Wednesday, July 3 - "What's The Salary Range?"

Good morning!

Here’s what’s on the JD today:

1. The financial powerhouse, Goldman Sachs, is expanding rapidly with many options depending on your path.

2. Bob asks, “I feel like questions about salary are tricky because I want to say a high number but not get removed from the interview process for going too high. How should I answer these questions?”

IN HIRING

Goldman Sachs

• As one of the most selective companies worldwide, Goldman Sachs can be a place to grow quickly in your career and you can annoy LinkedIn users by putting ex-Goldman after your name.

• Currently, there are nearly 1,800 jobs open in every major finance hub around the world.

• Here are a few of the most interesting roles available

  • Associate, Alternatives - Click here for full details

  • Associate, Business & Analytics - Click here for full details

  • Snr Associate, Asset Management Ops - Click here for full details

Click here for the company’s career page

TODAY’S QUESTION

Bob asks, “I feel like questions about salary are tricky because I want to say a high number but not get removed from the interview process for going too high. How should I answer these questions?”

Recommendation: From all I have observed, this is nearly always a trick question as the hiring team has a number that they will not share and no matter what, you can always negotiate later. Here’s a good way to navigate this question:

• Always answer this question by asking if they have a number already in mind. Approximately 20% of the time, you will get the person to give you the number, which you can nod your head in agreeance to.

• Start your research by getting a sense of what the range should actually be, if you were to be honest. I recommend using Glassdoor for larger companies and a simple Google search to double check based on industry or role within a specific country.

  • Once you have a sense of what the job should pay, let’s say 50k, then widen the number to create an artificial range (40-60k).

• Finally, prepare how you are going to present this number when asked. Here is what I recommend:

  • “I have done some research and found the 40 to 60 thousand is the normal band for this position. I realise this was found on the internet which can not always be trusted. Does that sound right to you?”

  • This will allow you to back off if they have a different number in mind as well as get them to correct you with the real number if one does exist.

Conclusion:

Always start these trick questions by throwing it back to them. For the 80% of times you do not get a solid answer back, prepare a range and ask them to sense check your answer.

Get your question answered by replying to this email (or just say hi 😊).