Goldman careers must be ‘marathon not a sprint’ says senior exec
30 October 2013
The co-head of Goldman Sachs’ investment banking division says the company’s goal is for junior staff “to want to be here for a career”, as it confirms it is increasing its entry-level recruitment and examining its working culture.
Wed, 30 Oct 2013The co-head of Goldman Sachs’ investment banking division says the company’s goal is for junior staff “to want to be here for a career”, as it confirms it is increasing its entry-level recruitment and examining its working culture.
The company will increase its analyst [entry-level] intake to 332 people in 2014, up 23% from last year, and 14% from the current year.
In an emailed statement to recruiter.co.uk, David Solomon says: “The goal is for our analysts to want to be here for a career. We want them to be challenged, but also to operate at a pace where they’re going to stay here and learn important skills that are going to stick. This is a marathon, not a sprint."
Media reports suggest the firm is applying recommendations from a task force that staff be discouraged from working on weekends, in order to make the company a more attractive place to work. The company did not directly respond to these reports. The global Junior Banker Taskforce was created last year.
The company last year changed conditions for new analysts, who now are hired as permanent staff, rather than on two-year contracts.
According to Bloomberg, earlier this year chief executive officer Lloyd C Blankfein told interns at the firm they must not ignore extra-curricular pursuits, saying: “You have to be interesting, you have to have interests away from the narrow thing of what you do. You have to be somebody who somebody else wants to talk to.”
The investment banking industry came under the spotlight this summer due to the death of London-based Bank of America intern Moritz Erhardt following several all-nighters. The company said it had convened a “formal senior working group” to examine its working culture, with particular focus on junior staff, in August. The bank’s press office said no one would available this week to comment on progress made.
The company will increase its analyst [entry-level] intake to 332 people in 2014, up 23% from last year, and 14% from the current year.
In an emailed statement to recruiter.co.uk, David Solomon says: “The goal is for our analysts to want to be here for a career. We want them to be challenged, but also to operate at a pace where they’re going to stay here and learn important skills that are going to stick. This is a marathon, not a sprint."
Media reports suggest the firm is applying recommendations from a task force that staff be discouraged from working on weekends, in order to make the company a more attractive place to work. The company did not directly respond to these reports. The global Junior Banker Taskforce was created last year.
The company last year changed conditions for new analysts, who now are hired as permanent staff, rather than on two-year contracts.
According to Bloomberg, earlier this year chief executive officer Lloyd C Blankfein told interns at the firm they must not ignore extra-curricular pursuits, saying: “You have to be interesting, you have to have interests away from the narrow thing of what you do. You have to be somebody who somebody else wants to talk to.”
The investment banking industry came under the spotlight this summer due to the death of London-based Bank of America intern Moritz Erhardt following several all-nighters. The company said it had convened a “formal senior working group” to examine its working culture, with particular focus on junior staff, in August. The bank’s press office said no one would available this week to comment on progress made.
