Mark your calendars: come October 25th, Goldman Sachs will announce the newest “PMDs” or Partner Managing Directors, reports the WSJ.

The new PMDs — called “commercial killers” — will join an existing cadre of 287 that split about 20 percent of total revenues, which works out to about $7 million per PMD.

The months-long process of deciding who belongs to this group of the creme de la creme sounds, not suprisingly, super secret. Those who are rejected are often not told why. The WSJ reports that if you don’t make it through the hoops of fire, you are pretty much left with careers that are ” effectively over.”

In some cases, the nomin-nots get a second chance, but the Journal doesn’t cite a successful example of someone who got turned down the first time and then accepted later on. Instead, it seems like the people go elsewhere.

What should you do if you find yourself vying for a PMD spot down the road? Learnings from the WSJ article:

1. Get promoted to MD lite.
2. Find someone to be your champion (but do not overtly solicit a partner). This means that moving around within Goldy is not really to your advantage.
3. Make yourself and your contributions known outside of your department, as it’s the partners in other groups that review your candidacy.
4. Get involved in public service.
5. Cross your fingers. In 2004, less than 1 percent of GS employees (assuming about 25,000), were nominated. Of those, 41 percent of nominees eventually made PMD –there were 237 nominees, 174 got “vetted”, and 99 were elected.

GSers, please corroborate.