Goldman Sachs International

The overview

Goldman Sachs (GS) is one of the best-known global investment banking, securities and investment firms, with headquarters in New York. It has offices in London, Tokyo and other major financial centres around the world. Clients include wealthy individuals, large corporations, governments and companies such as Tata Motors and Pfizer.

Founded in 1969, over the course of its history Goldman Sachs has survived a number of shocks to the financial markets, including the crisis of 2008 during which US investment bank Lehman Brothers went bankrupt. It is a complex organisation offering an array of specialised services across five key areas:

• Advisory. This includes advising on mergers and acquisitions (M&A), a strength of the company, as well as providing expertise on environmental issues and markets, such as trading in carbon emissions – a relatively new field for investment banks.
• Securities. These are financial or investment instruments that are bought and sold in financial markets, such as bonds, shares and options.
• Financing. This involves providing judgments on financing strategies to meet clients’ needs, working with product groups across the firm to come up with suitable solutions, structuring deals and carrying them out.
• Investing. This advises individual and institutional investors on how to meet their financial goals. Graduates in this field might support universities in building up their endowments, give corporations guidance on how to meet their pension obligations to employees, or help individual clients identify investment opportunities.
• Research. Providing client-focused research and investment ideas, analysis of industries and companies and the trends that affect them, and expertise on economies and regions around the world as well.

Emerging markets

The term ‘BRICs’, referring to the emerging markets of ‘Brazil, Russia, India and China’, was coined a decade ago by a senior member of GS staff. Goldman Sachs has specialised in research in the BRICs and increasing its workforce in these areas.

Rankings and awards

• Ranked 1 in Vault’s 2011 Top 50 Most Prestigious Banking Employers in the US. Has held this spot for 11 consecutive years.
• Also ranked 1 in Vault’s Top 25 Banking Employers in Europe.
• Ranked 6 in Stonewall's Top 100 Employers in Britain for lesbian, gay and bisexual people, 2012
• Ranked 13 in Times Top 100 Graduate Employers, 2011-12
• Ranked 33 in Fortune's 100 Best Companies to Work For, 2012
• Ranked 67 in Guardian UK300, 2011. Ranked first in the investment banking and investment sector.
• Most popular graduate recruiter in investment banking and investment, TARGETjobs National Graduate Recruitment Awards 2011 and 2012
• Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Innovation Award for Workplace Equality, 2011, for strategy to create an inclusive environment for LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) staff.
• Listed as one of the Times Top 50 Employers for Women, 2012

Salary and benefits

Goldman Sachs has a reputation for paying well. Basic salaries and bonuses are reviewed on a yearly basis. The review is not just based on employee performance. Wider factors such as the financial results for the division and internal and external benchmarks on pay are taken into account.

Benefits

The Goldman Sachs benefits package is quite extensive and can vary depending on the region and role. It generally includes a range of the following options:

• Heathcare
• Insurance plans
• Holidays – based on time with the company and current role
• Retirement plans
• Various discounts, from insurance to retail products
• Discounted banking, loans and insurance
• Childcare and maternity mentoring services
• Shares in the firm

Culture and values

Working hard seems key to fitting into Goldman Sachs’ culture and helps to drive the firm’s growth and financial performance. Its teams can only excel if all of their members excel, so Goldman Sachs has high standards for the people it selects, particularly focused on competences that will help them work successfully in their environment.

So the firm does not hide the fact that staff must be very dedicated to succeed and fit in. Graduates should expect to work long hours, though this is not unusual in the finance industry.

Sarah Harper, head of graduate recruiting at Goldman Sachs, makes the distinction between overworking and working hard. ‘Our number one business principle is that clients come first. We strive to ensure that the service we deliver to our clients is as good as it can be, and above and beyond what they may expect. The people that we tend to hire are focused on not just doing a good job, but going above and beyond and doing an excellent job. It’s rewarding and satisfying, because we work hard and ultimately see results’.

No star culture

Its most valuable employees aren’t self-promoting. They are staff who contribute a lot to their teams and have a strong group ethic.

There is no star culture at Goldman Sachs. Its most valuable employees aren’t self-promoting. They are staff who contribute a lot to their teams and have a strong group ethic.

The organisation has published 14 key business principles that guide its activities:

1. The client comes first.
2. Maintain ethical standards and comply with the letter and spirit of the law.
3. Superior return to shareholders.
4. Professionalism. Aim to achieve excellence and be the best, rather than the biggest.
5. Be pioneering. Use creativity and imagination to find solutions.
6. Find the best employee for every job.
7. Diversity in the workforce.
8. Team culture.
9. Dedication to the firm
10. The workforce should be both big enough to undertake complex, ambitious projects and small enough to foster loyalty, intimacy and a sense of belonging.
11. No complacency – the finance industry moves and changes quickly, so it’s vital to be innovative and anticipate clients’ future needs.
12. Confidentiality and responsibility with information.
13. Be competitive – but fair, without denigrating other firms.
14. Integrity and honesty in work and personal lives.