cvlift.ai logo
Toggle menu

Goldman Sachs CV example for 2026

Updated 15 July 2026

This Goldman Sachs CV example shows how to turn academic, commercial and professional experience into a focused application. It covers CV structure, personal statements, achievement-led experience and the careful presentation of education and assessment routes. Use it as a framework, then adapt every section to the position you are applying for and the evidence you can defend.

Goldman Sachs CV examples

Mid-level Investment Banking Associate

Mid-level

Investment banking associate with five years of experience supporting mergers and acquisitions, capital raising and strategic advisory work. Has built and reviewed valuation models for transactions worth up to £420 million, coordinated due diligence across several workstreams and helped analysts produce accurate client materials under tight deadlines.

Why it works: The CV shows transaction experience, measurable results, increasing ownership and credible evidence of mentoring without overstating seniority.

Financial modellingCompany valuationMergers and acquisitionsTransaction executionDue diligenceCapital raising

How to write a goldman sachs CV

A Goldman Sachs CV needs a clear argument: you understand the advertised position, your background fits the work, and you can communicate the evidence without making the reader hunt for it. Use reverse-chronological order when you have relevant experience because it places your latest accomplishments first. If you are changing career, or your transferable skills are stronger than your employment history, a skills-based structure may make the connection clearer.

Keep the layout simple and professional. Use consistent headings, restrained typography, short paragraphs and enough white space to separate sections. One or two pages will usually give you enough room, depending on your career stage, but clarity matters more than forcing the document to an arbitrary length. Remove weak or irrelevant material instead of shrinking the type. The finished document should remain easy to scan on screen and on paper.

Use this section order as a practical starting point:

SectionWhat to includeWhat to leave out
HeaderFull name, advertised position title, professional email, mobile number and location; a current public LinkedIn profile if usefulPhotograph, date of birth and sensitive identification details
Personal statementTwo to four sentences connecting your strongest evidence with the target positionGeneric enthusiasm or unsupported claims
ExperienceRecent roles, internships, placements and substantial projects, with outcomes and defensible figuresCopied job descriptions and routine duties without context
SkillsA short selection drawn from the advert and proved elsewhere in the CVLong keyword blocks or tools you cannot discuss
EducationExact qualification, institution and dates, with selected projects or distinctions where relevantEvery module or old school result once it no longer adds value
ExtrasLanguages, volunteering, societies or publications that provide useful evidenceHobbies included merely to fill space

Keep the header practical. Include your full name, the advertised position title, a professional email address, mobile number and city plus county or country. Add LinkedIn only if the profile is public, current and consistent with the application. Do not include your date of birth, passport number, National Insurance number, marital status or details about children. A British CV does not need a photograph.

Your personal statement should identify your direction, strongest relevant evidence and one or two outcomes. A graduate might draw on an internship, society responsibility, academic project or customer-facing job. An experienced applicant should lead with scale, specialist knowledge and recent results. Claims such as "hard-working" or "passionate about finance" say little unless the rest of the CV proves them.

Treat employment history as evidence, not a diary of duties. Give each position a clear heading, then write concise bullets explaining what you did, the scale involved and what changed. Results might concern accuracy, turnaround time, volume, stakeholder response or another relevant measure. Use only figures you can trace and explain.

Build the skills section after reading the specific advert. Reuse its terminology only where it describes your real experience. Investment banking, engineering, quantitative, cybersecurity and systems positions need different evidence, so no Goldman Sachs CV template should be submitted unchanged. Recent applicants can give education more room by mentioning selected projects and societies. Experienced candidates should shorten older academic detail so current achievements remain prominent.

Extras earn their place when they strengthen the application. A language may support client work, volunteering can show responsibility, and a society role can provide evidence of leadership or teamwork. Leave an extras section out if it adds nothing beyond personal interests.

Before uploading a UK online application, check the file itself. The CV must use Microsoft Word, Rich Text, Text or PDF format, be no larger than 512KB, use portrait layout and be neither password-protected nor read-only. Reopen the exported file to confirm that headings, dates and symbols still display correctly.

Personal statement examples

Strong

Analytical finance graduate with experience building valuation models for a student investment fund and preparing concise recommendations from company and market research. Cut the fund's monthly reporting turnaround by 25% through a standardised review workbook while balancing coursework and committee deadlines. Seeking an investment banking analyst position where careful analysis, clear presentations and dependable teamwork can support client work.

Weak

Enthusiastic and hard-working graduate who has always wanted to work for a prestigious bank. I have excellent communication skills, work well alone or in a team and can succeed at anything I try. I am looking for an exciting role with good career prospects, but I have not explained what I have achieved or which position I can contribute to.

Writing your experience

Write every experience bullet as a compact piece of evidence. A dependable pattern is action + scope + result + measurement. Money is not the only useful measure. Volume, time, accuracy, response rate, stakeholder numbers, dataset size and deadline performance can all establish scale. The figure must be genuine, and you should be able to explain how you calculated it.

BeforeAfter
Helped with financial analysisBuilt a three-scenario valuation model for a university investment project, checked 120 inputs and cut review queries from 18 to 7
Prepared presentationsCondensed research on 14 listed companies into a 12-page committee pack, delivered two days before the decision meeting
Worked with different teamsCoordinated four society workstreams and introduced a shared tracker that raised on-time completion from 70% to 92%

The revised bullets name the action, establish scale and say what changed. They also keep ownership believable. A junior candidate who checked inputs or prepared part of a presentation should say so. "Analysed", "prepared", "checked" and "supported" are often more credible than "led" when describing an internship. More experienced applicants can use "directed", "negotiated", "reviewed", "mentored" or "delivered" when those verbs match their remit.

For a Goldman Sachs Investment Banking Analyst application, useful evidence may cover financial analysis and advice connected with mergers and acquisitions, capital raising or other strategic transactions. Relevant work can also include financial models, presentations, pitch books and marketing materials; analysis of financial statements, industry trends and market data; and support for due diligence, valuation analysis, negotiation, client relationships or new business. Use these themes only when they match both the advert and your experience. A genuine university valuation project can support an application. Watching a meeting does not justify a claim that you executed a transaction.

Replace vague pressure claims with facts. Instead of "worked in a fast-paced environment", identify the competing demands and the outcome: "Reconciled 380 invoice lines while preparing the weekly forecast, resolving every exception before the 4 pm close." When collaboration mattered, name the team relying on the work and explain what your contribution helped them complete.

The evidence changes for technical positions. Quantitative strategist work can draw on mathematics, programming, logical thinking, research and analysis used to construct quantitative models for global financial markets. Software engineering examples can show how you used open-source software, databases, cloud solutions and programming languages to build accurate, complex or scalable applications. Systems engineering evidence may concern public or private cloud, networks, storage, compute, big data, application messaging, scalable infrastructure, enterprise code, testing or robustness. Cybersecurity examples can cover cyber-risk monitoring, security by design, threat analysis and response, or penetration testing.

Suitable verbs include analysed, modelled, valued, reconciled, automated, tested, reviewed, presented, negotiated, coordinated and mentored. Pick the verb that describes your contribution accurately. Finish by checking every metric against a report, spreadsheet, email or other record you could discuss at interview.

Key skills & ATS keywords

Hard skills

Financial modellingFinancial statement analysisCompany valuation analysisMergers and acquisitions analysisCapital raising analysisDue diligenceTransaction executionPitch book preparationMarket and industry researchCompetitive analysisQuantitative modellingProgrammingDatabase technologiesCloud solutionsPenetration testing

Soft skills

TeamworkLeadershipProblem-solvingCreativityHonesty and integrityPersonal initiativeClient serviceCommercial awarenessLogical thinkingAttention to detailDeadline managementRelationship management

ATS keywords

financial analysisfinancial modellingvaluation analysismergers and acquisitionscapital raisingstrategic transactionsdue diligencetransaction executionpitch booksmarket dataindustry trendscompetitive activityclient relationshipscommercial awarenessquantitative modelsprogramming languagesdata structurescloud solutionscyber riskpenetration testing

Education & certifications

List education in reverse-chronological order, giving the institution, exact awarded qualification, field and dates. If study is still in progress, label it clearly and give the expected completion date. Recent applicants can add selected modules, a dissertation, substantial technical projects, academic distinctions or society responsibilities when these support the advertised position. Experienced candidates can reduce older education to one or two lines so recent professional evidence has more room.

Do not treat a degree shown in a Goldman Sachs CV sample as a universal entry condition. The supported routes here concern specific degree apprenticeships rather than qualifications required across every vacancy. Describe only the route that genuinely applies to you, use its exact title and separate completed awards from study still in progress.

Goldman Sachs Degree Apprenticeships are four-year programmes for students pursuing an undergraduate degree. FICC and Equities Degree Apprentice participants study for and graduate with a bachelor's degree in Applied Finance from Queen Mary University London. They also complete relevant financial qualifications alongside the apprenticeship and degree. These points describe that programme; they do not establish an entry requirement for unrelated positions.

Engineering Degree Apprentice participants in London study for and graduate with a bachelor's degree in Digital and Technology Solutions from Queen Mary University London. Participants on the Birmingham route study for and graduate with a bachelor's degree in Digital and Technology Solutions from the University of Warwick. Operations Degree Apprentice participants study for and graduate with a bachelor's degree in Finance & Investment from Walbrook Institute London. Keep each route and institution together so the CV does not imply that one programme applies to a different location or business area.

Eligibility for the Goldman Sachs Operations Degree Apprenticeship is limited to students looking to start an undergraduate degree in September 2027. This date concerns the intended undergraduate start for that route. It is not a general rule for graduate, experienced-hire or other apprenticeship applications.

UK engineering applicants will be asked to complete a HackerRank assessment and may choose a programming, maths, or combined programming-and-maths option. Applicants choosing the HackerRank programming assessment are advised to review algorithms, basic data structures, manipulation of data structures and algorithmic design. Those choosing the HackerRank maths assessment are advised to refresh calculus, linear algebra, probability concepts and statistics. These are application-assessment details, not awarded certifications. Do not list a HackerRank assessment under qualifications as though it were a credential.

For other vacancies, follow the qualification wording in the advert and record completed study accurately. Distinguish an awarded qualification from a course, programme or assessment. Give an expected completion date when needed, explain unfamiliar abbreviations and omit short courses that do not support the application. A short and accurate education section is stronger than a padded list of loosely related training.

Common mistakes to avoid

  • Sending the same generic CV for every Goldman Sachs vacancy, with no clear connection to the work described in the advert.

    Tailor the evidence to the particular vacancy. Reuse relevant language from the advert naturally and prioritise projects, placements and results that match its responsibilities.

  • Listing duties such as "prepared models" or "helped with research" without explaining the result.

    Turn each duty into evidence by stating the action, scope and result. Add a figure only when you can defend it, such as a measured reduction in turnaround time or the number of companies analysed.

  • Using a decorative Goldman Sachs CV template with columns, graphics or dense design that competes with the content.

    Choose a simple portrait layout with clear headings and readable spacing. Make achievements, skills and education easy to find.

  • Filling the skills section with broad claims such as "hard-working" while omitting technical terms used in the target advert.

    Select precise skills that match the vacancy, such as financial modelling for an investment banking post or programming and data structures for a relevant engineering post. Prove the most important skills in your experience or project bullets.

  • Writing a Goldman Sachs personal statement as a list of ambitions and flattering claims about the employer.

    Lead with your strongest relevant result, then identify the expertise and evidence you bring to the advertised position. Write it specifically enough that it could not be sent unchanged to another employer.

  • Including unnecessary personal data in the header.

    Use your name, target position, professional email address, mobile number and location. Leave out your date of birth, passport number, NI number, children and marital status.

Junior vs senior: what changes

AspectJuniorSenior
Personal statementLead with relevant study, internships, projects or society work, then connect one or two defensible results to the target position.Open with transaction, technical or client leadership at meaningful scale, supported by outcomes rather than years of experience alone.
Experience evidenceShow your contribution: research completed, models supported, code delivered or deadlines met under supervision. Make your individual part clear.Show ownership: transactions led, client relationships managed, technical direction set or teams developed. State the scope and outcome of each decision.
MetricsUse modest, verifiable measures such as project size, analysis volume, turnaround time, accuracy or competition placing.Use defensible measures of transaction, system or team scale, alongside commercial, operational or client outcomes.
LeadershipDraw on project coordination, peer support, society responsibilities or occasions when you took initiative.Demonstrate leadership through delegation, review, mentoring, negotiation and accountability for delivery.
Skills emphasisBalance technical foundations with teamwork, problem-solving, commercial awareness and evidence that you learn quickly.Prioritise deep role expertise, judgement, client service and the ability to coordinate specialists across departments.
Role alignmentMatch modules, projects and placements closely to the advertised work without claiming experience you do not have.Match the CV to the precise mandate, showing repeated evidence of handling comparable clients, transactions, systems or risks.

Frequently asked questions

From example to application

Turn this goldman sachs example into a CV that sounds like you.

Keep the structure that works. Tailor the details around your experience, strengths, and the role you want.