Kazuya

Executive Director/Vice President
Firmwide Business Partners

Human Capital Management, Tokyo

“For people who want to be real professionals, and have a chance to work on a global level, I would encourage them to apply to Goldman Sachs.”

My Work

The mission of my division, Human Capital Management, is to attract, retain and motivate employees. The division is engaged in a wide variety of activities including: hiring outstanding people, giving them opportunities for growth, providing training programs and implementing a fair performance review system.

My role is a Business Partner, comprehensively covering a divisions’ people issues. In my case I work with the Goldman Sachs Asset Management (GSAM) Division in the Tokyo office. Our responsibilities include advising senior management on people strategy and headcount budgeting, developing and hiring policies; and managing processes for annual evaluation and compensation decisions.

Our corporate culture recognizes that our people are our most important assets. All of our people including senior management and line managers, are very committed to investing in people. The Human Capital Management Division is the front line in these efforts, so it is a very exciting place to work.

My Day

I get to work usually at 8:30 a.m. During my commute I have a look at the newspapers. When I get to my desk I check the e-mails that have come in from overseas, and take care of those right away. If people in New York are still in the office, sometimes I follow-up with them by phone.

Usually by 9:00 a.m. I am on the phone, or writing e-mails. I have meetings both inside and outside my division, and I actively keep track of progress on projects within the division.

Sometimes I eat lunch at my desk, but often, as an opportunity to catch-up with people from around the firm, I eat out with my division colleagues, or with people from GSAM.

In the afternoon I get back to e-mail, or meetings, but when I have the time I read e-mails relating to GSAM business updates, or go to product study meetings so that I have as much of an understanding as possible of what's going on in our business.

In the evenings I focus on matters that require urgent attention. I try to leave the office by 8:00 p.m., but sometimes I have to stay a little later for an overseas conference call, or a project deadline. I can access the company's systems from home, so sometimes I leave the office early to do conference calls at home. Sometimes I work from home so I can focus better. My working environment makes it very easy to get work done. I have a lot of flexibility.

My Path

After I graduated from college in economics, I went to work for a Japanese brokerage firm. For the first few years, I was a salesperson in a branch, and I learned about the securities business in general. Then I moved over to the personnel department. After that, I worked in the human resources department of a European insurance company, and then for a US-based human resources consulting firm. I joined the Goldman Sachs Human Capital Management Division in 2001. I started my career at Goldman Sachs with the benefits team. After several years’ experience, I moved to my current role in 2007.

I have had a long career in the human resources field, starting before I joined Goldman Sachs. I had confidence in the depth of my knowledge and practical experience, but I was aware that I had not had the opportunity to study the field academically. So, starting in 2008, I joined a program at a graduate school for mid-career students, and in 2010, I got my MBA. The course focused on human resources management and international management. I was able to fulfill my goals of connecting my experiences with theory, and I think this is really useful in my current business. Of course, my managers were very supportive.

Myself

I got my first experience in human resources management at the company I joined right out of college, and I have worked in human resources at a few companies, but I think no place could be better than the Goldman Sachs Human Capital Management Division in terms of professional goals. Top management has high expectations of the Human Capital Management team, and sometimes I feel the pressure, but when I have done a good job I get concrete feedback right away. When I have ideas, people listen to me, and discuss things openly no matter what their position. That makes life exciting for me as a human resources professional.

People have their own reasons for choosing to work where they do, but for people who are ambitious, I can't imagine a better place to work than Goldman Sachs. We have outstanding people from all over the world, who work to better themselves while reinforcing each other's strengths, working together as a team. At Goldman Sachs we have true teamwork. One of the big attractions of working for Goldman Sachs is that there are lots of opportunities for feedback, not just from managers, but from peers, subordinates and mentors. For people who want to be real professionals, and have a chance to work on a global level, I would encourage them to apply to Goldman Sachs.
 

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