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Politics : Ask Michael Burke -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: saju chacko who wrote (25838)	2/9/1998 11:49:00 AM
From: Knighty Tin	Respond to of 132070

Saju, O.k., the analyst name is not descriptive. They are really talking about a sales position. But, with Goldman, that is not a bad thing. First, the key to selling a lot of stocks and bonds is to have qualified customers and for your firm to have a reputation that is pristine. Goldman is simply top of the line with well-heeled individuals and institutions. My fund nearly got into a lawsuit against them once, but I still respect them very much. They simply did not know what a mutual fund was and how it operated at the time. They have since learned. Very well. The guy who interviewed you was personnel. Those folks never get paid too much. Easy job that anyone can do. A salesman who delivers at Goldman makes big bucks. The average GS salesman makes over half a million bucks, though it is not salary. And, of course they do not pay you much while they are training you. Until you have your licenses and they are sure about your ability to know product, you aren't worth much to them. But that is true of any brokerage training program. However, I do think it is not likely that you can get away without any cold calling once you are licensed. I still get cold calls from Goldman, so I know somebody there does it. Good luck, MB MB

To: saju chacko who wrote (25838)	2/9/1998 4:52:00 PM
From: Doug Millan	Respond to of 132070

Saju, FWIW, Based on what you've written, I think you are describing a sales job, at least for now. I've had friends who've approached similar opportunities, though not with Goldman. I encouraged each one of them to take the job for the following reasons: 1. Develop your sales skills early. Sales drives every business and talented salespeople are always a company's greatest asset. You can typically classify people in two categories - people that understand the sales equation and people that don't. If you do, then logically you should invest the time to learn these skills early-on, especially when it's on someone else's dime. 2. Brand-name recognition.You'll use that logo (GS) throughout your life to help sell yourself. All other things being equal - go with the big-guy early in your career. 3. Best way to learn the business - the front line. Best generals are those who have fought on the front lines. I think some analysts are like marketing people - people who have never sold or tried but couldn't cut it - either way, they just speak a different language. An analyst who knows sales will, IMO, benefit from a fundamental perspective of what drives business decisions for a particular product or market. And don't get salary tunnel vision. Your time invested and what you walk away with 2 years from now are much more important in the grand scheme of things than a couple thousand bucks a month now. Your just out of college and broke now anyway. Perfect time to learn because your quality of life is so low -g-. Do a good job, and after 2 years you will see big payoff - if you're good. Of my three friends that had opportunities similiar to yours, one chose your path. In two years, he was promoted to a "deal team" where he was paid a marginally better salary, but took cuts of each deal and got great bonuses - made 100k first year out. His Rolodex was much more valuable than that - got a job with a buyout firm six months later, and now makes 200k plus. 27 years old. My other friends still work at Cisco's and Oracle's and unfortunately do not have a great deal of transferrable skills. Best of Luck, Doug