Analyst Review

My placement at Goldman Sachs was an amazing experience, the work is structured around small teams whom you become very close with. You will be given more responsibility than you might feel comfortable with, however, with the necessary safety nets in place to ensure nothing goes wrong.

I was given a warm welcome by my team when I first started working at Goldman Sachs, there was a great social atmosphere in the team and everyone contributed to helping me get up to date on the functional expertise needed for the role. As soon as I had begun taken on real tasks and my set of responsibility grew, it became clear that I was a vital part of the team.

With multiple feedback meetings, regular catchups with my managers and other managers, it was not difficult to pick up advice and guidance. People are very happy to share what they believe to be the success factors for the role or organization, performance expectations are clear and structured.

I would say the workload keep you fairly busy, there are some days that are less busy, but as a general rule, the workload is quite large. However, it is not a matter of being forced to work extra hours every day, most of the employees strive to provide excellent client service, resolve problems for tomorrow or just don´t like to leave anything open overnight that might pose a risk to the firm. I believe that it is this dedication that keeps the corporate culture at Goldman so engaging.

I was given a lot of responsibility, from day to day tasks to projects that I had to coordinate on a global scale. The best way to think of it is that you will just be like any other new employee or analyst in the team.

The placement has given me a unique understanding of how the financial markets operate and all the processes and people that are required to make it function on a day to day basis. You become an excellent problem solver and will be engaged in meetings, talks from senior employees and our placement group even got to speak to Lloyd Blankfein himself.

The general atmosphere was quite busy, there is a mixture of people talking on the phone to clients, internal employees or external banks. You become very good at blocking out noise and focusing on the work in front of you.

The placement was set up in a very professional manner. The first day to the third day, all interns and placements met up to network and learn more about the firms business principles. The fourth day was training with your assigned team. Then forward there was a mixture of talks, events and day to day responsibilities.

The firm invested quite a significant amount of resources in me and other placement students. Due to the technical aspect of the roles, it is difficult to get up to date any quicker than 4 months, moreover, I would say that managers at Goldman Sachs are very easy to ask our for a coffee and no one minds setting aside time to assist you.

Due to the significant amount of resources spent on training, I believe the firm absolutely prefers to offer employment to placement students, however, I am not sure about the retention rate.

Placement student often organized social events, however the primary people you worked and went out with was your colleagues.

The cost of living in central London, as most people know, is extremely high.

Nightlife was good, there was always a place to go after work to grab a drink if needed.

They have plenty of sports, religious, charitable affinity networks you can engage with to better your understanding and develop a good network.