions no specific aspects of banking and indicates that you haven’t really done your homework. Programming knowledge is very helpful for working on trading algorithms.</li>
<li>Goldman is not a place you plan to spend your entire career. In fact, no top tier investment firm is. When you get a job, you sign a two year contract - basically, you won’t jump ship and go to another investment firm before you’ve been there for two years, unless you work it out with your superiors and they give you the OK. At your one-year mark, you go through recruitment again. Other companies - especially smaller firms that don’t have the resources to hire a real high power training class - come and recruit you. At the same time, Goldman will tell you whether they intend to renew your contract. If they decide not to, you’re out, and they’ll help you get placed elsewhere; if they decide to, you will have that offer out there for leverage in negotiations with other companies. My point is that Goldman isn’t the kind of company that places weight on your proclaimed future loyalty because it is open and expected that you will only be loyal until your contract expires. (note: this is just based on what friends have told me; I am not in the banking industry, so this could be completely wrong)</li>
<li>Granted, I haven’t seen your resume, but if I am a hiring manager, I see nothing that really stands out to me and says that I MUST look into you outside of regular recruitment processes. It may be worth going back to the drawing board and seeing how you can tailor this cover letter to Goldman specifically and show the research that you have done.</li>
</ul>
<p>Hi ChrisW, thanks for the input. A Goldman executive recruiter asked me to apply and I am applying for technology analyst position. You sure they don’t hire entry levels outside of on-campus recruitment or is that just your opinion?</p>
<p>That detail is a CRUCIAL one! If a recruiter told you to apply, then that tells me that they didn’t find all of the people they wanted for that position during standard OCR. Applying now would probably be a great way for you to get your foot in the door outside of the typical recruitment windows (and for you to have a different set of competition). </p>
<p>So now we know that your application makes sense. Here are the next things you need to do…</p>
<ol>
<li>Research the position. You want to know what a technology analyst does, so read job descriptions and see if you can find reviews online (Glassdoor and Indeed are great resources for both things). </li>
<li>Figure out what draws you to banking, but be clear that you chose your major for a reason. Big banks don’t always want finance people… sometimes they really do want tech folks to bring a completely different perspective to the table. Figure out how to use that to your advantage.</li>
<li>Rewrite your cover letter. Be clear and concise; use active verbs and do your best to assert your confidence without giving off a sense of entitlement.</li>
</ol>
<p>Thanks ChrisW, appreciate the insight. I did summarize the cover letter and removed a lot of unnecessary/ nonsensical details. Now it is very straight-forwards and on point. Hopefully they will look at my resume and decide if they want me or not.</p>