The ultimate guide to getting an investment banking job at Goldman Sachs

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Getting a job at Goldman Sachs is harder than getting into Harvard.

• Landing a job at Goldman Sachs is tough, but not impossible.
• We talked to a number of experts about the banks' hiring practices for investment bankers, including the head of human resources Dane Holmes, Wall Street recruiters, executive coaches, and current and former employees.
• You can read our full guide to landing a job at Goldman here.

Goldman Sachs receives 1 million applications for midlevel jobs each year. About 0.5% of those hopefuls - just 5,000 people - get hired. That makes the bank nearly 10 times as selective as Harvard.

Many applicants in that pool are vying for a spot in the firm's prestigious investment-banking division. The positions are lucrative. According to Glassdoor, average annual base pay for Goldman Sachs' vice presidents and managing directors in the US is $162,000 and $423,000, respectively. And those figures bump up to $198,000 and $588,000 if you include bonus pay and profit sharing.

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While there's no single formula for standing out, job candidates can help themselves by knowing what Goldman is looking for in new talent and how they evaluate an individual's potential.

Your best bet is to find out what's worked for previous applicants. To that end, Business Insider spoke with a series of experts about Goldman Sachs' hiring practices. They included Dane Holmes, the head of human resources and an 18-year company veteran, Wall Street recruiters, executive coaches, and current and former employees.

You can read our full guide to landing a job at Goldman here through BI Prime.

Get the latest Goldman Sachs stock price here.