Goldman Sachs Asset Management: Analyst Culture

Notepad:

Can you name a specific group you're interested in? It's very difficult to make a general statement about GSAM, since each group has a very specific role and culture.

eriginal:

GS recently started an add campaign for one of their mutual funds on national TV, you guys think this a good sign?

eriginal:

Tried to pull a clip, couldn't find one unfortunately. It was pretty standard and was playing during the game last night, apparently no one cared enough to record it...

very nurturing

curious as well....

very buttoned-up culture, where employees are expected to selflessly serve the firm. not everyone's cup of tea. and, the claim that they "give Analysts more responsibility" just means that goldman works its analysts harder than other firms.

when i went to my superday there everyone i met with described how flat the organization is - meaning there's only a few titles but that everyone seems to interact with everyone and being able to tell someone senior to you their possibly wrong is something you should be comfortable doing

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heard it has a lot to do with their people. i know it sounds cliche but their HR staff is trained in searching out only particular types and rejecting all else.

Very flat. All banks value their people, but at GS it seems to actually be true. They also have a promote from within attitude. A kid I knew started in dcm and was clearly a high flyer- they offered him an accelerated track to associate, but he wanted to be in MBD so they transferred him. You hear stories of people jumping around groups often and it seems rare to meet a VP or MD who didn't do their SA with GS years ago. Also agree with the allegiance to the firm remark above. People are expected and do put GS before their personal lives. While this is commonplace in IBD at any bank, you also see it in other divisions.

My friend worked at GS for two years and this is what he had to say about the culture. GS feeds its bankers the Cool-Aid, in other words, everyone is expected to selflessly serve their master. When it comes to models and bottles, people at the firm tend to not care too much about splurging their money on expensive things, and would rather wear a Seiko watch to work instead of a Rolex. According to him, GS leaves the big spending and flashiness to MS bankers. But this maybe because of the people GS tend to hire, he said that he thinks GS hires the nerds, while all the cool people go to JPM and the snobby rich kids go to MS. He also told me that there were a lot of face-time in his group, and that he was worked really fucking hard. But some groups were chill, and some analysts actually enjoyed their groups, but it wasn't a common occurrence. He also mentioned that the partners are worshiped by everyone in the firm.

It is very clear that all the people who have posted in this thread have never worked at GS and are just regurgitating hearsay. I guess goldman's PR and HR teams are doing their job.

Another thing that I forgot to mention was the fact that even though the people don't splurge on brand name things, the culture is very elitist to the point where which High School someone went to is very much discussed. There is also a constant comparison with your peers on who is smarter, very cut throat I guess. Another thing is that my friend felt he was short changed, the reason is because he got a 20k bonus in his first year around December time frame, then he got his regular bonus of 70k in his second year in July. Other banks pay their analysts regularly so they get their full bonus. It might be 50k 1st yr and 70k 2nd yr, instead of what GS does with 20k 1st yr and 70 2nd yr (this is the famous GS discount). In summary, it's a terrible environment for anyone to work in, however, there are a lot of buyside opps and it has the brand name that everyone is killing themselves for.

Another thing to note is that it doesn't say "Goldman Sachs" anywhere in the offices (at least in the building at 200 West). The only places where you can find the GS logo are on notepads and pens. I found that interesting...

GS is the def the nerdiest bank and cultish, shit culture is sacrifice for gs brand name

Winning.

That's all.

division cultures aside, i think GS teams spend an inordinate amount of time together outside of work. pound for pound they run leaner than everybody else so the people work more, which explains partially why employee payout remains the highest per employee (skewed towards top hitters aside). the culture of 'oh we're the best/how can we keep on sustaining this aggressively' is the famous mixture of self-fulfilling prophecy (if they are the best they can afford to hire only the best etc.), nimbleness, paranoia, and what some deem arrogance and others call masked insecurity. i have a lot of respect for the guys there who are not caught up in the entire flaming bullshit of the firm and industry in general

I am also curious. Honestly, if I had my top choice I would pick NS, but somehow in the back of my mind I get the feeling (maybe just from this board) that it will be harder to get into a KKR or Carlyle from it. Isn't Industrials considered to be a good feeder?

Follow up question: why is FIG and TMT so good for private equity? The type of companies PE looks at is almost always consumer, industrial or NS. I feel like those would give the best prep for the actual work of a PE shop.

Tech is a huge PE market. Not like Groupon or Facebook, but more business services oriented. I think a lot of VC backed companies are beginning to get flipped to more financial buyers once they hit a developed stage since IPOs haven't been hot.

Media is starting to develop as a PE market with deals like GoDaddy, Endurance, and Alliance Films. Haven't seen that many deals in Telecom, however.

What is NR?

What about consumer & retail? I know the current economic outlook is not the best for consumer & retail groups, but from my research, they do well in the space.

I would like to know if someone has something to say about industrials or public finance/infra also...

NRG exit opps on average aren't as "good" as other groups because the skill set is pretty esoteric/specialized (aka pigeonholed) and most generalist PE funds don't invest in the space (occasionally you'll see some pretty big deals such as KKR buying Samson, Apollo buying Noranda aluminum etc, but it's not very often).

Of course there are Natres focued PE firms (First Reserve, Limerock, Riverstone, Natural Gas Partners etc), but they tend to recruit associates from the more active energy groups in Houston (CS, Barcap etc)

In what way is the nr skillset specialized, do they only model a few ways or something?

I think he means that NR has a very technical component to project evaluation, at least that's what I perceive, in some way similar to FIG but focused in the operational aspect of the industry instead of the financial.

one thing to note about GS nat res is that most oil & gas is run out of houston, while new york also covers things like chemicals, power, metals, cleantech, etc.

So just because goldman has been killing it in O&G deals lately, doesn't mean that translates to the new york experience. On the flip side, things like chemicals are pretty popular in the PE space and lets you avoid some of the "pigeonhole" issues associated with solely doing energy deals. Ex: Goldman was very recently sellside on the Apollo/Taminco LBO (largely run out of london though).

That makes sense, thanks everyone! Can anyone comment on the culture and exit opps in c/r, Industrials?

ALso interested

The GS NR office in Houston is one of the best, without a doubt. Like a previous poster said though, the NY office doesn't get any of those big Oil & Gas deals, so its probably a different story up there.

FWIW, I know a guy who worked at GS NR who got a KKR offer. I also know another guy who worked for a regional office at ML who also got a KKR offer. May I suggest, that the group doesn't really matter?

GNR isn't too big on facetime, whereas Industrials tends to be.

TPG and KKR all recruit NRG associates? ...

buybuybuy:

If your ultimate goal is BlackRock, then you should probably consider working at BlackRock.

If your goal is to sleep with Jessica Alba (pre-pregnancy), is Jessica Alba the first girl you sleep with? No. You build up by working at a smaller level and getting good enough to be with the best.

Remember that I'm going into my sophomore year now....I need some time to build the PM skills to get good enough to make a contribution to Blackrock.

"The headline damage is so severe, in fact, that some are wondering if that famed low-key culture and sterling reputation are irreparably damaged"

I would agree with that

We'll see. The tables could yet turn if the SEC and the justice department botch the case or fail to prove anything definitive.

It's the NY Post...

Another former Goldman employee, looking back at a social gathering of young, up-and-coming employees, noted that it looked like it was cut from an Abercrombie & Fitch advertisement. "Everyone was six feet tall and model-esque."

Lol. Yeah, I'm sure goldman is full of guys and chicks who look like models. The NY Post is a total joke.

" Goldman, unlike other firms on the Street, is famous for their 360-degree reviews of your performance as an employee -- gathering input about you from your colleagues, managers, subordinates and peers."

Goldman is the only firm on the Street that does this? What a joke.

I think I would describe it in my own words as a culture of success

or slave-itude...easier life at one of the European BB firms like CS, UBS, DB (ugh!) etc.

I feel like everyone looks up to them to set the bar. They work very, very hard, but I feel that fewer people consider them a sweatshop than say, JP Morgan.

They are huge on developing their own culture. The few lateral hires they take must have great fit or the willingness to take on the GS culture. You'll find alot of their junior bankers become "cheerleaders" for the culture sometimes, even if their lives are hell. Unlike the usual corporate website BS about "teamwork," GS is extremely team oriented and most people tell you that it's definitely a valid statement of their corporate culture.

Also, lately they have been bucking the trend in regards to letting talent leave. They are encouraging analysts to stay on for a 3rd year, possibly do direct promote to associate. If they are interested in buyside opps, they highly encourage pursuing opps within the firm (GS PIA, Alpha fund, etc.).

would you consider goldman bankers to be more aggressive than the norm?

global business support

To be completely honest, probably none of these will get you into IBD. However, distribution services and global business support are the best options of those listed.