How not to apply to Goldman Sachs

There's a fine line between confidence in your own ability, and egotistical bravado. A distinction also needs to be made between highlighting your achievements in lieu of work experience, and realising when something simply isn't relevant.

The letter below is currently doing the rounds in the City, and is a lesson in how not to apply to Goldman Sachs. Inevitably, it's drawn comparisons with Aleksey "Impossible is nothing" Veyner, and his inimitable video resume sent to UBS.

Our particular highlight is: "I'm not asking you to do this for me, I'm asking you to do this for us."

Here it is in its entirety:

"As of this moment you probably have never heard of me before and I accept that, but in five years you will look back unable to imagine life without me. My desire to succeed in the investment industry is beyond comparison and I will not stop working towards this goal until the day my heart stops beating. I would love to say my parents or teachers in the past taught me the value of investments and the proper ways to handle them at a young age, but this would not be the truth. The truth is my mind created the concept before I was even old enough to understand it. At age 6, I would buy candy from Sam's Club wholesale and trade it in the lunchroom for items several times its value. At age 11, I purchased a $180 TV for my brother and charged him $10 a week for 25 weeks. Even as I write this letter, I'm getting phone calls and text messages from people asking what stocks I put my money in today and where they should put theirs tomorrow. This is the life I live every day but I don't want to stay like this forever, I want to learn and I don't want to settle. Goldman Sachs is where I want to work and there's no alternative in my mind. Allow me this opportunity and I will be the best investor you have ever seen. I will work non stop to make sure Goldman Sachs stays on top for as long as I breathe. I'm not asking you to do this for me, I'm asking you to do this for us.

I do not quit. I will achieve greatness. To me, failure is an opportunity to do better next time and a lesson learned. I do not work for status or prestige, I believe that the only way to true success is perfecting the arts of communication and efficiency both in and out of the workplace. I listen before I judge and I think before I speak; it is these qualities that make up my character and allow me to perform the tasks I take on with greater efficiency than others. Time is precious, sacred perhaps; it is one thing we can never get back and one thing I do not intend to waste. I work well even in an atmosphere of urgency and still understand the important of patience. I am forever learning and I sincerely hope in the near future we can begin to learn from one another."