Goldman Sachs ‘flooded’ by 250,000 student job applications

Goldman Sachs has nothing to fear from Google

There were 223,849 applications for undergraduate summer jobs and for new analyst positions in 2016 (Getty)

The financial crisis has led to a general distrust towards financial institutions.

New graduates are turning to the tech industry, instead of banking and finance jobs with their notoriously long hours and their vilified politics.

But Goldman Sachs, perhaps the most famous investment bank of them all, has nothing to fear from Google, according to its latest job application statistics.

Goldman Sachs has attracted more than a quarter of a million applications from students and graduates for summer positions this year. This is a 40 per cent jump compared to its numbers in 2012, according to figures provided to the Financial Times.

There were 223,849 undergraduate applications for summer jobs and for new analyst positions this year, while 30,542 still studying or completing their Master of Business Administration (MBA) applied for new associate positions.

Goldman Sachs has not revealed how many jobs were on offer. But competition is tough. The bank hired only 9,700 people at all levels last year, according to the report. The company also said it did not have comparable figures for how many applications it received before the onset of the financial crisis.

The Independent has contacted Goldman Sachs for comment.

Getting a job at JPMorgan is no easier. The rival investment bank has only hired 2 per cent of graduate applications to its investment banking division. Chances are a little higher at Citigroup, at 2.7 per cent.

Deutsche Bank, which is set to cut 35,000 jobs over the next two years as it seeks to curbs losses, hired 9 per cent more interns than a year ago after receiving a 14 per cent increase in applications globally for its investment banking division.

“The idea that suddenly people don’t want to go into banking – or if they do go into banking that they stay for a bit and leave immediately – a lot of that has been exaggerated,” Sam Dean, Barclays’ co-head of Emea banking who has special responsibility for talent, told the FT.

The news comes as the tech industry overtook banking in a new ranking of the top paying companies in the UK, according to job website Glassdoor.

Another piece of research from Emolument, a salary benchmarking website, said Amazon has beaten tech rivals Google, Apple and Microsoft to be named best paying tech firm for junior employees in the UK.

Alice Leguay, co-founder of Emolument.com, said leading technology firms were already attracting potential employees with their playful offices and “glamorous brands”. But now they are also outpacing the financial industry in terms of junior pay.

“Working for a top investment bank no longer epitomises the graduate dream, especially since financial industry remuneration has taken a bashing in the last few years, in line with bankers' reputations,” Ms Leguay said.

“Banks are trying to shake up their corporate cultures and offer more flexibility and work-life balance but cannot compete with technology giants making their staff feel they are making a social mark on their time,” she added.