Goldman Sachs Returnship Class of 2019: A Recap of Another Successful Year

18 MAR 2019

Goldman Sachs recently hosted twenty-two professionals for its 2019 Returnship® Program, an 8-week program held in our New York and New Jersey offices for talented professionals returning to the workforce after an extended absence. The program offers a range of hands-on workshops, panels, and classroom training.  It began in our New York offices in 2008, but has gone global due to its success.  

For the 2019 program in New York, participants attended a panel with three of the program’s alumni who are now vice presidents across different divisions of the firm: Meera Krishnamoorthy in Technology; Negar Nabavi in the Legal Department; and Noreen Sankbeil in Operations. The discussion was moderated by Megan Hogan, global head of Diversity Recruiting. The panel spoke of their own experience in the program and how it helped them transition to full-time roles at the firm. The panelists then held a Q&A session with the Returnship class, which was followed by a networking lunch.

Senior leaders in the firm also were part of the program. Carly Scales, a managing director in the Finance Division and co-head of the Firmwide Women’s Network participated in a roundtable chat, as well as Dane Holmes, the global head of Human Capital Management. CEO David Solomon spoke with participants, who had the opportunity to directly ask him questions.

One day was dedicated to participation in the Goldman Sachs program, Community TeamWorks, where they worked with children at a public school in Brooklyn to help them create dream boards – posters that contain drawings and cutouts of things that the students dream of doing.

Some participants expressed key takeaways of the program:

“From Day One, I was paired with a mentor, and had resources and guidance by my manager and team to help me with my transition process.” – Divya, Internal Audit

“We’ve been uniquely positioned to do well and the program helped us realize there are multiple paths to success.” – Jamelle, Operations

“A valuable aspect of the program was exposure to senior management across all divisions.” – Sharyn, Operations

“I learned to believe in myself and be open to opportunities, leverage people around at all levels, be curious and ask questions.” Kerri, Finance

The Goldman Sachs 2019 Returnship Program concluded on March 8th. We are excited to see where this year’s returnees take their careers and look forward to next year’s programming.