Goldman Neurotics: "Goldman Sachs tends to hire insecure overachievers"

From Here is the City:

Are you a very well motivated genius, or an insecure overachiever ?

Is Goldman Sachs a firm that employs a lot of high performing, highly intelligent, very well motivated geniuses - or simply an organisation that preys upon the insecurities of intelligent people who need a lot of external validation ?

eFinancialCareers reports that Andrew Stead, the ex-head of European convertible bond trading at Goldman Sachs, thinks it might be the latter.

Goldman attracts a lot of insecure overachieving people, says Stead. It’s not that Goldman deliberately sets out to attract insecure over-achievers – that’s just the way it pans out.

'I don’t think recruiters at Goldman target people who are insecure and overachieving in particular', said Stead. 'It’s more that they set out to hire people who are very capable, willing to work long hours and able to make it through their very rigorous interview process. Insecure overachievers are who filter through'.
Stead joined Goldman straight from university in 1995 and left the bank in 2004. He was interviewed 76 times by three different divisions at Goldman before gaining a job offer – something which he says was excessive even by Goldman’s notoriously hyperactive interviewing standards.

The neurotic workaholics who come through Goldman’s recruitment funnel are beneficial to its business model, says Stead: 'People go the extra mile and they will typically do so for less than the market rate. They want the prestige. It’s the same for the top law and accountancy firms'....MORE