Financial Analyst Review

Working in Private Wealth Management Sales was a very interesting place to be. The cross-asset class nature of the business made the work very relevant to current markets and therefore very interesting. Plus, the amount of responsibility that you are given over just a 10week internship e.g. writing stock updates for actual clients, as well as the larger projects which you are given to enhance your understanding of what the firm has to offer clients made it a sound internship in getting to know if the firm is really for you. I enjoyed the work, although I found the almost securities vibe of the division (where we had to watch the markets all hours of the day) not as appealing as taking a longer-term viewpoint of the markets.

I felt very valuable to the team. I definitely felt I added value by writing up emails summarising Goldman's research views of single stocks and the market that were sent directly to clients. I also took on many other tasks which actually took the workload off members of the team - this gave me a real insight into what working for the team would actually be like as I was doing their work, but also gave me a chance to really feel like part of the team. At the same time, I was given time to do other projects to develop my own knowledge of the firm and products/ services they offer.

My manager was brilliant. She assisted me to get the most I could out of the experience and served as a consul for me too, not just a manager. She encouraged me to find out more about the firm and find more interesting projects to work on. She also helped me manage my workload and stress and taught me a lot of managing myself in a workplace. We were also each assigned a buddy on the team and a mentor who wasn't in the team I was working for but still worked in the division. My buddy set most of my projects and was again a fantastic point of help in ensuring I delivered the results I wanted too. My mentor was also great a support throughout the internship and I had fortnightly catch-ups with him to check in and get advice on how to perform as best I could in the internship.

Days were very busy. Although it was summer which meant that the firm wasn't as busy as the winter months for the employees there, since we were given other projects to do on the side it meant we were very busy during the days. We often had to stay later than the rest of our teams to complete our multiple projects/ tasks which we were given. Many of us did come in for a few hours in the weekends too - but this was completely our own choice as we wanted to deliver projects to the best standard we could. Management actually encouraged us to not stay longer than we wanted/needed - they emphasised that it was not about face time but about results.

I think I was given a lot of responsibility for an internship. I was dealing with very client information sensitive tasks e.g. I was trusted to do tasks for the team such as double checking trades were put through and confirmations sent to clients correctly. Plus, we were able to actually pick up the phone to clients and assist them as much as we could. But we were never given too much responsibility or left alone to complete tasks that we were untrained in.

We did learn skills for life such as time management, etc. However, most of the knowledge you gain is very specific to working in financial industry and not as relevant to my maths degree.

My team were very friendly and phones were ringing so the atmosphere was quite nice. But at the same time, when we needed to get our heads down and get an important piece of work done we would do so.

The placement was well planned out. Our longer term projects were given with a clear time frame in mind so we could plan and develop the skills and knowledge we needed to complete them. Plus these projects gave us a great reason to network and meet people from across the division to help us build up the knowledge we needed to complete the projects.

We only had 3 days of official training in the first week which to be honest went over my head because it was so much packed in for someone with little previous finance experience. However, our teams were extremely supportive and taught us all that we needed to know or at least directed us to where we could get the information we needed. One of the best part of the internship was the amount of time that people in the firm invested in helping you - e.g. a VP took an hour out of their day to sit with me and teach me the fundamentals of options strategies - honestly it was so humbling and really made me appreciate the helpful culture of the firm.

A lot of room for progression.

We had Friday drinks every week.

Central London is a very expensive area - but we had fun even if it may have been expensive.

With Leicester Square and Covent Gardens only a 10/15 min bus journey away it was a great place for nighlife!

We took part in the JP Morgan Coporate Challenge run (5.6km) and they did also organise a few fun events for us throughout the 10 weeks. But we didn't get involved with any sports teams or such like.