Written by:
Laiyin Li

The Gold Man of Goldman

For job-seeking seniors and intern-hopeful juniors, it’s that time of year again as prestigious finance corporations have been reinforcing their presence on campuses across the nation in recruiting efforts. The increase of additional manpower invested into information and networking sessions despite high national unemployment rates has been quite noticeable; even Goldman Sach’s lead man (a.k.a. Chief Executive Officer), Lloyd Blankfein, showed up at GS’ Princeton University recruitment event. He delivered a brief and light speech to a packed room of students, detailing his fortuitous entry into Goldman after the unexpected acquisition of his former employer, which reinforced a main message of the synergism of preparation, talent, timeliness and a bit of sheer luck in the finance industry. A handful of questions were made by the audience, including two inquiries on what aspects Mr. Blankfein personally enjoyed and “most wanted to change” about the dynamics of his company. His response to both questions was the balance of work and life in the high-stressed, face-paced environment on Wall Street: he admired the capability of his colleagues to efficiently manage their jobs and leisure simultaneously but “wished they’d enjoy more time off”, although he further goes on to note that high inputs of time and effort are factors that constitute the unbeatable pace of the industry. Mr. Blankfein ended on an optimistic note stating that all majors were considered for jobs/internships, citing his law degree as an example.

Mr. Blankfein’s presentation has thus far been exclusively covered here by Business Today. Photo courtesy of Flickr.