Submitting Poem as Cover Letter??

Hi fellow monkeys,

Just a little background of myself, I am a Chemical Engineering student (yes, you read right.) based in Singapore and I kinda need some advise. My grades are less than stellar having recently fallen to 2:2 (Second Lower) and most banks usually require a 2:1 or 2nd upper degree. In fact, I am 3.98/5.0 which is an eyelash below 2nd Upper but what can I do right. I am going to apply for a BO job in Operations at Goldman Sachs and knowing that my CAP/GPA isn't that stellar, I have went to 2 networking event by GS and have even connected to 1 Operations Analyst currently working at GS on Linkedin. I am intending of course to ask for a referral but that may not be successful but I will ask for advise at the very least. I am proficient in Excel VBA and Excel.

On to my main question, is it advisable to try and be creative and maybe submit a poem or some essay with a poem in the middle for my statement of motivation (aka Cover Letter) for GS? Cause I know I have to stand out some way and if I just send in a "normal" application like everyone else, I will obviously be marked down for my less than stellar CAP. I'm thinking to myself "What do I really have to lose?" By the way, I will think of something creative, poem is just something I had thought of after reading a few GS articles online.

I have great leadership position being a Captain of a Corporate Dragonboat Team and have many student leadership position but I unfortunately do not have any Banking internships.... But I do have one Big4 internship in advisory and have basic understanding of Finance and Accounting as I have a Minor in Economics and Accounting.

Thanks for you guy's help!

 

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confusedengineer:
Oh i forgot to mention that the poem would obviously be about Banking Operations and not just any random poem.

Love how you thought someone might think you'd send a poem about random stuff

Seriously though, it's a nice idea but don't do it. It'll get forwarded on to everyone just like that kid in Germany who wrote a song when he joined Deloitte and ended the email with "I hope you like it. If you like the song, share it with other colleagues and put me on CC to connect with as many colleagues as possible at the beginning."..

Keep it professional, most likely they won't read it anyway unfortunately..

 

If the poem’s too simple it might be worth sending a mixtape of you spitting it to differentiate yourself from all the other monkeys, just make it clear that it’s not a freestyle or else you’d better be prepared to come up with some rhymes on the spot (it’s generally a ding against you if you can’t back up the skills you claim to have on your resume).

 

Sounds good on paper but probably a bad idea. I tried a cute essay for Dartmouth MBA and it got me soundly rejected. Biz professionals want to know you are capable of being serious and professional. You have a better chance networking your way in than being cute.

This is a very conservative industry - I know a guy that brought a part of a plane he worked on (F-18) and was a career switcher engineer to Industrials IB. He got soundly rejected because of it, despite it being cool and relevant to his "resume walk". They said "yeah, that wasn't cool, not professional, this isn't show and tell".

 

The answer is no, do not send a poem or do anything cute, in case you are at all confused by the sarcastic encouragement of the comments above.

You stand out in recruiting by networking and conducting informational interviews, period. Get to know as many people who work in your desired career as possible. Ask the person you have connected with if there are other people in his/her team they would recommend you spend 10 minutes talking to.

Be excellent to each other, and party on, dudes.
 

Wait, so at best you'll stand out as the guy that wrote a poem... but at worst you'll stand out as the guy that wrote a poem?

You've given yourself the choice to stand out as the "poem guy" when you're already unique as the "Chemical Engineering guy".

Explain why being a Chemical Engineering student shows you can handle a difficult course load in applied math that is easily transferable to detail oriented work in a group environment.

 

In general any of these more creative approaches will get shit on when you ask...but every year a few folks in a few different industries have the balls to try and sometimes it pays off for them. I guess what I'm saying is don't expect support here as this is an approach that is outside the norm and hence unlikely to payoff. If you think you've already got 0 chance, then you've got nothing to lose. If you have greater than 0 chance, it's hard to believe the poem is the right route.

 

It was not wrong to ask this question but now I am thinking...if this is the way your mind works (and it's a wonderful thing to be creative), do you want to be surrounded all day by assholes that don't get it? This tech bubble is almost over but there will be another one...maybe position yourself for that and you can be a creative startup billionaire of a perpetually money losing company instead of someone who hustles as hard as they can to barely have a decent standard of living after a 50% effective tax rate....

 

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