GS Veterans Integration Program (VIP) 2019

I'd like to start the 2019 Veteran Integration Program thread this year. The application just opened up and I plan on applying in the next week few weeks.

Taking this content directly from last year's post - In past years the application entailed an online resume screen, followed by a Hirevue interview with several questions. Successful candidates then went on to a superday before offers were presented in February/March.

Please share your background and desired divisions. I am a current Navy officer separating in the Spring. I plan to attend a target MBA program starting in the Fall of 2019 and recruit for a summer banking associate position. I'll be applying for IBD and potentially Merchant Banking and PWM.

Anyone else looking to apply this year? There is also a networking event going on next week for 2 days, but I have yet to hear anything back from GS regarding whether I was selected. I assume I wasn't, but maybe they haven't finished processing all the applications yet. It was just a basic resume screen with college, major and GPA included.

186 Comments
 

Thanks for starting the thread, and congrats on your MBA acceptance. I was an Army officer for a short time, got hurt + med-boarded before I could deploy. Don't know how I'm going to be viewed under the circumstances, but I figured that this was worth a shot before I went all-in on cold-emailing. Applying to global investment research, risk and C&C banking.

Regarding the networking event you mentioned, I didn't apply but I think there's a good chance they are still sorting through things. Bear in mind that the VIP Americas application date was pushed off 3 times before it was finally opened.

 

Thanks for starting the thread. Currently working on my application. I saw the posting on the upcoming networking event. Did not apply considering how tough it is to get pass or short leave for the conference especially for junior enlisted. I am AD Army, over 4 years in (E4)/ Supply logistics/ BS in Economics, 2011/ 2 years financial services entry level gig before Army. Still undecided as to what specific field but will make up my mind by the time and done with the application.

 

Got it, thanks for sharing. Are you looking to turn this into a full time position? I wonder how amenable they’re going to be to hiring people pursuing MBAs and not interested in coming in as an analyst. I guess with the A2A program that exists nowawdays though an MBA is becoming less and less important for overall advancement.

 

At the moment, my goal is to obviously convert the internship opportunity (if selected) into a full time position and pursue it for the next two years, after which, I will embark on graduate school (JD/MBA). The two years time frame is to get a great foresight as to what avenue within the financial industry I intend to make a long time career and to convert promising initiatives into investments.

 

I applied for the veterans networking event and was not selected. Anyone selected for it? I thought I had a pretty competitive application. According to the e-mail there was "overwhelming interest". I will also be applying for the VIP in the next couple weeks. Congrats to those selected - interested to hear how it goes if anyone is willing to share.

 

Thanks for starting the thread! Also a Navy Officer and Academy grad. Finished my MBA from Anderson while on Active Duty, but not separating until Fall 2019.

If accepted, I'm looking to rotate this internship into a full time position. Does anyone who's still active duty plan to use SkillBridge for TAD?

 

In a similar boat. I plan to use Skillbridge, but don't trust my command to follow through due to "needs of the Navy". I have over 60 days of leave, so I may use that. Plus you can't accept compensation with Skillbridge.

 

Sup dude I was at the summit too. I haven’t gotten a hirevue yet but they seemed to imply that like everyone would get one?

 

Yeah, looking back at last year's group it seems like hirevue invites were sent out between the 06-12 DEC. So hopefully we'll get something soon. Which groups did you apply to?

 

The BAML program doesn't seem to be looking for vets who are transitioning to business school so I probably won't apply.

 

How are other applicants preparing for interviews? From what I understand they're mostly behavioral, but we're still expected to have some familiarity with finance/Goldman. I'm just reading the news a ton and trying to refine my why Goldman/finance pitch.

 

Got a hireview invite this morning. Some background; Did 3 years enlisted- Army infantry, Got out mid 2017. I am currently a sophomore in an undergrad program at a top 25 target. Curious if anyone else got selected while still early in UG. Seems like the posts are skewed to MBA and officers with degrees complete. The dates wont line up with my spring schedule, but i'm hoping they'll allow a deferment until the summer, into the conventional SA program.

 

It's definitely targeted toward officers. GS tends to shove enlisted veterans into middle office or ops roles - including those coming from target schools that blow (some) of the officers undergraduate programs out of the water. I wouldn't spend a lot of energy pursuing this route, mostly because even if you're accepted it's unlikely you'll take a seat from some ring knocker who has his eye on IMD or IBD.

It's not totally the firms fault though, this program was shaped by officers for officers.

 

Good luck with the deferment!

How is everyone preparing?

I got two emails, one saying the Hireview needs to be completed by the 16th, and another that says to be complete by the 17th. Does anyone have more clarity?

 

I got the same two email with different deadline dates (one saying 16th, and the other saying 17th). You could possibly email the GS recruiting for better clarity but, it would be safe and appropriate to say that, you should endeavors to complete your recording on the 16th, that way you are safe.

 

If you open the hirevue invitation link and go to the main page it states on the bottom when the portal will close out, which is 2359 EST on the 17th.

 

I don't know for sure, but I'm going into it assuming it's still just 2 minutes overall. 30-45 seconds per group you selected.

 

I completed and submitted my HireVue recording this morning. In my opinion, you have 2 minutes to discuss all your three choosen divisions you enumerated on your application.

 

Hey guys, not sure how much time is left in your interview process, but I have some additional interview guides (both technical and behavioral, similar to the one above). Also, I went through both the S&T and IB interview process. Happy to try to field any questions you might have. Shoot me a PM if interested!

 

Submitted all my hirevue stuff today. There was an additional one for applicants to IB asking about a recent M&A transaction that we’ve followed in the markets and what we find interesting about it. Anybody else have to answer this question? Seems like a way to gauge if people actually have any genuine interest in IB or are just applying because of the prestige.

Hopefully we hear whether we make it to the super day sometime in the next few weeks. Last years superday was Jan 25th.

 

I also received the m&a question also. I can't remember if I only applied to IBD, but it was the only specific division question I received.

 

Thanks for starting this dialogue! I recently transitioned out of the Army after serving 29yrs and believe the financial industry is the place for me as my second career. I completed my HireVue interview today and have applied and completed a telephone interview with Wells Fargo VIP. I applied for BOA Veterans program as well but have not heard anything as of yet

 

Is anyone else interviewing for the JP Morgan Military Pathways Program? I just finished a second round with them for Equity Research.

 

Has anyone received an email for the superday yet? 7 years in the Army got out as a Captain. Did my MSF while still in the military. Applied to IB, IM, Securities all in NYC.

 

I don’t think we’re going to find out until early January - probably the week of the 7th. In the follow up email to the hirevue it said early January. Seeing as superdays were 24/25 of January last year I assume the week of the 7th would give us enough time to plan a trip to whatever location we’re interviewing at.

 

Has anyone heard from Goldman Sachs? I last completed that email that was asking if I had any competing offers, if I was in an MBA program and if there was anything stopping me from attending the program. They said I would hear about next steps in January...haven't heard anything yet...Anyone?

 

I have not heard anything yet. I know they’ve at least started watching the hirevues. No idea if they’re done yet.

Does anybody know what this internship pays? Is different based off division and experience or standard across the board?

 

I am wondering (for those of you with any form of knowledge) what would be a means or good tip to request to interview with another role beyond what someone selects. After good thought perspective, thinking of also interview for IBD.

 
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This is going to be tough to swing, specifically because in traditional IBD recruiting one of the first screens they do is whether or not you're serious about IBD only (students who put IMD, S&T, and IBD usually get dinged in their apps). The roles you listed in SLC are about as far removed from the front office roles in NYC as you can possibly get. They're not bad roles, but they're just completely different offices, cultures, and the job has basically zero overlap with banking.

For some context, it's helpful to realize that even someone who interns in IBD - and goes through the same summer "training" - can have a very hard time trying to switch industry groups within the division between their internship and a full-time start date. In the situation you're describing, we're not even talking about a hop from the S&T group to industry coverage banking - you're talking about an office some bankers at GS might not even be aware exists. Asking to go IBD will be interpreted as having zero interest in Compliance and Operations, for better or worse.

Having said all that, maybe the vet program is a little more flexible and maybe they understand you're learning to navigate all of this. You just need to weigh the upside and downside of this. Upside is you get a shot at IBD - but it's a very remote upside in this context. Downside is you don't even get a seat in the SLC groups and you're back at square one.

 

Would you mind sharing your opinion of the Merchant Banking Division at Goldman? If you had the opportunity to pursue both IBD and MBD through the VIP which would you be inclined to pursue? I'm interested in finance long term - both banking and PE interest me although I understand that trying to go into PE as a post-MBA hire without analyst level PE/IB experience is pretty difficult. Thanks for your input!

 

The Wells Fargo recruiter who reached out to me via email was a duch bag/ sucker! Initially, in his email to my attention, he mentioned of giving me a call to highlight about the program and when he called he started asking me behavioral questions. I simply told him I was in the midst of issues equipment in my supply storage and was not ready to give him an insightful answer.

 

Just got the invite to consumer and commercial banking in Chicago. Anyone hear anything from the NYC office? I think they said the divisions (especially IBD) send their stuff out separately.

 

I think it comes out as one email. My email specifically says that I am invited to interview with the below division(s). I did not get an invitation from all the divisons I put on my preference sheet. I would assume if your email said consumer commercial banking in Chicago then you did not get an interview invite for NYC IBD. Just my opinion though.

 

Hey,

I got invited to interview with S&T, Ops, and Risk in NYC. How about you?

Does anyone have any tips for preparing for these interviews?

 

If I can throw in my 50cent input, I will urge you to reach out to GS IMD folks on LinkedIn, introduce yourself and try to inquire if they will be willing to share some insightful perspective about their work and what advice they could lend to you in terms of preparing for an internship in their division. Otherwise, if you got the dough, get your hands on one of the course offered through WSO. I just got the investment banking interview course and the course is really legit!. If not, YouTube, is your best friend.

 

The travel instructions came out last night. Anybody else having trouble with them? It says specifically to make our reservations with 24 hours of receiving the e-mail, but when you try to book the tickets an error pops up saying the system is only available Mon-Thur. I might just call the # provided.

 

I had the same issue when trying to book my flight Thursday evening after 9 pm. Fortunately, even after receiving the pop up message, I still proceeded with completing my flight reservation and including my hotel date. I got a confirmation yesterday afternoon indicating the success of my reservation for my flight, hotel and the amex card

 

I got a call today and was told not to do any travel arrangements until Tuesday 22 Jan. Does anyone know which hotel we’re suppose to book? Also the Corporate expense card didn’t work either

 

Did you get offered a full time role? After the Superday, when do you find out if you have been chosen to attend the internship/integration? What is the conversion rate to full time ? Thank you. I am interviewing for Human Capital Specifically?

 

I was and ended up turning it down to attend business school. As you can see I still ended up in finance, albeit at a different firm in a different city but in investment banking. The program is phenomenal. You will learn a ton, be exposed to very interesting and senior folks at GS, and generally have a good time. I think timing from offer from superday was about 1 week, but I can't remember exactly, it wasn't long for sure. Our conversion rate of offers was very high, though many I don't think accepted in favor of business school or other grad programs. Best of luck to all in the process.

 

I think the NYC ones went well, just three of us for the consumer banking side. Seemed like an very chill group, and the interviews themselves went kinda like the conference call said, essentially conversations that kicked off with walking through your story/resume

 

I interviewed with Operations and Compliance in Salt Lake City. I basically had four interviews with two 35 minutes block interviews per division and they were all one after the other. A panel of two execs per interview block. As mentioned in the conference, it was for me a conversational process that required me to be upbeat!. In total, they were 7 people including myself that interviewed from SLC.

 

Nothing....still hoping that I will get a positive call vs. a break up call or email. I went ahead and emailed the recruiting team but I have not heard anything. Did anyone else you know who went to the Superday get an offer?

 

Same here, nothing heard. I’ve got a few other friends in the same boat, so the only calls I’ve seen are the ones listed above.

 

Saw there hasn't been a post here for awhile, but hopefully someone can answer my question about the program. I am someone who is looking to apply in the future. Military officer currently attending UNC-Kenan Flagler's MBA program. Thanks in advance!

How do you attend the program for nearly 2 months if you're still in the military? Or is everyone attending this while transitioning or after already having transitioned?

 

Most guys are either on terminal leave or just got out. A few had their commands write no-cost TDY orders for the 2 month stint. It doesn't really matter if you're still in, just out or on terminal leave.

Are you attending the MBA program online? If not, you're probably just going to be in the regular pool of applicants since I assume you can't do an internship doing the school year?

Just FYI most guys in the program are getting out of the military and heading to do an MBA. One guy decided not to get an MBA and just got hired as an analyst.

 

Hey, 

I'm only applying to the GS VIP since I can spare a week but not 12+ like the other programs.

As I'm sure you know, the Hirevue is due in two days. How are you preparing for it? 

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Well, you guys have to register for it. The detailed info is in that Hirehue email. Do we know when we will be notified of the Superday? It seems like GS is reviewing the program earlier this year. 

 

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