I was offered the opportunity to intern at Goldman Sachs (GS) and explore it’s newest campus at 150 Outer Ring Road in Bangalore but little did I know that someone’s dinner in China would affect my internship in a way I didn’t see coming.
Network Desktop Solution, a virtual desktop infrastructure that was embedded onto my system, became the F.R.I.D.A.Y to my Iron Man, so to speak. Despite not having the chance to participate in the Community Team Works programme or spend a week at Radisson, the virtual internship experience enhanced my communication skills and work ethics overall.
I interned with the Consumer and Investment Management Division, as a part of the Quantitative Investment Strategies (QIS) team. In the subject of Finance, I am as good as Indian batsmen playing against swing bowling under the gloomy skies of England. But at GS, internships are not about what knowledge you come with, but more so about the learnings you leave with post your internships.
As any great thriller might have taught you, the devil lies in the details; the same stands true with analysing markets. I developed an analytical eye while going through such vast chunks of information. Through the course of this six-week internship, I learned that collaboration is critical for delivering the desired results, and the practice of ‘ nemawashi’, Japanese for consenus-building, is an important job skill to possess.
The best part of my internship was interacting with business professionals across the world, from places such as London, New York, Hong Kong, and so forth. It not only gave me an insight into the variety of projects that they were involved with, but it also helped me grasp and replicate some of their best practices into my everyday routine.
It was also great to attend the leadership-building sessions for the interns, conducted by the company’s top brass. Getting to know the journey of these highly experienced individuals and the trials and tribulations they have had to overcome, first hand, impacted me deeply.
My stint with GS helped me get acquainted with their work culture and see if it could be the residence of my future employment. It was an exhilarating and enjoyable two months, meeting deadlines, preparing final presentations, unlearning many concepts, and re-learning many more.
I'll be going back to my campus at IIM Shillong, taking along an enriching internship experience, coupled with some corporate exposure and, of course, much-needed CV points.
(The writer is currently pursuing his MBA from IIM Shillong. When not in front of his laptop watching two grown men fight in a ring, he is busy watching cricket on TV. If you want to listen to his podcast series, send him some money so he can buy the necessary audio equipment for the same.)