Investment Banking from GS

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Investment Banking

Goldman Sachs strives to be the preeminent global investment bank, providing the most important transactions to governments, corporations, institutions and high-net-worth individuals. Through our Investment Banking division (IBD), we deliver high-quality strategic advice and creative financing solutions to our clients.

As a member of IBD, you would help develop and strengthen client relationships, participate on advisory teams, and help to structure and execute an array of financial transactions. Our team approach to client service enables our bankers to play an important role in building relationships and executing transactions. For instance, our bankers may help to orchestrate a global equity or debts offering for an Asia-Pacific corporation, advise a US company on a cross-border merger or create an innovative private market transaction for a European financial institution.

The Investment Banking division provides expertise across products, industries and regions, a multifaceted approach that differentiates us in the marketplace. We encourage our bankers to build execution capabilities across these three dimensions. Our key areas of focus include:
Industries: Financial Institutions, Technology, Media and Telecommunications, Healthcare, Real Estate, Industrial, Consumer and Natural Resources
Products: Equity, Leveraged Finance, Debt, Financial Advisory and Mergers & Acquisitions
Regions: Americas, Europe, Asia-Pacific and Japan.

The People We Look For
We recruit highly motivated individuals with a strong academic background and the drive to learn. We recruit people with all types of backgrounds and intellectual interests. Although many bankers have business degree backgrounds, some of our most successful bankers started at Goldman Sachs with no previous business experience. If you are an enthusiastic achiever, enjoy handling multiple projects at once, thrive on teamwork, and enjoy working in a challenging environment, then you should consider working at Goldman Sachs.

Beginning Careers in IBD
There are two typical entry points in our Investment Banking division. We hire individuals just completing college into our Financial Analyst Program, and individuals with a graduate degree or significant business experience into our Associate program. We work hard to make these programs a rewarding experience.

An IBD Financial Analyst
Financial analysts play a critical role in our transaction teams, running analyses of valuations and helping to execute complex transactions across all of our business areas. High levels of analytical skills, along with an ability to work well in a team environment, will ensure that an analyst will gets the most out of his or her years in this program, with comprehensive expertise in all the basic skills of investment banking.

We regard the Analyst Program as a two- to three-year experience. After completing the Analyst Program, our bankers pursue various exciting opportunities. Our departing analysts often enjoy acceptance into top graduate business and law schools, or receive offers in private equity shops, hedge funds and other outstanding companies throughout the world. Our program has an excellent reputation among academic and business leaders worldwide.

We recruit analysts from universities throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia. Our Summer Analyst Program allows us to give a select group of potential candidates a ten-week introduction to our business and to the firm, and also gives us a good sense of how well these individuals would perform as full-time analysts. Many of our full-time analyst recruits come from our summer program.

An IBD Associate
As an Associate, you will also be part of transaction teams from the start, ensuring the efficient execution and implementation of key aspects of a transaction. Over a three-and-a-half year period you will be exposed to transactions in many areas, across different industries, regions and products, all the while developing banking and managerial experience that will prepare you for senior deal management as a Vice President/Executive Director.

We recruit Associates from major business schools throughout the world. We run an intensive ten-week summer internship for students mid-way through their business school programs, putting them directly into real transaction situations wherever possible. A significant portion of our full-time intake of Associates comes from this summer internship.

The Analyst Program is also an integral component of our Associate recruiting strategy. After completing the Analyst Program, some analysts are promoted to the associate level. We also keep in touch with our departing analysts, and frequently rehire them back to Goldman Sachs at a later time in their careers.

Training and Development
As a new Analyst or Associate, you will participate in a comprehensive training program to help teach or often refresh financial and marketing tools. We also offer specific training on our financial modeling tools and programs. Our training emphasizes on-the-job learning complemented by formal instruction.