Spring Programme - Investment Banking Division Review

Daily activities included financial training with an external vendor, preparing/presenting case studies, attending talks and networking. The programme introduced the cohort to the variety of different teams in IBD at Goldman Sachs and even brought in external speakers such as Deborah Frances-White for skills sessions.

I’ve learned a lot about financial analysis from the intense training sessions we had, for example analysing balance sheets or company reports, as well as basic valuation models. The programme was good practice for soft skills such as networking and teamwork as well!

It was very useful from a business insight perspective - they gave an overview of the different teams within IBD, but spent less time talking about how the skills/strengths needed for success within those different teams differed, which I think would have been useful. We had to take it upon ourselves to network with different bankers in order to understand the different roles/teams specifically.

The overall culture presented to us as interns was very impressive and exciting, but from individual networking it seemed clear that the culture does vary from team to team, for example if you work in M&A versus financing. However, the insight given by all bankers was incredibly positive and they highlighted that they loved and respected the people at Goldman Sachs and their colleagues more than anything.

I really enjoyed it and came away feeling so much more excited about a career in investment banking than I had previously - i think the internship would have been even better if it had been in person instead of online, and if there were more networking opportunities with both bankers and our other interns. I would say that networking was the poorest quality area of the insight programme, but overall I absolutely loved it!

Yes

Think about your key strengths and how they would align with the business - most of the interns and employees that I met were incredibly driven, enjoyed working with others and were dedicated to excellence. Don’t worry if you don’t have much technical knowledge - instead of focusing on this, consider if you are a quick learner and would be able to pick up the technical aspects whilst you are there!