Goldman Sachs interview questions
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Generally speaking, Goldman Sachs is made up of 40-50% Oxbridge/IC/LSE students, with the remainder coming from the Russell Group of universities. All university degree subjects are acceptable for the Goldman Sach's graduate schemes, although technical degrees are preferable for technical roles at the bank. Places are limited and the number of applications for both internships and graduate jobs is very high, so your application must be as competitive as possible if you want to be successful.
The application process consists of:
Although these will vary from department to department. For example, Operations does not do a group exercise, but they do a first round numeracy test. Technology does a first round case study.
Motivation
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It is especially important that you make clear in your written application or covering letter your motivation for working at Goldman Sachs.
Online Application Form
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You will be required to provide:
- Contact information
- Education history
- Language skills
- Exam results
- Work experience
- Any certification
- Technical skills
- Motivations for applying to Goldman Sachs.
Certain language skills are required for some roles, and there are minimum academic requirements.
Work experience is a definite advantage as it clearly demonstrates commitment to career.
You must also demonstrate your motivation for joining Goldman Sachs in particular.
Goldman Sachs Competencies
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Goldman Sachs cite the following core competencies as essential qualities in all candidates:
- A passion for excellence ('Excellence is all we do')
- Belief in the power of the group
- Integrity - You will need to be 100% ethical in all that you do.
- Leadership - Candidates should demonstrate that they can go the extra mile for a client and are able to take a long term view wherever possible.
- A desire to be challenged, especially intellectually.
- A desire to make your mark on the world.
You should also be looking to demonsrrate commercial awareness and commitment to career, and an understanding of what services Goldman Sachs provides to its clients.
First Interview/Assessment
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Goldman Sachs will sometimes perform first round interviews at universities. This is particularly true of Oxford and Cambridge for summer internships.
The initial interview/assessment day consists of:
Your first interview will be with two Goldman Sachs staff members from the division to which you have applied. You will be looking to demonstrate the competencies listed above and show that you are "bright, articulate and genuine." You will also need to demonstrate commercial awareness, and a general knowledge about the marketplace in which Goldman Sachs operates.
Tip: Make sure you have at least two examples prepared of times in your life where you have demonstrated the competencies described above e.g. two examples of when you have had to lead a team.
Make sure you have read the financial papers. Examine the Goldman Sachs news feed above to see where they have recently appeared in the headlines.
Numerical & Verbal Test
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The numerical and verbal tests are designed to check your mathematical and verbal ability. They do not require any skills beyond GCSE, although candidates with a non-mathematical degree would benefit from practicing these kinds of tests before they attend the assessment day. Also unusually there is no calculator allowed for the numerical.
Most people will need to practise the numerical reasoning test to pass it. Pages 7-23 of this book
may prove extremely useful in preparing for any of the numerical tests.
Each test will last 20 minutes.
Business Interview
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This is a 30 minute interview, and is not always carried out, but is popular amongst those applying for internships. You will be provided with a business scenario prior to the interview, where a number of options will be open to a business. You will be required to consider the scenario and form a conclusion based upon it. You will have 30 minutes to prepare you argument and make notes. During the interview, you will discuss the scenario, and the interviewers will ask you questions. You can reasonably expect the interviewers to criticise whatever you say, so you must back up your points sufficiently. The will be looking for:
- Good communication skills
- Clear, logical, analytical thinking
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Competency Based Interview
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Core competencies you they will be looking for include:
The interview will be conducted by a manager from the line of service to which you are joining. The interview may last between 30 minutes and one hour. The interviewer will wish to discuss any work experience you may have done to date, and also any other notable items on your application form. There will also be some competency questions. You can reasonably expect the following questions to be asked:
- Describe a time when you were a leader in a team situation. Teamwork
- Can you give me a situation where things haven't gone as expected in team environment? Teamwork
- Can you tell me what exactly you did at x and y when you did work experience?
- How have you coped with disagreement in a team/leadership situation? Leadership
You may also be asked:
- Why are you interested in applying for the line of service you have applied for?
- Why Goldman Sachs?
- Why should we employ you?
A crucial element of this interview is having questions for your interviewers, your quality of questions are as important as your answers to their questions so have some prepared.
Tip: On a busy day, they may interview up to 300 candidates. This means your interview may be shorter than you would like, and the interviewer may seem disinterested as they will be asking the same questions all day. Try not to take it personally - it may be very difficult for you to judge how well the interview has gone.
Investment Banking - Assessment Centre
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The assessment centre will consist of two competency based interviews and a group exercise. You will also have the opportunity to look around the offices and attend a networking session.
First Interview at Assessment Centre
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The first competency based interview will be with two interviewers, who will ask questions in turn, and will last approximately 45 minutes.
Tips:
- Read about the company
- Read about the division which you are joining
- Read the Goldman Sachs annual report (available online)
You can reasonably expect the following questions to be asked:
- Why Goldman Sachs?
- What do you know about Goldman Sachs?
- Why this division? What do you know about it? Describe what we do in this division.
- What will you be doing in your first year at Goldman Sachs?
- Why an internship/graduate scheme?
After this, you will then be asked competency questions. You can reasonably expect the following questions to be asked:
- Tell me about a time when you had to work in a team and something went wrong?
- Tell me about a time when you could not meet a deadline?
Tip: Prepare examples for the competency questions prior to your interview. Responses to these types of questions are difficult on the spot if you have not already thought about it.
Second Interview at Assessment Centre
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Your second interview is likely to start immediately after the first. Your interviewers will be two managers from the division to which you have applied. The purpose of this interview is to determine if you possess the correct skills and demeanor to work in this division. Make sure you understand what skills will be required of you for the appropriate line of work. You should make certain you are familiar with all the information relating to the division on the website (and the websites of other investment banks) and ensure that you fully understand what the division does. For example, you may be asked:
- How can you cope with stress and a messy environment? Give an example.
Group exercise
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You will be placed between 6 to 9 candidates. The Goldman Sachs group exercise is different from the those carried out at most other firms. You will be pretending to be a group of managers who are selecting people for an important task (on which you will be briefed). Each candidate is given 5 cards. On each card is a person's name and a personal quality. Based on this information, you will then discuss on who would be best suited for the important task.
Tip: Make sure you contribute to the group but also encourage and allow others to speak. You should be fair and allow everybody to contribute equally, but also make your own opinions clear and be firm in your convictions. If another candidate disagrees with you, make sure you put forward the reasoning behind your arguments and convince them that your opinions are justified. Finally, ensure that your group reaches an agreement/conclusion before the allocated time has run out.
Private Wealth Management - Assessment Centre
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The assessment day for private wealth management consists of four 30 minute interviews. The interviews will all be managers in the division. The purpose of the four interviews is to determine if you have the social skills necessary to deal with different kinds of people. This is particularly important in private wealth management where you will interact with clients frequently.
Questions you are likely to be asked:
- What were the names of your last interviewers?
- Why do you want to work in this division?
- What is the exchange rate between the euro and the dollar?
- How did the US market do last year?
- Do you think maths is important to a career in IB?
- Do you do any financial modelling?
- Tell me about your stock portfolio.
- Why did your choose your University/degree subject?
- Why Private Wealth Management and not Asset Management?
For further information about graduate jobs, interviews and assessment days at Goldman Sachs or other investment banks ask questions in the WikiJob forums.
