Intro: I spent nearly two years as an analyst in the investment banking team at Goldman Sachs in NYC. I joined from a target school after an internship and will be around to answer your questions on how to land a Goldman Sachs investment banking role from 19th to 26th Feb. Ask me anything!
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How many banks did you apply to? Was there anything in particular about Goldman that stood out to you?
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How hard is it to move to New York if have relevant experience somewhere like London? I’m finding that applications for New York roles have a pretty much non-existent hit rate. Do you know many (if any) that made the transition at Goldman?
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If you could pick any 5 schools (US or globally) as the best target options for a banking job, what would they be? If you’re at a non-target, is it worth doing a masters at one of those schools to give you a better chance of breaking into a top bank?
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Thanks for taking the time to do this.
I just want to ask - how important was your finance society (if you were part of it) to getting a job at Goldman?
And - is being part of a finance society more or less important at a target school vs a non-target school, do you think?
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Key tips to move to Goldman Sachs if coming from outside financial service but has worked in financial services before
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Bro is prompting ChatGPT
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I have a feeling that you’re going to be laid off pretty soon by Goldman Sachs because of AI. So, if I were you, I’d re-train myself to be a plumber.
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It’s been a while since I went through the process but I applied pretty broadly across the bulge and boutique space. As for Goldman, I wanted to go to place that was instantly recognizable anywhere beyond just finance in case I ended up switching directions.
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MBA is your best bet.
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- I was not a part of my universities finance society but generally speaking I’d highly recommend being in your schools. It’s a great network and often times that’s the place where banks will pick from.
- I think the relevance is all the same but from a non-target you definitely need as much of a leg up as possible
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In no particular order: Harvard, UChicago, NYU Stern, Duke, Princeton
If you can’t get in undergrad, get some experience in the financial world and if you still want to peruse banking absolutely go to a target for an MBA
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Yes, I’ve definitely seen it happen. Obviously with the current state of immigration things will be harder so I wouldn’t bet on it.
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I have a longstanding interest in sustainability, which was sparked by the writings of Amory Lovins around the turn of the millennium. Unfortunately my attempts to pursue this interest through my career (which has involved stints at the Met Office and the Energy Systems Catapult) have been of limited success. Could ESG be an option? Are there routes into this that don’t involve having to apply for graduate entry-level schemes?
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Mean, but funny
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Depends on what you mean by ESG as an option. If you mean as an investor, GSAM has a sustainability arm. If you mean in terms of social, you can look to work in HR. If you want to focus on governance, you can look to compliance. The path to each is different so I’d recommend narrowing the focus and that’ll help with next steps.
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Are there any specific questions in a GS interview that can ruin your chances of getting in (or save them if you weren’t doing great before)? If so, how do you answer those questions in a way that will impress the recruiter?
Also, any advice on books/other reading material to prepare for a GS interview?
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Isn’t there a big stigma around going into banking after doing an MBA? I’m considering it but I’m worried it might be a waste of time and money versus getting some real experience at a smaller name. I feel like with AI cutting jobs, experience is going to be more valuable than education
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