MSc in European Political Economy, 2010
Associate, Goldman Sachs Asset Management
After graduation, I took up a three-month internship with Citywire Financial publishers researching the East Asian investment fund market, before joining Deloitte Consulting's graduate programme in London. For my last project at Deloitte, I was posted at Prudential to test their new asset data management software designed for Solvency II reporting. After a few months working at Prudential, I was invited to join the newly formed data management team at their global head office. From there, I moved to Prudential's Group Credit Risk team where I was introduced to both company and country credit risk analysis. After two and half enjoyable years at Prudential, I was offered the opportunity to join Goldman Sachs' asset management arm, working in their European Shareholder Services team. This is a completely new area for me and I'm trying to learn everything I can from my team at the moment.
I never had any detailed career plan whilst studying at LSE. But I have always been open-minded to where a job may take me, and I firmly believe that whatever it is that you are given, as long as you do it well, new opportunities will follow. This also means that I have taken almost a completely different turn every time I changed my job in the past few years. In doing so, I surprised myself a great deal about what I like and don't like doing, and I have concluded that working with people I like is the most important thing for me to feel motivated to go to work every morning. Another lesson I have picked up along the way is the importance of maintaining work-life balance, which is often difficult, but absolutely necessary for succeeding in the longer term.
While at Prudential, I became a qualified Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and I would like to move into a role where I will be involved in financial product design or investment decision making in two to three years time. I would also like to try working in different countries around the world, and New York, San Francisco, Shanghai and Tokyo are at the top of my list at the moment.
I would advise current students to make the most out of the whole experience/package LSE offers, from attending lectures to visiting career fairs, from writing essays to meeting people from all sorts of backgrounds. Absorb and learn from all that goes on around you, both on campus and beyond. LSE being located in the heart of a city like London gives its students a front seat at the latest developments in art, music, technology, law and finance etc.. The further into your career you are, the more you will find that it is the general skills you pick up from varied exposure to different people and things, as well as the ability to adapt and learn quickly that distinguish one from another.