Pros
A lot of good competent co-workers Can put Goldman Sachs on resume Emphasis on training\ Work with high level clients Travel
Cons
Very low pay for financial planners/analysts. You will be better off to start your career elsewhere and with any pay raises will make much more than a financial planner/analyst here in almost any other professional environment after a few years. My personal experience is promotion without any increase in pay, bonus or COLA adjustment year after year. This is not out of the ordinary. Now think of that, truly, doing a good enough job to be promoted without anything but a title change. Does that happen anywhere else? Expected to work long hours, help pick up work load from others overworked with zero gratitude from management. Moral is extremely low and has changed dramatically over the 5+ years of working there. You will be told if you give up 5 to 10 years of your life you can make account manager which is the only job worth having in financial counseling. The AM job is very high paying and if you make it there would be happy with your choice to work there, but really have to compete for it and being a good employee/worker is not all that is needed. This is a very political company, while this is true to an extent in any business, AYCO is extreme here. Above all else, your career progresses by working for and being liked by the right people as long as you are a decent employee. You need to work for the right people that care about getting you promoted or have a voice with senior management or you have virtually no shot of moving up in any capacity and that is outside of your control. There is very little transparency in bonuses, pay, etc. Worked at an office that broke new company records for new AUM in a year and no year end bonuses were given out because "Goldman" did not have a great year. This is not atypical, as every year now it seems bonuses, raises, cut expenses etc. will not be given out because of something to do with Goldman Sachs in one way or another. Not sure if this is just the go to excuse or real, but again, very little transparency . Overall, there are a lot of good people to work for or with, it just seems that the company is becoming less and less of what it used to be. Even if you work for a good boss that cares and appreciates your work, that means little as ultimately senior management or the Goldman office makes decisions. Moral continues to decline. This is too bad, because when I started here it was not the case. It seems that the more involved Goldman becomes the more the work environment deteriorates. It may be worth a shot for a few years to see if you can make it and get a name on a resume and training which will open some doors in finding another job. But from my experience, and knowing others that left, you will quickly find that you are overworked and underpaid once you go elsewhere and will really appreciate your new employer.
