If you want to land a job at Goldman Sachs, consider honing your people skills.
Two partners at the bank told Business Insider how AI adoption is changing — or, in some cases, not changing — what they look for in applicants. As the cohead of Global Private Wealth Management and One Goldman Sachs, which is undergoing an AI-driven overhaul, Meena Lakdawala-Flynn said people skills are especially important.
“Strong judgment, strong interpersonal skills, creativity, curiosity, and of course a strong work ethic,” she said when asked what she looks for in potential hires.
Wealth management is, she said, about relationship building, and using AI tools effectively could free up more time to spend with clients.
“Those interpersonal skills are really important, because the more that you’re able to connect with your client and gain trust, the more that they open up to you,” Lakdawala-Flynn said. Her team often uses tools like the “GS AI Assistant,” the bank’s interactive AI sidekick, and a language translator, among others.
Asahi Pompey, global head of the Office of Corporate Engagement and chair of the Urban Investment Group, has been at Goldman for nearly 20 years and is herself a “big AI user.” Yet she doesn’t think the core skills that differentiate top applicants and employees have changed much, even as the technology transforms the workplace.
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“The fundamentals are still the same,” Pompey said. “You want someone who lives in the details, who really understands the aspects of the work that they’re doing. You’re going to want somebody who’s going to be very responsive, because we move in a fast-paced way. Has a high level of accuracy.”
Knowing how to correctly prompt an AI chatbot and question its output are also key skills, she said.
Goldman has spent around $6 billion on technology this year, and CEO David Solomon has said the bank’s AI tools will “scale and transform our engineering abilities.” Junior employees are among the bank’s “AI natives,” Marco Argenti, Goldman’s chief information officer, said last month.
Though a recent internal memo about the AI updates to OneGS outlined “limited” job cuts at the firm, Solomon has said that the technology means Goldman will need to raise headcount and hire “high-value” employees.
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