Goldman Sachs has claimed that it is still the top destination for banking talent after revealing that it hired just three per cent of the 267,000 applicants it had last year.
Along with such huge numbers of people wanting to join the firm, 90% of those offered roles chose to take them up, claimed Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein at an investor meeting in Florida this week.
Blankfein called Goldman Sachs the “employer of choice” for the industry, stating: “We believe our culture, stability and talent pool are our biggest competitive advantages.”
The firm is seen as making a concerted effort to demonstrate its place in the hierarchy after the financial crisis and various Congressional investigations had dented its reputation. This culminated in a study by Harris Poll last month which rated Goldman Sachs as last in its annual ranking of corporate reputations of the 100 most-visible US companies.
Despite this apparent doom and gloom Blankfein was able to point to Fortune rating the bank as one of the 100 best companies to work for – a list which Goldman Sachs has appeared on each year since 1984.
Appearing as an employer of choice has taken on new importance in the financial sector as banks scramble to attract the best young talent. Firms, including Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, have boosted salaries for junior bankers amid competition for talent from private-equity and hedge-fund firms.
Blankfein also took time to praise the firm’s simpler business model, claiming this had led to higher profitability compared with rivals and said the bank has made progress even as return on equity remained at about 11% the past three years.
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