What are goldman sachs looking for?

I worked at Goldman Sachs from 1999 to 2001 in the International Equities department at 1 New York Plaza, Manhattan. My specific role was Emerging Markets / Asian Equity Institutional sales, a front-end, revenue generator job that paid well.

1999 may be the toughest time to ever get a job at GS because the company was still private up until the summer of 1999. Further, there wasn't massive competition from big tech companies like Google and Facebook.

To be very frank, I think luck plays a huge part in getting a job at Goldman Sachs or any of the other bulge bracket firms. It has to when acceptance rates are in the single digits. In fact, I think luck plays a majority part in any outsized wealth you receive in your life.

Plenty of people are qualified. It’s only the lucky ones who get the offer, which is why you need to do things to stand out, or use your connections. Many of my first year analyst classmates had parents who either worked at Goldman or were actually private clients.

I went to The College of William and Mary, a public school and not a target university but ended up getting a front end job at their world headquarters. How? I sent in a resume at a career fair in Washington DC where Goldman was one of the many banks interviewing candidates. The recruiter chose mine, and I ended up flying to their headquarters for seven rounds and 55 interviews. Clearly, they had some doubts on whether to hire me!

But what I did do right was get on the bus to the career fair at 6 AM. I was the only student on the bus, so after waiting for 30 minutes, the driver drove me to his company headquarters and we switched to a Lincoln Towncar instead. Therefore, I would say half the battle is just showing up.

Whatever job you get, it’s like winning the lottery because many other people want that job as well. It’s what you do after Goldman or after any job you get that counts the most.

I ended up parlaying my job for a pay raise and an Associate title at another bulge bracket in San Francisco at 25 years old. At age 28, I was promoted to VP and then at age 31 I was promoted to Executive Director.

I worked at my new firm for 11 years before negotiating a severance to be free from work for the rest of my life. Below is an idea of how much you can make on Wall Street by level.

As of 2022, first-year analyst base salaries at Goldman Sachs is now $110,000. That is a 30% increase from $85,000 up to 1H2021. Then you get a year-end bonus.

Save and invest aggressively if you work in investment banking. After 10 years, I’m pretty certain you can coast for the rest of your life if you want to.

After leaving Wall Street in 2012, I've worked on building my own online lifestyle business. By 2017, I was making as much as the average Managing Director on Wall Street. The main difference is I spend 20 hours a week doing something I enjoy.

Starting your own online business is the best thing ever!

For example, here is my post on How To Predict A Stock Market Bottom Like Nostradamus. I wrote this post on March 18, 2020 when the stock market was tanking. If you can share your investment thought process with the interview in such a way, I think they will be vey impressed. Nobody knows the future. But Goldman Sachs employees will appreciate your thought process.

Here is another post highlight my 2022 stocks and real estate predictions. Study both posts carefully. This is the way you want to write and communicate when laying out your investment thesis.

Although getting a job at Goldman Sachs is hard, because of the strong allure to join tech startups in Silicon Valley, getting a job has gotten a little bit easier nowadays. Many tech companies are allowing workers to permanently work from home, which has bad working in tech even more attractive for some.

The war on talent is real. Take advantage. At the end of the day, people just want to work with people they like. Be likable and know your stuff.

If you are fortunate enough to get a job off at Goldman Sachs, take it! Once you have Goldman Sachs on your resume, you will always be taken seriously wherever your career and financial journey takes you. Just note that your work hours will likely be quite brutal.

Once you get your well-paying finance job, it's important to save and invest diligently and wisely. After 13 years in finance, I was able to retire at age 34 to live the life of freedom. I highly recommend it!

Once you get your well-paying finance job, it's important to save and invest diligently and wisely. After 13 years in finance, I was able to retire at age 34 to live the life of freedom.

With the money I made at Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse, I reinvested most of it in various investments to generate passive income.

Real estate is my favorite way to achieving financial freedom because it is a tangible asset that is less volatile, provides utility, and generates income. By the time I was 30, I had bought two properties in San Francisco and one property in Lake Tahoe thanks to investment banking income.

In 2016, I started diversifying into heartland real estate to take advantage of lower valuations and higher cap rates. I did so by investing $810,000 with real estate crowdfunding platforms. With interest rates down, the value of cash flow is up. Further, the pandemic has made working from home more common.

Take a look at my two favorite real estate crowdfunding platforms. Both are free to sign up and explore.

Fundrise: A way for accredited and non-accredited investors to diversify into real estate through private eREITs. Fundrise has been around since 2012 and has consistently generated steady returns, no matter what the stock market is doing. For most people, investing in a diversified eREIT is the way to go.

CrowdStreet: A way for accredited investors to invest in individual real estate opportunities mostly in 18-hour cities. 18-hour cities are secondary cities with lower valuations, higher rental yields, and potentially higher growth due to job growth and demographic trends. If you have a lot more capital, you can build you own diversified real estate portfolio.

If you want to read the best book on achieving financial freedom sooner, check out Buy This, Not That: How to Spend Your Way To Wealth And Freedom. BTNT is jam-packed with all my insights after spending 30 years working in, studying, and writing about personal finance.

Building wealth is only a part of the equation. Consistently making optimal decisions on some of life's biggest dilemmas is the other. My book helps you minimize regret and live a more purposeful life as you build more passive income.

BTNT will be the best personal finance book you will ever read. You can buy a copy on Amazon today. The richest people from Goldman Sachs or wherever are always reading. Learn from those who are already where you want to go.

Sam began investing his own money ever since he opened an online brokerage account in 1995. Sam loved investing so much that he decided to make a career out of investing by spending the next 13 years after college working at Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse During this time, Sam received his MBA from UC Berkeley with a focus on finance and real estate. He also became Series 7 and Series 63 registered.

In 2012, Sam was able to retire at the age of 34 largely due to his investments that now generate roughly $250,000 a year in passive income. He spends time playing tennis, hanging out with family, consulting for leading fintech companies and writing online to help others achieve financial freedom.

FinancialSamurai.com was started in 2009 and is one of the most trusted personal finance sites today with over 1.5 million organic pageviews a month. Financial Samurai has been featured in top publications such as the LA Times, The Chicago Tribune, Bloomberg and The Wall Street Journal.

For more nuanced personal finance content, join 50,000+ others and sign up for the free Financial Samurai newsletter. Financial Samurai is one of the largest independently-owned personal finance sites that started in 2009. I help people get rich and live the lifestyles they want. How To Get A Job At Goldman Sachs is a FS original post.

Related: Should I Work On Wall Street? The Pros And Cons Of Working In Banking

If your goal is to work at Goldman Sachs, you are on your way to a well-remunerated career. The firm is known for high compensation levels, although it has also been criticized for long working hours and a stressful work environment. Read on for some insightful advice to help you secure your dream job at Goldman Sachs.

Bavarian school teacher Marcus Goldman started Goldman Sachs in 1869. It became one of the first banks to offer budding entrepreneurs commercial paper financing. Today, it’s the second-largest investment bank by revenue and an investor in firms like Spotify, Foodpanda, and Dropbox.

People who work at Goldman Sachs often move on to positions in government. A good example is William C. Dudley. A former partner, he became president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in 2009 amid the global financial crisis. Other notable ex-employees are Gary Gensler, chair of the US Securities and Exchange Commission, and former Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi.

The bank incurred huge losses during the global financial crisis, due in part to its involvement in the subprime mortgage scandal, and had to be bailed out. Since then, Goldman Sachs has gone to great lengths to repair its public image. By its own figures, the firm has committed over $2 billion in grants.

Contrary to common belief, a major in finance or accounting isn’t a must if you want to get a job at Goldman Sachs. A major in history or biology can be equally useful. Goldman Sachs is looking for diverse candidates who have interesting backgrounds and can bring something different to the table. Some GS executives got where they are with a degree in English.

Work experience and community service matter a great deal. It shows that you can handle several responsibilities at the same time and that you are collaborative. While you pursue your university degree, you should work, volunteer, or do a corporate internship. It doesn’t need to be at another Wall Street firm, as long as you work for a well-known company.

Of course, an internship with Goldman Sachs is the real golden ticket. Its 10-week summer internship programs and apprenticeships feed directly into its associate and full-time employee pool, and a huge part of its recruitment process is to turn interns into employees. You should also look into Early Careers, a skills-based recruitment program designed to aid candidates find the best match when it comes to a career at Goldman Sachs.

Getting a job at Goldman Sachs can be hard. In 2021, Goldman Sachs hired only three percent of all job applicants, which numbered roughly 267,000. Getting an internship at this investment bank is no less competitive. According to a source contacted by CNBC, only 1.5 percent of students applying to an internship in 2022 were admitted.

The trick is to really prepare as if you were about to take the SAT or tackle a complicated coding assignment. If you do rigorous research, practice, put your best foot forward, and then visualize the best outcome, you may be able to make your own luck.

Keep in mind that Goldman Sachs values authenticity. Recruiters can instantly tell when candidates are trying too hard or offering boring, rehearsed answers instead of genuine responses.

The Goldman Sachs application and interview process requires a considerable time commitment. To get started, head to Goldman Sachs’ careers portal, where you can apply to student programs, internships, and jobs.

Make sure to target your CV and cover letter to Goldman Sachs specifically. These materials should reflect why you want to work at Goldman Sach as opposed to another big investment bank.

Do as much research as you possibly can about the bank and all the financial services it offers. Get in the habit of reading top-tier business magazines, such as the Financial Times and the Wall Street Journal. That said, remember that GS’ clients come from vastly different walks of life, so being well-rounded in current events is an asset for any job at Goldman Sachs.

In the GS application portal, you can apply as a student or as a professional. Whichever you choose, the Goldman Sachs interview process can be broken down into the following general steps:

During interviews, the bank is known for asking unique behavioral questions. Look up examples of behavioral questions beforehand so that you’re thoroughly prepared. Likewise, make sure that you are on top of anything having to do with finance, investment banking, and Goldman Sachs, and keep your eye on how GS stock is trading.

Your technical knowledge is equally important. If you’re up for a financial analyst position, for example, you should be prepared for all the financial analyst interview questions that will be coming your way.

Goldman Sachs cherishes interesting candidates so be sure to highlight any experience and skills that make you stand out, and explain why will be an asset for the particular role that you are applying for.

Wall Street’s working culture is infamous for grueling hours and lack of work-life balance. But to attract top talent, Goldman Sachs has made it a priority to offer its employees a different take on the traditional investment bank work environment.

Despite a reputation for being hyper-elite, Goldman Sachs fosters an inclusive culture. Minority employees have access to over 80 affinity networks, which include an LGBT group. On June 26, 2013, the bank raised a rainbow flag at its NYC headquarters to celebrate the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the federal law defining marriage as a heterosexual union.

Working at Goldman Sachs can be stressful, although not necessarily more stressful than working at other companies in the notoriously fast-paced and demanding finance industry. In 2021, Goldman Sachs’s working hours policy was put into question when a survey revealed that entry-level analysts were doing 100-hour weeks.

The questionable working conditions endured by some Goldman Sachs employees are reflected in the company’s Indeed review, where current and former employees rate the work-life balance at 3.2 out of 5 stars. This is the company’s lowest score for any of the available categories. Overall, the company scores 4 stars, with “compensation/benefits” and “culture,” attaining the highest scores, 3.9 and 3.7 respectively.

To encourage their employees to start a family, Goldman Sachs gives biological and adoptive mothers four months of maternity leave. Most offices also offer child care, with HQ featuring a small child-friendly rock-climbing wall.

Employees enjoy a panoply of perks, including regular access to bubble tea, meditation sessions, and pilates classes. They also host a yearly all-night charity scavenger hunt called Midnight Madness, and invite distinguished speakers, such as former New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter, to give lectures to employees.

Goldman Sachs offers a wide variety of roles and programs, many of which are tailored to students and employees at the beginning of their careers.

GS’ full-time New Analyst Program is for undergraduate and graduate students in their final year of study. The summer program offers the students an opportunity to learn about the firm, work with internal and external clients, and build career-enhancing skills and their professional network.

If you are a student with your sights set on a career at Goldman Sachs, this program is for you. However, keep in mind that there are many other options for students interested in a career at Goldman Sachs, including a range of exploratory programs, internships, and full-time positions.

This job is part of the Early Careers skills-based program, which GS developed for professionals with a maximum of six years of work experience. Because it is part of the Early Careers program, candidates that apply to this job opening at Goldman Sachs will be considered for multiple opportunities that involve the skill of software engineering.

Whether you want to be a software engineer or a developer, this could be the track for you. This opening could also be your entry point to a remote job at Goldman Sachs. If you are interested in a remote and flexible job at this company, there are other opportunities, such as quantitative engineer or technical architect roles.

Goldman Sachs Technology Risk is the name of the threat, data science, and risk analysis initiatives that help protect the bank and its clients from cyber security and IT threats. This role reviews software architecture designs and identifies flaws. The responsibilities of this analyst job at Goldman Sachs also include human capital management, advisory services, risk distribution, and hedging.

Anyone hoping to get a job at Goldman Sachs should have expertise in their respective field as well as the patience and commitment to go through the company’s comprehensive application process. Those cutting corners by submitting non-tailored CVs and cover letters probably won’t make it. Goldman Sachs is looking for confidence and authenticity, so during the interview make sure to let your personality shine through.

In an interview with Bloomberg TV in June 2020, Goldman CEO David Solomon said that the bank hires between 2,000 to 3,000 graduates every year. From one angle, that seems like a pretty small group. But with the right combination of skills, such as long-term planning and a strong work ethic, you just might find yourself in a Goldman Sachs career.

Goldman Sachs is looking for diverse candidates who have interesting backgrounds and can bring something different to the table. Some GS executives got where they are with a degree in English. Work experience and community service matter a great deal.