Lin Yue, Executive Director at Goldman Sachs Asset Management in London

Recently, we had a pleasure to invite Lin Yue, Executive Director at Goldman Sachs Asset Management in London, as our guest speaker. She told us her story which was much more difficult and uncertain then one could have thought. She graduated from Oxford so many would assume that getting to Goldman Sachs or any other firm in the City would be just a formality. However, it was not that easy. Lin Yue shared with us that she was lost at the beginning of her career like many other students after graduating. Additionally, she said that the South East Asian parenthood always prioritises good education and getting to the best schools forgetting about asking children important questions regarding personal needs, aspiration and purpose. Lack of those discussions made it difficult for Lin Yue to kick off her career as she was left uncertain about her future. Nonetheless, she managed to break through that difficult period and succeed in her job-hunting journey.

She gave a lot of tips to current students and recent graduates. The most important advice was regarding the job application process. She recommended students to apply to many companies and not to take rejections personally. “It is a numbers game at the end” she said. There are many great applicants and only a few positions. Thus, one should not focus only on a few organisations but rather apply to many of them. She recommended dividing firms into three categories. The first one would take into account “the dream jobs” which would consist of applications for a right department at a right firm. The second category would have companies which lack one of those. Either they would have a right department but their themselves would not specialise in that area or the other way round. The last category would consist of companies which would be neither of those. However, they are still important to consider as the application process is always a difficult experience with a lot of uncertainty.

During the event, we also discussed many difficulties for South East Asian women in the City. Especially, we talked about the bamboo ceiling and its negative effects on those women as they are less likely to get promoted because of the cultural aspects. In that region, speaking up is considered to be rude and inappropriate whereas in the West it shows interest and determination whereas lack of is considered as being unambitious and passive. Lin Yue emphasised that those and other aspects which contribute to the bamboo ceiling affected her negatively as well. However, she urged young women of the OKE Club to not be afraid of those problems and overcome them with pride rather than shame.

The event ended with an informative Q&A session which allowed participants to dive deeper into the topics of their interest including job applications, cultural differences and long-term goals. It was a successful event which allowed professionals and entrepreneurs to get a first-hand insight into the life of Goldman Sachs Asset Management Executive Manager in London.