Benoit’s Summer at Goldman Sachs

Benoit interns in the securities lending group with the Hong Kong Operations Division. French and British, he is studying Operations Management at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. 

A TYPICAL DAY

14 SEP 2015 - HONG KONG
 

Before applying to be a summer analyst at Goldman Sachs, I remember wanting to understand what the day-to-day role might involve. Now that I’ve been here for a while, I can say that there is no day like another.

While there is no typical day, I usually start my day at 9am and go through the emails I received overnight from other regions; I put together a to-do list of what I aim to accomplish for that day. The day is then filled with project meetings, training sessions and catch-ups with colleagues.

The division, the firm and different affinity networks schedule various types of sessions throughout the week. They could include a roundtable with a partner at the firm or a panel on maintaining work-life balance. I also enjoy attending sessions such as Talks@GS with people like Chinese basketball player, Yao Ming, and His Excellency John A. Kufuor, former President of the Republic of Ghana.

It might seem like I have no time left to work, but I do! The rest of my time is spent working on the numerous projects I have for the summer. Days are packed and they whiz by. No day is the same, but every day is amazing.
 

BUILDING MY KNOWLEDGE BASE

10 AUG 2015 - HONG KONG
 

Entering a financial services firm with little background in the industry can be pretty intimidating—at least it was for me. While I was confident in the skills I had honed in university, knowing other summer analysts were majoring in Finance, which is more technical than my major, or previously interned in other banks did little to reassure me. Looking back, I had nothing to worry about.

A few months before the internship, we received a link to the Jump Start Your Learning portal from HCM with courses relevant to our individual department. I was thrilled. I had already started studying material that I thought would be useful but nothing compared to this new resource. You name it, the portal had it all.

After entering the firm, understanding the many different teams and how they interact was difficult. Luckily, the company put together a program where, on a weekly basis, every team in Operations presents on their part of the business. They discuss priorities and their business plan in a way that the entire division can understand. Not only has it helped me grasp a stronger understanding of the businesses, it has also allowed me to consider the projects I am working on and opportunities for collaboration.

Nothing beats the apprenticeship style of training you get here. Learning by doing with the support of my colleagues has been invaluable. The culture here is often talked about, but experiencing it is an entirely different thing.

I’ve learned more in these weeks at Goldman Sachs about the industry than I have in three years at university, and it’s only the beginning.