Goldman Sachs Vice President Interview Questions & Reviews

Interview Details – Called by HR person about a week after submitting resume. Interview was with hiring manager and managing director. Basic questions about background etc. Questions related to position and why I wanted to work with GS. Called back in about 3 days from HR person that they selected another person.

Interview Details – Had 17 interviews for a specific role, only to be told that the role was no longer available. They considered me for another position and I had an additional 5 interviews. Of the 22 interviews, 3 were with Partner MDs. Overall, was a long and grueling interview process spanning 3+ months. Most of the interview questions were behavioral, with a few technical questions.

Negotiation Details – Worked with a recruiter, so that helped with the negotiation phase.

Interview Details – Extremely extensive interview process - took 5 months. Had ~20 interviews (about 4 per day over more than 5 visits). The firm wants complete consensus on your hiring to make sure you can fit into many roles seamlessly. Unlike other firms that keep you in the same job, the goal here is to move you around every few years so you become incredibly well rounded and well versed in the workings of the overall firm.
Background checks are extremely thorough. As a hiring Manager, I once had HCM (HR) reject a candidate I hired because their resume was 0.1 points off from their actual GPA (even though they had been out of school for years). Make sure your information is extremely accurate of you will have your offer rescinded.

Interview Details – I was initially contacted in September, 2011, by an outside recruiter. He sent me a brief questionnaire asking some fairly basic questions about options. I was called in for interviews on FOUR separate occasions, meeting 15 people (2 partners, 7 MD's, 6 VP's). One of those 15 people has been a partner for roughly ten years and told me at the end of my interview, "Well, if they want you, I see no reason not to hire you." I was assured by the recruiter and several others that the job was mine. As someone who takes people at their word, I assumed a job offer would be coming shortly. However, the recruiter called me back to let me know that one person didn't like my lack of experience in an area where I have a ton of experience. When I told the recruiter that the explanation was untrue, he said, "He said you were nervous too." Amazingly, not one other person said that, so I responded, "I don't get nervous in interviews." The recruiter said, "Well, that's what he said." Needless to say, I was not impressed by the interviewing process.

Interview Details – About 8-10 rounds.
For tech division, the interviews can be quite technical. Expect about 4-5 rounds of tech, problem solving, team mgmt experience, fit rounds. Communication skills are closely monitored as it is a consensus driven organisation and there are a lot of calls to attend.

Interview Details – Resumes are only meant to get an interivew. Focus on related experience, where you've added value beyond what was asked of you, and ensure no gaps in your CV. Interviews focus half on fit/culture and half on relevant experience and skillset. You must show you will fit into our culture or you will not be successful.

Negotiation Details – There are no negotiations with Goldman.

Interview Details – Hiring manager chooses the best interviewers he has in each area that the candidate will interviewed on. So it is important that the candidates resume is concise with knowledge/skills that he can defend. It is better to avoid topics/skill-sets with superficial knowledge.

Reason for Declining – Had better opportunities, with my current firm. After the offer I inquired into the role, team etc. and realized that the role was not appropriate for me. The new role would have meant for me to move from managing a team with senior(more experience) people to being part of a team with junior(less experience) people.

Interview Details – the interview process was very intensene

Negotiation Details – the negotiation phase process was very intensene

Interview Details – They conducted more than 15+ rounds of interview over a long period of 2 months. After initial few weeks, I stopped asking when would the interview process end. Most of the questions in different interview rounds were repetitive. Every interviewer stated a few great things about the company & gave opportunity to ask questions. Used all means of interviewing including telephone calls, video conferencing, tele-presence, telephonic panel interview, in-person interviews.