Pros
- Great branding for your CV - Lloyd is a one-of-a-kind guy. Good luck when he's gone! - If you can deal with the bureaucracy there, you can deal with it anywhere - Big enough that you don't always have to work that hard and can get away with doing nothing most days - Average cafeteria - At-work gym
Cons
Where do I start? I worked in GSAM for 10 years, both in NYC and London. Good luck to the people in London, who are treated just like any regional office and not valued employees in the 'International Headquarters'. GSAM and GS, as a whole, are living on the reputation that they once had. The company has been on a downhill trajectory since the IPO. The inertia of its former glory allows it to attract the best talent and creativity, which they inevitably suck out of individuals, leaving them shells of their former selves, with no real skills and only proprietary knowledge which is useless outside of the firm. The firm has hired too many 'lateral hires' who have killed its culture and forced those who 'grew up' at the firm out the door. GSAM is an extremely exciting money market and fixed income business where misinformed clients are name brand *cough*, willing to pay extortionate fees for lacklustre performance. GS is a bloated bureaucracy where it's impossible to get anything done. Be prepared to have your best ideas killed by committee, usually based in NY and who have no understanding or interest in the international business. While GS is a good place to launch a career, DO NOT let yourself get sucked into this place for your entire career. MOVE to a private equity firm or hedge fund. At GS, you'll, without question, stagnate and get stuck into your role/team. Unless you're in Sales or a part of the PM team, be prepared to be treated as a second-class citizen. Forget about a role in Tech or Compliance. While GS tells the public its a 'Tech company' it's anything but -- just have a look at GS 360 sometime. Wow! What a great job they did with the platform revamp there! The sales people in GSAM walk around with such swagger, you'd think they're making millions but the majority make little more than anyone else. The Sales MDs think they're gods -- good luck trying to get on their radar. However, if you love playing politics, you'll do just fine here; it should be your major focus. Little emphasis is put on skills our output; it's all about presentation (and usually of other peoples' work). In Europe there's a small chance that you'll make it from an internal to an external salesperson, but you'll probably be fired as these teams turn over quite frequently for failing to lure customers will high fees and poor performance. In the US, the transition from internal to external wholesaler is virtually impossible. Stay away from any other 'support' team in GSAM, including Communications, Investor Services, etc.