Analyst Review

My placement gave me lots of opportunities to work on a variety of projects and tasks. This meant that I stayed engaged and active throughout the year and was able to develop lots of new skills. As such, I found my placement a good learning experience, challenging and enjoyable.

I felt like I was genuinely part of the team. My opinion was sought in meetings and I felt that I had a valuable role to play. As I worked across the division and with many different teams I could easily have felt excluded from individual team groups, however I was always made to feel welcome and that my contribution was useful. Once I had developed a grounding both in my own role, and how it interconnected with the division, I was often sought out for particular skills or called upon to provide cross-divisional information.

In comparison to the other interns in my division my manager took more of a hands off approach. This was slightly challenging as because of my role I worked across the division and it would have been helpful to have a core sounding board, especially as my knowledge within my role was somewhat limited at the start. Some of this was due to the other responsibilities that he held which made it more difficult for him to dedicate the same amount of time to me. I would also like to think that, as I seemed to be getting on fine he didn't feel that I needed babysitting! Also, as the year progressed I found mentors and managers from other projects and my own manager started to take more interest in my output.

Days varied considerably from the start to finish of my placement. Once I had developed sufficient skills I was able to take on more projects and was called upon for work by other members of my division. As such, as the year progressed I gradually got busier. As a significant role in finance is the vendor financial reviews, at certain times in the month my workload also increased.

From the outset my responsibility was significant especially in comparison to other interns in my division. As finance was a small team and my manager was fairly hands off I was given projects and tasks and allowed to develop them alongside other stakeholders. From working with vendors to organising events my role was varied however my level of contribution always felt significant.

My degree is completely unrelated to my placement and as such there is little that is transferable. I already had a strong work ethic and so did not find that I learnt anything in terms of time management over the year. On the other hand, learning how to operate in a business environment is something that I was lacking prior to my placement and a useful skill that I will take with me in the future.

The office atmosphere was professional yet friendly. As my division was responsible for designing the workplace the layout and furniture changed a number of times during my placement as we piloted different functions. Keeping the floor open plan with flexible seating arrangements meant that the formality of the office was broken down and that teams could work alongside each other. This meant that the feeling of the floor was collaborative and inclusive and also gave the opportunity to network with people you wouldn't necessarily directly work with on a day to day basis.

Goldman Sachs had an organised and professional set up for the placement year. We were provided with detailed in depth training on the first day before being handed over to our teams. With my division there was significant focus on integrating us within the division and giving us the equipment, tools and skills we would need to function from day one. Unlike some divisions, my division treated us as though we were full employees. It is notable that some of the extra support and integration programmes seemed to die off as soon as the summer interns left which suggests that these were perhaps more targeted towards them, However in some respects this was a benefit as it gave us the opportunity to fit in properly. Three review periods throughout the year also gave us the opportunity to evaluate our progress and make amendments which I think was a well developed part of the placement schemes (however consistency between managers feedback in these sessions could be improved).

When I arrived I had little knowledge of Goldman Sachs or anything related to finance. My team and division therefore had to invest a significant amount of time in developing my skills to give me functionality within my team and across the division as a whole. I felt that I learnt a considerable amount throughout the year and was offered plenty of opportunities to get involved in projects that would lead to difference skill development. Many of these opportunities came about through my own commitment to finding and producing work, however I feel that I was offered plenty of opportunities to develop skills if I so wished, something I know is a strong aspect of the dviisions culture as a graduate.

Many people seek to gain a graduate job with Goldman Sachs, who provide a well supported graduate training programme starting with five weeks in New York, America. It is worth noting that in my division you are required to accept a graduate job without knowing which team you will be placed in. As there is such a disparity between the different teams and their roles this is a significant gamble if there are teams that you would prefer not to work in. This is something that worries me when accepting a role at Goldman Sachs. On the other hand, they do ask for your preferences when offering you the job and I would like to think that this would be taken in to account.

The other interns in my division become incredibly close friends. There was a lack of competitive back stabbing which was something I was very worried about and we developed a strong support network, providing feedback and encouragement to one another. However, there were few placement students within my division and as we were situated within a separate budding our integration with the other students was somewhat limited. Whilst HCM organised a number of placement events there were perhaps to infrequent/late in the year to make a positive impact.

I found it was perfectly possible to live on the salary that was provided by Goldman Sachs. They were generous in providing a relocation bonus which helped with the initial move cost and due to their central location finding a place to live was not a significant challenge. I found that when we would go out with work, managers tended to pay for drinks (you were not expected to buy a round) which obviously helped reducing out goings significantly. Overall I found that we were provided more money that we required and were able to have a fun and enjoyable year.

Unfortunately I found that working meant that I was often to tried to go out in the evenings. Going out near work would be going to a bar for drinks on a Thursday or Friday. It is notable that Thursday is the going out night in the city as people tend to go home for the weekend. This was something that I wasn't expecting. The increased cost of drinks/food in the city was something that surprised me initially especially when coming from a student town of Bath where everything is on student discount!

There were plenty of opportunities to get involved outside of work. Together with the other interns in my division we played netball for the GS team as well as being encouraged to get involved in societies/groups ranging from the disability interest forum to the women's forum. This gave us the opportunity to work with other divisions and take a broader interest. Fun runs, dodgeball contests and other sporting events were popular during the year and were easy to get involved in. Teams in my division also frequently went for after work drinks and you were encouraged to join in with these.