In our series “Jump-start Your Job Search,” Bostonia brings you short interviews with BU alums who are leaders in their fields, such as banking, advertising, tech start-ups, journalism, or nonprofit organizations.

They talk about how they got to be where they are, mistakes they’ve made, and what they’ve taken away from those mistakes. They tell us what they look for when hiring and offer advice for those just embarking on a career.

Eric Muller (Questrom’94) is a partner at Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. Muller, who works in the firm’s merchant banking division, earned a degree in business administration at BU and a JD from Harvard Law School and an MBA from Harvard Business School, in 1999. Muller joined Goldman Sachs as an associate in banking, left to work for the private equity firm Cypress Group, and rejoined Goldman in 2006. At Muller’s division, he says, “we manage money on behalf of third-party investors and the firm, and we invest in private equity across different asset classes—real estate, infrastructure, private equity, and direct private credit.”

Bostonia: How did you come to work at Goldman Sachs?

Muller: I had the opportunity to work at Goldman as a summer associate in the investment banking division while at Harvard. It went well, and I had an offer to return. Certainly for Wall Street, summer analyst programs are typically one of the primary feeder systems to get full-time offers.

What qualities do you look for in the people you hire?

We are looking for people with a lot of intellectual horsepower and who have demonstrated excellence or achievement in some part of their life. It doesn’t have to be finance-related, but can be in sports or fine arts or whatever. Excellence and achievement demonstrate to us that they have tenacity and passion and commitment. Those qualities tend to translate into people doing well here.

What kinds of questions do you ask during an interview?

I want to know who you are, where you’re coming from, why you want this job. I recognize that people coming out of undergrad or even MBA programs may not necessarily know what they want to do with the rest of their life, and in fact, they probably don’t. But it’s important for me to understand where they’re coming from.

What are some common mistakes that young job candidates make?

If there’s something on your résumé, you need to be able to speak to it. For example, if you’re the head of health care investments for the investment club at BU, you ought to be able to speak cogently to health care investment ideas. I find a lot of times students have something on their résumé and they can’t speak to it. Anything on your résumé is fair game.

The other thing I’d say is that you have a short amount of time to make an impression on somebody. You should show up to that interview prepared with the key messages you’re trying to convey. What are the three things you want that interviewer to take away? What’s your brand? Regardless of the questions they’re asking you, you need to find a way to circle back to deliver those messages.

How did you choose your career path?

When I went to graduate school, I spent one summer at a law firm, which was enough for me to figure out that I did not want to practice law. My second summer, I worked at a consulting firm and enjoyed that. But I wanted to try something different for my third summer: let me try banking. I found it to be exciting and intellectually stimulating and challenging. I think what I liked about banking was that you’re dealing with companies when they are doing something important to that company, a major financing, or they’re going public, or they’re looking to buy something, or they’re looking to sell themselves. It’s not just a typical day in the life of that company—it’s usually something very important. I liked being in the room when those big decisions were being made.

What advice would you give to recent graduates trying to find their niche in investment banking?

I think people should stay flexible in the sense that you may have a general idea of what you want to do, but you may not get exactly what you want in the first pass. I think it’s better to see if you can find a seat under the tent, and once you’re under the tent, you can move around. Wherever you land, become an expert in what you’re doing and really throw yourself into it. When you show expertise and people learn to trust you, that’s going to lead to more opportunity.

What’s the competition like for new graduates in your profession?

It’s very, very challenging. It’s important to cast a wide net and try to take advantage of the alumni network. You kind of have to hustle. You’re going to have to kiss a lot of frogs to get where you want to be. You can’t be deterred; you just have to keep fighting.

Speaking of kissing frogs, can you talk about a mistake you made along the way and what you learned from it?

How much time do you have? I make mistakes all the time. It’s inevitable when you work in an intense environment. I think the key is just to be up front, share bad news early, don’t surprise people. Don’t be defensive. I’ve found that when you make a mistake, if you just sort of own it and figure out what’s the next step to rectify the situation, you will earn people’s respect. It’s how you handle it, not the fact that you’re going to make mistakes, because everybody does.

What advice would you give for the first day on the job?

Learn the organization. Start to build a network around the firm, with people in all parts of the firm that you’re going to need to have relationships with to do your job effectively. Be intellectually curious. Be eager to take on more. Work hard. Show up.

Your big-picture advice for a recent graduate starting out in the workplace?

Find good mentors. I have been really fortunate to have had a number of mentors that I’ve learned from and developed my style from. People want to be mentors; people like helping you along the way. And being open to that is pretty important.

Are you an alum who would like to be interviewed for “Jump-start Your Job Search” series? Email John O’Rourke at orourkej@bu.edu.