What is the difference between Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley culture?
Does anyone know what the difference in work culture is at MS and GS - particularly in S&T? I've done recruiting for both and have always run into employees at both banks throwing shade at the other, but honestly I can't really tell the difference between the two cultures. They all say the same thing - at their bank the people are better. Ok, but what does that mean? I don't pry too much because I don't want to make things awkward but I'm so curious! I've searched online but everything I found keeps comparing prestige or is really outdated. I'm not asking which bank is better, I just want to know more about the general vibe and personality of each bank.
Is there something I'm missing?
I would say GS has more "trading DNA", meaning more very senior people that were big risk takers, which then promote taking risks which trickles down, bit more aggressive/competitive culture as well. Teams are also leaner in general so more work. They like to have "chosen ones", meaning they make big bets on a few lucky/good ones, but the rest isn't really being paid in line with the effort.
At MS the bank is more run by sales or combination of sales & trading, even though trading still gets paid more than sales overall, its more client oriented. Franchise is fantastic, and would say people are more collegial / less prone to overt internal competition/tension. Bad part about collegiality is the great effort they make to not upset anyone, which creates lots of semi-useless people which should have been let go ages ago but are still giving their opinion on stuff and sending emails. Can sometimes feel quite stuck.