Entry-level bankers from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. gathered in a lower Manhattan hotel ballroom last April to listen to the firm’s top executives try to fire them up about their budding careers. David Solomon, co-head of the firm’s investment bank, took on the touchy subject of young employees leaving for private-equity jobs.
“At this time next year, there’s a lot of you in this room who won’t be working at the firm,” he said. “That’s...