Summer Equity Research Analyst Review

I really enjoyed my internship, largely as a result of the people I got to meet. Not just the other interns, but everyone on the floor were very down to earth but also extremely knowledgeable about their sectors which is very inspiring. It seemed as though the whole programmed was geared to learning and making the most out of the experience.

The hierarchy at Goldman Sachs is very flat, and in that sense your contribution to the team is very much valued. I often worked with my manager on the same tasks and he would often spend time teaching me about our sector or how banks and asset managers work in general. My colleagues were interested in what I was doing and were happy to answer any of my questions.

My manager gave me feedback fairly regularly, and dedicated time to my learning. He gave me a lot of advice on how I should approach different situations as well as a lot of support for my final assessment. This was matched by the other members of my team who would all give me advice from previous experience.

The work-load definitely varied quite a lot, depending on what needed to be done. When I was set a project, I spent most of my time doing this, so my days were a lot busier. After that I had much less to do, so my days were not as busy and I found this more slow. This definitely varied across different teams, as some interns would be much busier than others.

I was given a significant amount of responsibility in that I was able to update models and my project work was to inevitably contribute to a piece the team were working on. Since little had been done in this area before, I had to make a lot of judgement about reasonable forecasts and reliable data.

Given my degree subject is largely unrelated to Finance/Economics the more technical skills will be less useful specifically. However, I have learnt how to write more commercially opposed to with more scientific perspective and also about how my degree subject has relevance in the markets. Everything I learnt over the course of the internship would be incredibly useful in any related job, as I felt I learnt a lot about markets, drivers and accounting.

The office was a welcoming place to be, and many people would smile as you walked past and people would stop for a quick chat around the floor. Hence, compared to sales and trading floors, it was quiet but lots of people are on the phones at the same time still and collaboration is very much encouraged.

It was clear that a lot of planning went into the internship as we had lots of group tasks as interns and opportunities to hear from other divisions and sectors. We also had lots of opportunity to give and receive feedback, which I found very helpful. In the time spent with your teams, it was much more up to them, hence it did vary a lot.

You can tell the firm are very invested in development and learning. As I mentioned, there is plenty of opportunity to receive feedback and it is encouraged. We received lots of organised training on various aspects of the role, even for things we would not necessarily require over the course of the internship.

Having done the internship, I would be likely to accept an offer if I received one, given that I really enjoyed my time here and the people I met. It seemed as though they are invested in the interns they hire and want them to succeed, which makes future prospects very appealing.

The social aspect of the internship was great, with a welcome evening planned on the second day for everyone to meet each other in a more casual setting. As interns we did a lot outside of work, and the department would usually go for drinks on Fridays where everyone was welcome.

The area I worked in was fairly expensive, but again this is relative to my past experience and I think it was probably representative of central London. Many people at the office bought breakfast and lunch out which could become expensive but there was a large range of options in the area so there was always an affordable option.

I loved seeing that on any night of the week there were people coming from to bars nearby and the good weather meant they were out on the streets. This gave a really nice atmosphere to the area and would definitely be a perk for me if I were to work in London.

The interns themselves organised lots to do outside of work but other than that I didn't really notice anything else suggested. However Goldman Sachs did march in Pride and you were welcome to join so this would have been a good opportunity to meet people in an event out of work.