西瓜视频

I enjoyed the insight a lot. I loved my time there.

Employees throughout the firm were very open to talking to us and answering our questions. A lot of senior speakers were part of our programme schedule. Therefore it was clear that we were valued at the firm. One point I would make is that sometimes the programme organisers (the HCM staff, i.e. Human Resources staff) seemed impatient, maybe even rude, with us. For example, one of them spoke quickly giving us a briefing. Someone asked a question she may have answered already in this hasty briefing. She abruptly said 'I've answered that already' and picked someone else to speak.

Halfway through, each individual met privately with a programme organiser where we had the chance to communicate any worries and receive feedback on what we'd been doing so far (e.g. I received the advice that I should ask more questions). This meeting was a great idea. However, I wish it was communicated more clearly that this is a session intended to help the candidates. I and a few others were nervous before it as we had the misconception that it was some sort of assessment. I did not feel too comfortable approaching some of the programme organisers with my queries, in light of my answer to the previous question about what I perceived to be their impatience. After our case study presentations, I wish we received more detailed feedback on how the presentation went. During our case studies, there were times when I asked an employee at the firm some technical questions to assist me. They responded enthusiastically with help.

The main reason I loved the spring week was that it was a very social experience. I loved being with all of the other interns. They were seriously a great group of people. Almost everyone was sociable, genuine, interesting and funny. I became comfortable - 'close' - with the people around me very quickly. When we spoke to each other, we looked each other in the eye - and everyone at the firm was like this. I know this sounds like a silly point to make, but I had not experienced this level of open/direct/non-awkward interaction before. Coming into the spring week, I had the preconception that bankers were insincere/devious people. But the truth I know now is that bankers are genuine, honest, and socially smooth. The investment banking industry has a massive culture of networking - basically encouraging you to approach people, introduce yourself for seemingly no good reason, and ask questions. This was very off-putting to me at first; I assumed it was all fake. But at Goldman at least, it really is not. I became genuinely interested in the employees I was speaking to and they were genuinely happy to answer my questions. It is a great social culture. In the future, I will take inspiration from the social dynamic at Goldman Sachs to help me build real, honest, intimate relationships with people in my life.

Very well structured. The programme schedule was packed with interesting activities.

The programme organisers did a great job of shooting down any ultra-competitive, hostile atmosphere from the get-go. They told us repeatedly on the first/second day that the spring week was not a competition and that collaboration is key. This message sank in successfully over the first few days, before the real tasks (case studies) actually began. Initially - inevitably - there was a little bit of 'power-jostling' and talking over each other while working in teams on the case studies. But this disappeared very quickly, giving way to a helpful, focused, team-oriented mindset shared amongst everyone in my team. This is how it remained for all of the time at Goldman Sachs. There was never even a hint of explicit competition, and I almost never saw a Spring Intern 'faking it' to look good to employees of the firm. This contrasts strongly with my friends' accounts of Spring Weeks at other banks. So the Goldman Sachs Spring Week seems unique not only in its duration, but also in its fun, honest atmosphere.

In the programme schedule, 1.5 days were dedicated to technical training: basic accountancy/valuation lessons. The instructor was eccentric and hilarious. He made the lessons very enjoyable. Clearly Goldman Sachs invested in a reputable, effective teacher. I wish the programme included an advisory session dedicated to networking. What actually is networking? How do you go about networking effectively? This is important because we were encouraged to network with GS employees during our time on the spring week (specifically, we were encouraged/expected to contact employees of our own accord and meet up with them during one of the many 'free time' slots we had on our schedule). This was expected: at the end of the spring week we had to give the names of 5 employees whom we had had 'a significant interaction' with. Yet, at first I had no clue about what networking actually was. There was a speaker dedicated to giving advice on how to produce effective presentations for an audience.

2 weeks is a very short time. I cannot see any improvements to the programme that would have given us a better idea of what IB is really like, within that short of a timeframe. I was initially going to write that perhaps the cons of the job weren't displayed to us in full; in particular, the working hours. But this is not true. We were encouraged to ask questions to employees relating to personal lives / work-life balance. Senior speakers spoke openly about the long working hours. (An aside: I kept wondering why the hours are so long for this profession. A partner at the firm, [This section of the comment has been removed by a member of the RateMyPlacement Team because it did not meet our site terms and conditions], resolved my confusion: 'In this industry, you are helping with the most important business decisions of some of the most important businesses in the world. Of course your work is going to be intense. This isn't a 9 to 5 job where what you do doesn't actually matter.') As I mentioned in previous questions, the employees were very open when I met up with them to ask questions. I asked a lot of detailed questions to analysts on the stresses of the job, the strain on their personal lives... and so on.

Employees throughout the firm seem to agree uniformly on what the culture of the company is; this is testament to how strong the company culture is. I would summarise it as: - striving for excellence - teamwork, teamwork, teamwork. There is a lot said about the first point: Goldman Sachs wants to attract and retain the best people, Goldman Sachs aims to execute the largest and most complex deals, et cetera. However, a GS partner that came to speak to us emphasised the second point as key to Goldman's culture. He said 'Goldman isn't great because it has smart people. X bank that I worked at before had people who were just as smart. So for me, what really differentiates Goldman is teamwork. We emphasise collaboration in everything we do. A client could be working with Y team on Z deal, and 2 years later work with W team on T project, and the new team will already know everything about Z deal.'

I got a very good insight into what investment banking and what Goldman Sachs are really like. The spring week was as good as it could have been given the short 2 week duration. The two case studies we worked on, for example, were realistic and well-designed. Part of me regrets that I enjoyed the Spring Week so much because I am now more confused than ever as to what I want as my future career path.

Goldman Sachs will pay for the cost of travel from home to London and back, but they will not pay for your travel within London to the office and back. They also paid for accommodation in a 4-star hotel near the offices. In addition to this, they gave us a substantial salary!

I have already talked about this in my other answers. We were encouraged and expected to network with employees of Goldman Sachs. So much so that at the end, we had to give the names of 5 people we had networked with, and those people were (I assume) asked to evaluate us as part of the summer internship selection process. The employees were very friendly and open to answering questions.

There were a few social events where all Spring Interns from all divisions got together (not just IBD Interns). I found it easy to socialise with Interns from other divisions; everyone was very nice like in IBD.

A lot of speakers spoke extensively about their out-of-work hobbies and interests. Although there was always the admission that they did not have too much time on their hands to pursue these interests.

I would not hesitate to recommend this program to anyone who has the slightest interest in investment banking.