Sarah

I never expected that I would end up in finance. During college, I applied for an internship without knowing much about investment banking. My summer at Goldman was intense, challenging and fun. Unlike many of my friends, who spent their internships photocopying and grabbing coffee, I was really part of the team, learning from and contributing to each deal that I worked on. The level of responsibility that I was given really sold me on the long-term job.

My advice to someone who is considering a career in finance would be to start building your network now. This industry is driven by relationships and you need to have strong advocates to be successful. It’s often difficult or awkward to reach out to someone senior to you, but you have to make the first move. Nine times out of ten you will find that people are more than willing to grab coffee and chat.