kwam
There is one problem though, imagine that you want M&A at Goldman, and then you see that GS hires in a certain school, from these data you can't tell if GS is hiring for M&A, S&T, Research, or other role.
Agreed. This is yet another reason that it is difficult to go off employment reports - they are clouded by all sorts of mishaps such as this. Getting into Goldman's Private Wealth Management group is not as selective as getting into the Investment Banking Division - and at many lower tier schools, a majority of Goldman placements will be into PWM and other less selective groups. If I were to guess, PWM would most likely be classified on employment reports as industry "Investment Banking/Brokerage" and function "Investment Management". This is somewhat misleading as it is a sales job where you cold-call people and build up a book of business.
In the same sense, getting into Microsoft's Corporate Development/M&A group is going to be a lot more selective than getting into their Corporate Treasury group. However, all you will see on the employment report is 1 Microsoft hire, and they may even classify both of these groups into something generic like "Corporate Finance".
Everyone should do their own research and speak with current students at the schools they are interested in to get a good feel for opportunities. Employment reports are a good starting point, but they should not be your only source of information.