Jiaxin’s Summer at Goldman Sachs

SUMMER 2015

Jiaxin is an Investment Banking summer analyst in Beijing. Born and raised in Xiamen, China she is a rising senior at Boston University Questrom School of Business Honors Program studying Accounting and Finance.

HIGH LEVEL EXPOSURE

08 SEP 2015 - BEIJING
 

One of my projects is to work on an Initial Public Offering (IPO) for a large Chinese company. I was staffed on this project my first day in the office, and I was on site with the client the next day. I joined when the project had just kicked off so it was in the Management Due Diligence phase. Managers from the company’s different business lines talked to us about the company, its strategy and its business development plans, allowing me to get a deep understanding of the company’s operations. The most exciting moment for me was listening to the chairman of the company. Being able to see such a well-respected business leader speak in an intimate setting was phenomenal.

One of the things that attracted me to investment banking was the exposure to business strategy and senior management teams. Even as an intern, Goldman Sachs has provided me the opportunity to observe high-level, strategic discussions. My team’s role is to write the IPO prospectus and I look forward to taking part in accomplishing this task for our client. I still have a lot to learn about this company and its industry and am excited for the rest of the journey.

 

IT TAKES A VILLAGE

11 AUG 2015 - BEIJING
 

These past weeks at Goldman Sachs have been phenomenal. Because I am based in Beijing, we had two trainings, one in Hong Kong, and the other in the regional office. The training was well-planned with focuses on Goldman Sachs culture, technical skills, career development and Goldman Sachs know-how.

Even though teamwork and collaboration are elements of Goldman Sachs' culture we heard a lot about in orientation, I didn’t realize until joining my team just how many people work together to make every deal, not only possible, but efficient. Behind the scenes of the huge transactions Goldman Sachs IBD works on, there are dozens of people who have enabled that to happen in one way or another. We have a team that helps us create and print presentations and materials, 24/7 tech support and a translation team who have expertise in more than 150 languages. Translation is especially important in Asia where countries like Japan and China often conduct business primarily in the local language as opposed to most of the world where English is the default. We also use a huge range of applications developed by the Technology division that enable our work and make us more efficient. Teams like Legal, Compliance, Operations and more all streamline our work in ways big and small every day.

My key takeaway is that a successful company not only innovates ways to generate profits but also finds ways to maximize employees’ efficiency. All of these support systems allow us to focus on our key strengths and deliver the best work.