Getting a Job on Wall Street

Goldman Sachs Director and GW Alumnus
Offers Advice on Getting That Wall Street Job

Goldman Sachs’ managing director George W. Wellde, Jr., on the yellow brick road to a career with a Wall Street firm.

Wellde, who received his MBA from GW in 1976, has been at Goldman in fixed income sales since 1979. Prior to Goldman, he worked at The Federal Reserve Board and Union First National Bank in Washington. He became a partner at Goldman in 1992, and a managing director in 1996. Today, he is the head of North America sales for Fixed Income, Currency, and Commodities.


First and foremost, Wellde said, a potential employee must be interested in financial markets. “If you don’t have an active interest in the market, don’t interview” with Goldman, he said. His firm looks for “what everyone’s looking for,” he said: a team-player, self-starter, multi-tasker, someone who is goal-oriented, to name just a few qualities. But Wellde noted that because Goldman receives thousands of resumes, most from applicants with excellent credentials, it’s important to make a resume stand out. One resume that particularly caught Wellde’s attention mentioned that the candidate had run with the bulls in Pamplona, Spain. That type of unique personal information, in combination with a stellar GPA and solid market-related work experience, will help catch a recruiter’s eye.

Wellde suggested that students visit the Goldman Web site for more information about the firm and its opportunities. It hires most of its full-time entry-level employees from its summer programs, open to graduate and undergraduate students.