FRM people, how to find a place at Goldman Sachs

If you can’t go to Wall Street, you can join an investment bank in China, such as applying for a position at Goldman Sachs in China. For many FRM candidates, entering a domestic investment bank is also their career goal. How can I get a place at Goldman Sachs China?

Want to work in Goldman Sachs’ China or Hong Kong offices? There is no doubt that you have to be very, very good. In 2013, Goldman Sachs recruited about 2,000 analysts and received 43,000 resumes, or one for every 21.5 people.

In fact, the competition for job applications in Goldman Sachs China (Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong) is as fierce as anywhere else. We combed through the resumes of 26 junior employees of Goldman Sachs China on LinkedIn and found that they all have some excellent things in common.

If you study at these universities, you have a greater chance of entering an investment bank.

If you want to work as an analyst at Goldman Sachs (that is, an entry-level position) after graduating from college, it goes without saying that you must study at a top university. . It doesn’t matter where the school is, but it has to be top-notch. And if you want to enter Goldman Sachs' office in Greater China, then having experience studying abroad in a prestigious European and American school is very helpful. Goldman Sachs basically only recruits graduates from first-class prestigious schools, such as Oxford, Cambridge, LST, Harvard, Princeton, Columbia, University of California, Berkeley, etc.

For most young people working in Goldman Sachs’ Beijing or Shanghai offices, their college years were spent in China’s top universities, such as Peking University, Tsinghua University, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, and Fudan University and Shanghai Jiao Tong University (Beiqing Shangcai Resumption of Diplomatic Relations is their target school). However, even if you are not studying at one of the universities favored by investment banks, it does not mean that the door to investment banks is closed. Tenenbom himself was like this. He didn't go to a college that investment banks liked, but he said that he had to work hard to build various networks in order to break into the investment banking circle. In other words, it will be difficult, but not impossible.

Which university you go to is very important to whether you can enter investment banking. Michael Tanenbaum, who once worked at JP Morgan in Hong Kong, said in an interview with Mergers & Inquisitions magazine: “Most of the front desk employees have similar backgrounds: from mainland China or Hong Kong. Having studied at prestigious universities in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and other countries.”

With these majors, you have a greater chance of getting into Goldman Sachs

So, which majors should you study to get into Goldman Sachs China? Which district has a greater chance?

The answer is finance, mathematics or engineering. But we also found graduates in other majors in our sample, such as management information systems, international business, and even materials science.

In fact, Goldman Sachs does not seem to care that much about the majors of fresh graduates. A recruitment manager named James from the Hong Kong investment banking department of Goldman Sachs published a Q&A on the Goldman Sachs website in 2013, answering some questions that graduates are concerned about. When talking about majors, he said: "We are very open, we recruit graduates from all majors, not just finance..."

And, contrary to what people think, an MBA degree is not required . In our sample, only three received MBA degrees. They are all manager level, which is also the usual starting level for MBA graduates entering investment banking.

Internship experience is essential

If you want to join the Goldman Sachs China team, then internship experience during college is almost essential. An analyst who works for a major American bank believes that if you want to enter an investment bank after graduation, you must have summer internship experience on your resume, otherwise, the bank's hiring manager will not put you on the interview list.

Nearly everyone in our sample completed one or two internships before joining Goldman Sachs. One of the most amazing analysts in the Hong Kong office is Sabrina Chan, who completed seven internships before starting to work for Goldman Sachs! Sabrina studied undergraduate at Cambridge University from 2011 to 2014, majoring in economics.

For fresh graduates, if they want to work in an investment bank, an internship is an indispensable part of their resume. Goldman Sachs is no exception in this regard.

Generally speaking, if you want to enter an investment bank after graduation, *4 you can do a summer internship at this investment bank first, but the analysts we interviewed said that in fact, any relevant experience will be considered. For example, internships in banks, private equity, investment funds, etc. are all count. After all, investment banks want to see that you are interested in, passionate about, and willing to contribute to the financial industry.