I have an offer for Operations in GS, and literally I don't have a clue if that would put me closer or farer to an IB position. Reading some of you here it sounds like you're voluntarily going to hell with no chance to go out. But on the other hand, and after some first and second round interviews for FO roles in other BB, this is the only one I heard back from. One important thing is that the city is not a main hub.
Trending Content
| +130 | If Tik Tok is forced to sell, what banks do you think would be involved in the deal? | 59 | 1d | |
| +49 | Intern Ettiquette | 14 | 12h | |
| +47 | Ranking banks that went under | 34 | 9h | |
| +39 | Burnt Out M&A ASO | 22 | 1d | |
| +38 | Relevance of A-Levels for U.K. London recruiting | 28 | 3s | |
| +26 | What are hours like at BBs in London? | 48 | 17h | |
| +26 | 2024 new grads who didnt get return offers update | 12 | 16h | |
| +21 | NEED NY RESTAURANT RECOMMENDATIONS | 17 | 4h | |
| +19 | 3.7 at semi target, how can I prep for recrutiing | 5 | 4d | |
| +19 | Lateral from BB M&A to MM A&D - Tips for Interviewing for A&D? | 7 | 5d |
Career Resources
Summer or FT? Big difference IMO. I used a SA Ops gig to build on with internships on future summers, and now landed internship in FO. It took time for sure but depends on your other options. Any experience is better than no experience...
I took an ops role out of college because i needed a job. Used that experience to network within my company and land a FO role. However i was in a development program thing and stayed within the program when i switched. But still
In this particular case, I don’t see how an ops role in SLC, or any random city, will help you get closer to your goal.
You should probably focus on landing anything IB related. Possibly a boutique.
I would definitely ask for further clarification, as Goldman did restructure the firm and recategorized jobs as Operations, when they may serve as a middle office like role. OBviously if you are in a treasury than it is much more difficult, etc.
That is exactly what I thought, It is for sure within Securities operations and Compliance roles (AML, KYC...). Is it acceptable to directly ask the recruiter?
I think it depends on the role you are getting. Just because its not FO IB doesn't mean the world will end. Even though this website will extremely discourage you sometimes, but the firm will look on BS applications.
I genuinely think that if you really want to move to FO IB one day you will have to take steps to do so.
GS name will carry weight and with persistence you can land a FO role ELSEWHERE. May end up being a "lower end firm" but definitely possible if you craft the right narrative. I would ask why you are so set on IB but applied to OPS at GS? Personally thats a red flag imo, as it seems like you were chasing name over role/ gaming the system, but if you say you learned from your time in the BO that you were better suited for FO etc. you can make the switch.
I actually applied because I was convinced that it was out my league to land an IB job in a BB without previous IB experience. Very helpful comment by the way!
I think it would be a big mistake (and a common one too) to think that the GS brand name is going to be more important than the experience. Whatever you consider your desired exit to be (a FO role with GS, another investment bank, a top MBA program, etc) the people doing the selecting are wise to the game. Even dimwitted MBA admissions folks don't fall for the old name brand employer trick. People care what you actually do every day. I would sooner work for a 2-man IB shop in Wichita that advises $5m companies on sell-sides, than work in the back office of GS. Even in NYC. Experience over brand every time.
True, I did a ops internship at a BB, hasn't gotten me a single interview at a consulting/IB firm so far, not even at the smallest boutiques in my country.
Can´t speak for everyone here but I was a BO working student at a 2nd tier BB and not only it introduced me to banking in general, I fully leveraged it to a BB FO role. Wasn´t too bad that the name of my group literally sounded like another name for investment banking, too lol
I think a lot of the commenters are missing a key point here. You need to eat. If you have no job for longer than a month or two, you’re in big trouble especially right out of college. I say, take the job if you have nothing else. Ops is so easy that you can network or learn something like the CFA while you’re on the job. And don’t be afraid to leverage that @gs.com email address.
When you apply at places, you can tell the story you want to tell. Don’t bullshit too much but a certain degree of “puffery” is to be expected. I personally think it’s a million times easier to network from a position of already working at a bank than not having a job at all. Just remember that once HR identifies you as the back office person they’re going to fight like hell to stop you from transitioning out of that label. Likely will have to change firms before you get more responsibility.
you would be better off going to a big 4 as an accountant (any of the tax, audit, or consulting roles), and then after 1-2 years, try to get into IB as a 1st year analyst during lateral season.
its much easier to get into the big 4 (because ~50% of new hires leave within 2 years)...they are always desperate for decent people.
Also, its true that an ops job is better than no job (because you do need to eat). Also, when you apply for jobs in the future (which you will continue to do) you can leave off the ops job from your resume is you want.
I took a role in ops at a big name bank. Biggest waste of time tbh. One Year into it I couldn’t take it anymore. I got a ton of interviews purely because people saw that big name. It got a little dicey in the actual interviews though because then everyone realized I have zero actual finance experience (despite a fkn degree in finance). Most of my interviews were 90% behavioral questions and deep dive into my current position and hardly ever any technicals, yet it always circled back to me not getting the job bc my experience wasn’t what they expected. I ended up taking a middle office entry level job, and I’m pretty sure I only got hired because of that brand name...and it sucked for half of the 3 years I was there. Then ultimately opened a lot of doors because ** I had finance experience!! ** so.....no, avoid ops like the plague, find one if you can that’s actually finance. Worst case scenario accept the offer and rescind it if you get something better (obviously accepting you’ll lose any chance of working there in future)
Also worth noting that I was also not in a main hub either, so there were NO other divisions in that building. Chinese walls made it virtually impossible to even network with other divisions unless you happen to stay in touch with someone you met during an all-division training (rare occurrence). During my early attempts to switch positions/divisions internally, I learned that I had to complete the one year program I was in, and then another year of full time, then would be able to apply internally to any job openings. AKA would have to waste 2 years and then hope I could get away from back office... not worth it!
In necessitatibus nulla neque qui fugiat laboriosam. Eius neque occaecati delectus adipisci. Ad velit rerum repellat aut alias et.
Pariatur et quas est mollitia quasi voluptas adipisci est. Autem est labore quisquam odit consequatur. Cupiditate aut ex sunt totam. Blanditiis veniam fugit facere alias a officiis.
Quia voluptas et repellendus dolorem aut fugit adipisci. Consequatur voluptatem reiciendis in doloremque beatae tenetur sit. Esse ut incidunt et facere non. Saepe quia velit blanditiis dolor saepe ratione a. Deserunt maxime sit non eum ipsam perspiciatis id. Beatae dolorem aut saepe voluptatum minus.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...