How to get an internship at Goldman Sachs

Goldman Sachs is one of the leading investment banks globally. They offer several employment preparation and entrepreneurship support programs to students at all levels.

You can find more info on these here.

Their summer analyst program for 2nd and 3rd year students can be found here.

Here I am providing some tips and resources for preparing to apply to Goldman Sachs (curated particularly for those who asked.)

Steps in Application Process

  1. Application Form Submission
  2. Hackerrank Problem Solving Challenge
  3. Interview Rounds
    - HireVue Interview
    - Technical Interviews (Dependent on mode: remote/in-person)
    - Behavioural Interview

Knowledge You Need to Ace Interviews

  • Algorithms & Problem Solving Capabilities
  • Clean code practices
  • Understanding of how to apply technical concepts from school projects or work experience.
  • Understanding of software testing
  • Basic behavioural interview questions

General Tips for preparing and succeeding in the process

  1. Keep up with industry trends (in this case Finance and Tech) - It is any employer’s hope that their employees and potential employees buy into the goal of the vision. If employees are not in tune with business goals or are not aware of changes in the landscape, the business stands to lose its competitive advantage. You, of course, would become less valuable to the company. Thus it would be much more ideal if you are genuinely interested in fintech, but if not, you should at least try to keep up with general finance and tech industry news.

NB. Internships are available to students to work in engineering, but also non-engineering fields such as project management, etc.

  1. Know your strengths and advantages - What is your competitive edge as a candidate? Do you have work experience? Have you done any projects in or outside your degree program? Do you have certifications or have you done any other noteworthy courses? Are you a fast learner?

Whatever your strength is you need to be aware of it so that you can capitalize on that when you are marketing yourself. Like any other job, you’re trying to put your best foot forward.

3- 6 For Engineering Candidates only

  1. Have a good understanding of data structures and algorithms - If you thought there was no use for your 'Analysis of Algorithms course content, think again (Really this should apply to your entire career but we digress).

Just like applying to any big tech company, you’ll be working with data-intensive systems that are serving millions of customers globally. You need to have a good understanding of algorithms and how to create effective and efficient solutions. Even if you didn’t grasp this content in class, there are tons of resources online that can help you.

  1. Have a good understanding of projects you’ve worked on the technical concepts that were applied. - I want to say that you should know the projects you worked on, but that doesn’t;t always apply so take note. It doesn’t matter if it was your personal side project or your networking course project, you should go over each to ensure you are aware of the technical concepts that you applied in completing each. This will help you to quickly provide examples during technical interviews and demonstrate that you are able to apply learnings and you are not just soaking in theory in classes.

  2. Practice Problem Solving - Practice! Practice! Practice! Practice makes perfect. Can’t stress enough. There are several platforms such as Leetcode which provide practice questions and solutions. However, you could focus solely on the Interview Preparation Kit provided by Hackerrank, since you will be using it at some point in the process.

  3. Grab a friend and do some mock interviews - If you’re not great at interviews, you will want to allot some time to practise. If you tend to get nervous speaking in front of others, you may want to have a friend interview you so that you can get more comfortable. Common interview questions can be found on Glassdoor’s site.

  4. Create a timeline - I’ve said a lot above and that can make it feel overwhelming but not to worry, you only have one thing to worry about at a time. The first is submitting your application and the second is problem-solving practice. To make it easier, it’s a good idea to set a timeline for getting these things done. Since the timeline may change, I can make a definite suggestion, but I would recommend focusing on completing basic algorithms content up until after your first technical interview. Get a general grasp of the data structures and algorithms that exist before diving in deep.**

  5. Apply Apply Apply - I know too many persons who were more technically competent than me that who lost out because they didn’t apply. School is always a lot, but it doesn’t take a day to complete the application form.

Now open to all Caribbean students! Apply by December 6th!

Reach out to us at [email protected] or [email protected].

2022 Africa & Caribbean Recruiting Initiative Flyer [8105].pdf (396.5 KB)

Additional Resources

Application Guides

Applying to Goldman Sachs’ Summer Internship - Youtube

How To Get Into Goldman Sachs [Analyst and Summer Analyst Roles] - Youtube

Divisions You Could Work In

If you have an interest in a particular division, you should make it known during your character interview.

Goldman Sachs Divisions

Keeping up with the Financial Times

Bloomberg News

CNBC

Diversity and Inclusion at Goldman Sachs

https://www.goldmansachs.com/our-commitments/diversity-and-inclusion/racial--equity/

https://www.goldmansachs.com/our-commitments/diversity-and-inclusion/when-women-lead/

Meet Our People

https://www.goldmansachs.com/careers/meet-our-people/giuni-profile.html

https://www.goldmansachs.com/careers/meet-our-people/thomas-profile.html

https://www.goldmansachs.com/careers/meet-our-people/fitsum-profile.html

More Interview Prep

HireVue

Goldman Sachs HireVue: Questions, Answers and Strategy

HireVue Interview Preparation

HIREVUE Interview Questions, Tips and Answers! How to PASS a HireVue Interview!
TOP 10 HireVue Video Interview QUESTIONS and ANSWERS!
HireVue Video Interview: 5 MISTAKES You Need to AVOID

CoderPad

Hackerrank

Crack the Coding Interview Playlist - Hackerrank

Hey Lateefah, do you know if they’re offering job positions for finance and actuarial students?

Typically, summer internships are available for both the finance and engineering divisions, so if you are interested in investment banking, select the banking division when applying

Cool. I once worked at Goldman.

Oh. As a backend or frontend?

Full stack/full cycle

Kool. What’s your tech stack?

At Goldman back then we used C++, Visual Studio, Java, Sybase and Unix.

These days I dont have a laptop and I just use my Android mobile with Termux, Pydroid, Replit, Acode, and Github.

Kool, I used to use those alot whenever I did python development on my phone, but nowadays, I’m using VS Code Server in the cloud and the browser to code. In addition, I would use VS Code with SSH Tunnelling to code on a server.