Although the firm is now formed as a Corporation, and a large public corporation in fact, the highest rank an employee can achieve remains the title of “Partner.” Partner stokes a throwback to a different time, when an employee could ascend the ranks of the firm and go on to significant personal and professional success.
Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) announced today that 110 executives have been tabbed to be made a Partner this year. This designation is one of the most lucrative tickets on Wall Street, and as such highly regarded and sought after.
Lloyd Blankfein, the firms Chief Executive, and President Gary Cohn said in an email to staff on Wednesday that the decision was quite difficult. “We are confident that many of them [executives who didn’t make the cut] will be selected in the future.”
The partner pool is not ever-growing though, Goldman does sometimes cull the partner pool, de-partnering executives who have previously made the cut. However, how many will or have been de-partnered is not known as Goldman does not announce the total size of the partnership pool. Goldman has roughly 35,000 employees, but typically only 375 or so become partners. The average tenure of a partner is about eight years.
What are the qualities of a typical Partner? Candidates are judged on many qualities, primarily their financial contribution to the firm. But lawyers and risk managers — who are not big revenue producers — can also make it to the inner circle. The executives responsible for running the partner process this year are the vice chairmen, the head of human resources, and the bank’s president.
