Goldman Sachs rebuffs Ivy League (and Stanford)

[Mastadon]

The path to Goldman Sachs/Wall Street now passes through a computer connected to the Internet rather than on-campus interviews…

Goldman said Thursday that its recruiters will no longer conduct first-round interviews for summer positions on campus at elite schools like Harvard, Yale and Stanford University. Instead, all candidates for summer analyst positions must complete a video interview, answering prompts from a software program.

While a seemingly minor administrative change, the move alters a rite of passage in finance, in which students don suits and ties for interviews with recruiters or alumni employees. Shifting to video screening allows the firm to cast its net wider and brings it a step toward “leveling the playing field” for recruits from nonelite schools, said Edith Cooper, global head of human capital management at Goldman Sachs.

‘Having access to a broader funnel of candidates … is just a better investment.’
—Russell Horwitz, co-chief operating officer of Goldman’s securities division

Videos will be reviewed by Goldman’s recruiting team and the bank will invite those who make the cut to one of its offices for a day of in-person interviews, called “super days.” The hope, executives say, is that opening up interviews to a wider field of candidates will turn up people passionate about a long career in finance, executives said.

Other Wall Street firms may follow Goldman’s lead. A handful of large banks have privately shared similar plans to shift away from conducting first-round interviews on campuses, said Chirag Saraiya, a principal at Training The Street Inc., a firm that teaches financial analysis to employees at banks and government agencies, among other places.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/goldman-rethinks-campus-recruiting-efforts-1466709118

[PengsPhils]

This could be really big - completely turning feeder schools on their heads a bit. That said, I don’t see this move being successful. Probably a way to cut costs by a desperate company.

No, I’m not calling Goldman desperate simply because they have a bad name. Launching a 1.05%APY savings account and then this seem to be a very odd combination of erratic movements that are unlikely to pay off.

[circuitrider]

Once an idea like this gets even a little buzz, it becomes almost inevitable. The idea of “target schools” is a little bit like bit like buying books at a bookstore.

[ucbalumnus]

They probably want to appear less school elitist to market themselves better in a political sense. Whether it becomes a substantial change in where they draw from, or is just a token change remains to be seen.

[IWannaHelp]

Great. No more endless argument and bragging on which are targets, semi-targets, and whatnot for investment banking on this board.