Goldman Sachs HireVue Interview Questions and How to Answer Them
The HireVue video interview is the first interview for Goldman Sachs campus programmes. These are the questions candidates report, grouped by type, with how to answer them.
Your first session is free with a free account. After that, Interview Access is £5 once for up to 20 sessions, with no subscription.
How the Goldman Sachs HireVue works
Goldman Sachs HireVue questions candidates report
20 questions from Goldman Sachs HireVue interviews. Prepare a story for each type rather than a script for each question.
Motivation and fit
Why do you want to work at Goldman Sachs?
Why this department, specifically, for the long term?
What is it about your background that makes you a good fit for this division?
Walk me through your resume.
Engineering
Why do you want to work in operations?
Behavioural
Tell me about a time you led a team.
Describe a time you had to work with a difficult team member.
Tell me about a time you made a process more efficient.
Walk me through a time you had to resolve a conflict with someone senior to you.
Judgement and confidentiality
If you accidentally sent an email containing confidential information to a client, how would you first respond?
How would you maintain client confidentiality between a manager and a client?
What would you do if somebody told you confidential information and your boss wanted to know about it?
Markets and technical
Talk about a recent event that impacted financial markets.
What’s a book, article or paper you recently read?
How do you identify and assess the key risks in a new project or investment?
Tell me about an asset class you’re interested in.
Securities
What happens to net debt if a bond is issued?
If you look at a clock and the time is 9:45, what is the angle between the hour and the minute hands?
What is the difference between a relational and a non-relational database, and when would you use each?
Engineering
How do you human-proof code that you used AI to write?
Engineering
How to answer Goldman Sachs HireVue questions
Anchor “Why Goldman” in what the firm publishes
Goldman names four values (client service, partnership, integrity and excellence) and 14 business principles, starting with “Our clients’ interests always come first.” Its campus recruiters list reading the latest financial results and the business principles among their HireVue best practices. Pick one principle and one point from the latest results, and link both to something you have done.
Know the division you applied to
Expect at least one question about your division: why it, why for the long term, and what in your background fits it. Say what the division does, who its clients are and what a first-year analyst there works on. If you applied to more than one division, prepare a separate answer for each.
Answer confidentiality questions in order
Several reported questions turn on confidential information, and one of Goldman’s principles says breaching a confidence “would be unthinkable”. Say what you would do first (stop, and tell your manager and compliance straight away), what you would not do (fix it quietly or pass on what you know), and why it matters to the client.
Show partnership in team answers
“We stress teamwork in everything we do” is one of the principles, which adds that there is no room for people who put their own interests ahead of the firm and its clients. In team and conflict answers, say plainly what you did, then show how it moved the team towards its goal.
Have one market story ready
Questions on a recent market event, something you read and how you assess risk come up across divisions. Prepare one recent event you can explain in three steps: what happened, what it did to prices or deals, and why it matters to Goldman’s clients. Goldman’s Insights pages and weekly Briefings newsletter show how the firm itself talks about the same events.
Engineering: explain the trade-off
Engineering candidates report a technical question among the behavioural ones, such as relational against non-relational databases, and one about checking code written with AI. Give the short answer first, then when you would choose each option, then how you would test that you were right.
Tips for recording your answers
- Use the practice questions. They come before the real ones, and they are your chance to check camera, sound and framing.
- Expect one take per question. If you stumble, pause, repeat the sentence and carry on rather than looking for a restart.
- Use the 30 seconds to note three words: the situation, what you did and the result. Do not try to write the answer out.
- Aim to finish in about 75 seconds. A complete answer beats one the timer cuts off mid-sentence.
- Look at the lens, not your own picture, with the camera at eye level and the light in front of you.
- Set aside 45 minutes somewhere quiet. The interview takes about 30 minutes, plus the practice questions and set-up.
Frequently asked questions
How many questions are in the Goldman Sachs HireVue?
Goldman does not publish a number. Candidates report five or six, and applying to more than one division can add one. Goldman says the interview takes about 30 minutes.
How long do you get to answer Goldman Sachs HireVue questions?
Candidates report 30 seconds to think and between 90 seconds and two minutes to answer each question. The screen shows the times before each question starts.
Can you retake answers in the Goldman Sachs HireVue?
Candidates report one take per question, with no retakes. You can try practice questions first, so use them to settle in and check your set-up.
Does the Goldman Sachs HireVue have technical questions?
Most questions are about motivation and behaviour. Candidates also report a question on their division, such as net debt, an asset class or databases for engineering, and sometimes a brain teaser like the angle between a clock’s hands at 9:45.
What happens after the Goldman Sachs HireVue?
If you are selected, Goldman invites you to a Superday: a series of final-round interviews, usually two to five depending on the division.
Practise for the Goldman Sachs HireVue
Our AI interview practice uses the same one-way format: five questions on screen, 60 seconds to prepare, then up to a minute to answer on camera. Choose the finance focus and the questions lean towards finance, with feedback on relevance, clarity and structure and on what finance assessors look for, such as commercial awareness and integrity. You also get a model answer to your weakest question.
The questions are ours, not Goldman Sachs’s. Start answering before the 60 seconds are up to match a shorter thinking time, and since practice lets you re-record, do one session in a single take.
Your first session is free with a free account. After that, Interview Access is £5 once for up to 20 sessions, with no subscription.