Internship at Goldman Sachs – Ashika from PSG Institute of Management
Life will throw stones at you, it depends on you that you either build a wall from it or a road to success. Keep that cheerful spirit alive in you and spread your charm.
Like every other day after my long international tour to Malaysia (educational tour :P), it has been one week since the trip. In between classes, there came a mail with the name “GOLDMAN SACHS” in blocks and bold, the subject line saying “Internship at GOLDMAN SACHS”. The company sounded alien to me, yet a hint of familiar fragrant. (Note: internship is a part of curriculum) Sound thinking in my mind about internship, whether to opt for it or wait for other companies; discussion with friends and relatives about the company and best of all our great google maata helping me in finalizing decision. I would say it is one of the great and fortunate decisions I have ever made in my life. Never have I been afraid of interviews, Until they started drilling down to final 5, sickness in my stomach, but when I was in the panel, talking on my final interview, words flew out easily rather I was completely myself. Best first-time interview experience one can get (yes! This was my first experience) and I got selected.
Days passed by, I started exploring Goldman Sachs (GS), from linked into twitter to facebook and whatnot I followed them everywhere. Got my employee id, background checks, and few pre-works to be completed before I joined, I was starting to taste the corporate culture. During this wait for the internship is where I started exploring myself, my interests and my ideology on the financial world. Every single day went by with great learning from dressing code, HR practices, Management structure, Buddy- Mentor, GS culture to deep dive in the financial market. You would wonder what’s big about me stressing on financial world but when I started all I knew was Debit/Credit never heard about Dodd-Frank, BASEL, Commodities, Derivatives, Risks, Indexes or even Exchange market. Now after my internship I would happily say I have a hold on all of these. The best learning before even joining was they helped me identify “my spark on finance”.
My internship started on June 1, 2015, at Goldman Sachs campus, Bangalore. It started with my stay in a 5-Star hotel HYATT from the previous night. Good morning breakfast provided for GS employees only (It’s us, interns, they called as GS EMPLOYEES). A bus took us to the campus, no words to stay, it was fairy land. We got ID cards saying GS EMPLOYEE. It was as if we were on full time. Days in GS taught me so many things – how to work with people, what corporate culture is, how approachable people should be, what is real meaning of knowledge sharing, what happened during 2008, how you create impact in your society, how do you have to see your career path and much much more. No one would believe the knowledge I gained from there, it was huge, it was through listening, it was through questioning and it was through observing.
From my internship, my key takeaway would be focus and ownership. Making yourself responsible for projects and being responsible plays a major role. 8 weeks of edifying went off so fast that I didn’t realize the end coming until I had a farewell. My Bangalore days with my cousins and niece, nephew and GS ended. There was life learning inside and outside the office. Missing them now, but will carry this experience forward. My mentor guided me with a “Sunscreen song” – I assure you “Believe me on sunscreen, it works”. Don’t be afraid if you don’t understand the purpose of your life, Life helps you do that. Be patient but accept changes. Happy big smile on my face, the best ever internship experience one could get.
If Ashika’s experience motivates you, you can check the latest internships in Bengaluru and latest Analytics internships.
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