Image copyright Reuters

Goldman Sachs is scrapping face-to-face interviews on university campuses in a bid to attract a wider range of talent.

The US investment bank will switch to video interviews with first-round undergraduate candidates from next month.

Each year the bank hires about 2,500 students as both summer and full-time analysts.

Goldman hoped the move will allow it to find students from a broader range of disciplines.

Edith Cooper, Goldman's global head of human capital management said: "We want to hire not just the economics or business undergraduate but there is that pure liberal arts or history major that could be the next Lloyd Blankfein."

Mr Blankfein, the bank's chief executive, went to Harvard, one of America's elite Ivy League universities, where he studied history.

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Goldman Sachs chief executive Lloyd Blankfein attended Harvard and was a history major

Goldman recruits from 400 colleges and universities globally and 225 in the US.

Goldman tends to attract student with business or economics degrees. It is hoped the new system will help the bank bring in a wider array of junior employees with a range of interests and talents, and the personality to cope with the gruelling work schedule.

The bank will still have a presence on college campuses, but planned to use it promote other opportunities. It will still conduct second-round interviews in person.

Better candidates

The shift will not affect business schools or professional hires, but is part of a broader move by Goldman to use technology in the hiring process.

The new method will include structured interviews, which the bank said will allow for greater comparisons between candidates and "more objective and informed hiring decisions".

Goldman is also experimenting with personality questionnaires, which it feels may help to predict how successful a person will be at the firm.