Pros
• The benefits are top notch, much more available to employees beyond the traditional health/vision/dental. The 401K plan is extremely generous for employees after their first anniversary, and tuition reimbursement is available at $10k a year. • Learning opportunities - you will learn more than you can possibly imagine. The networking that comes from the groups, events, and cross-division/departmental projects really help expand your skill set and resume. • Resume booster- a large percentage of my colleagues came to the firm for this very reason. Post Goldman life has also been very nice for most as they move on to other opportunities. • People - It was a privilege to work with such a talented group of people. Everyone has great ideas, strengths, and works extremely hard. Also of note, there are a lot of opportunities available to volunteer locally, people do really seem to genuinely care about what they do, and I was extremely impressed with how the firm handled any HR type issues.
Cons
• Work/Life balance. I was fortunate to work in a division that offered overtime, however extra hours were always available and it was strongly encouraged to work extra. • Stress- Do more with less seems to be the philosophy here. Departments seem to be understaffed, overworked, and undertrained. Management seems to be reactive to change in staffing rather than proactively working to make the day easier for employees. Turnover is extremely high for a company of this caliber in the division I was in. • Pay - pay is subpar, and employees are discouraged from discussing this with each other. Annual raises, bonuses, and promotional increases could use some work to be in the same league as other companies. • Internal promotion can be difficult depending on the needs of your team. The firm tends to hire outside, and tends to promote management more frequently than those that work in operations. There’s not a lot of transparency about career pathing, and that heavily impacts morale.