It doesn’t matter how much you have prepared for a job interview or whether you have an impressive resume, because when push comes to shove, in that face-to-face job interview, it is quite common for us to have our nerves on edge. Because beyond meeting the requirements, that first impression matters a lot. Besides, The job interview is a minefield full of trick questions where a false step can be very expensive.

Given that there are questions that hide more than what they say, you move along a fine wire in which you have to try to answer sincerely, bet on diplomacy and at the same time extract information and leave no room for doubts to achieve the work but not at any price. If there is a thorny question, it is ‘How much do you expect to earn?‘. Well, a person as influential and experienced as Bill Gates has a recommendation so as not to get the answer wrong.

This is how Bill Gates gets out of the quagmire of ‘How much do you expect to earn?’

If they ask you about your salary expectationsthe scenario is the following: if you say a value above what the company has programmed, you may be left out of the selection process, but if your proposal is too low, it may also happen that you get a job with a salary lower than what you would like. and at the same time it sounds like underestimating the value of your work and experience.

But Bill Gates has been there before and is clear about what to respond. And not just now, but it was in 2020 when the tycoon and billionaire behind Microsoft offers a way out of that thorny issue. More specifically in one of the interviews from the ‘State of Inspiration’ serieswhich pitted Gates face to face with basketball star Stephen Curry.

For Bill Gates, the best answer to not close doors and look good is not offer an exact figure and focus on the futurediverting attention from salary to long-term value.

I hope the options package is good. I can take risks and I believe that the company has a great future, so I prefer to get stock options even over compensation in cash.

I’ve heard other companies are paying too much, but treat me fairly and strengthen the options.

This is the move proposed by the tycoon, since in this way you reflect, on the one hand, your confidence in the company’s future project and, on the other, how you want to contribute to its success by applying your skills, so that the chances of success are increased. achieve hiring.

In Genbeta | Bill Gates was asked to schedule his school’s schedule and boy did he do it: no classes on Fridays and in groups with more girls

Cover | Editing by Rubén Andrés (Unsplash (Arif Riyanto), Flickr (The Aspen Institute))

Via | The Economist