Bill Gates reveals how to answer perfectly when an interviewer asks about your salary expectations

Bill Gates has revealed how to answer perfectly when an interviewer asks you about your salary expectations.

It’s usually a question we dread when sitting in a job interview - how much are you expecting your salary to be?

Sometimes it almost feels like a catch 22 - you don’t want to say too high for fear of being considered for the role but you don’t want to lowball yourself either.

Salary queries are often a dreaded interview question (Westend61/Getty Images)

So, what do you do in that situation? Tech mogul Gates has an answer.

After co-founding Microsoft back in 1975, the billionaire has nearly 50 years of experience behind him.

Sharing some of his insight into how you should answer the salary question in an interview, Gates doesn’t give an exact figure that you should say, but he does explain how to answer it.

He said: “I hope the option package is good. I’m able to take risk and I think the company has a great future, so I prefer to get stock options even more than cash compensation.”

Gates went on to say: “I hear some other companies are paying a lot, but treat me fairly and emphasize the options.”

Through this answer, Gates is demonstrating that he is no pushover by exploring a number of options, even if they aren't actually on the table.

And he is proving that he's invested in the business by tying his earnings to his performance - which then, in turn, highlights his confidence in his own performance abilities.

Bill Gates explained how to answer an interview question about salary (Chris Jackson - WPA Pool/Getty Images)

This sentiment could easily be adapted for any company that has a bonus scheme.

For example, you could talk about how you are dedicated to proving why you should earn 100 percent every quarter by giving the best output you can.

This shows that, while you're here to make money personally, you are also dedicated to performing for the company.

However, if salary was a cause for concern, it would be worth doing some research to check what the average wages for similar roles are and basing it off of that.

It has actually become more commonplace for employers to include salaries within their job advertisements which makes the life of the interviewee much easier when it comes to figuring out what a company is offering.

In August 2023, job site Indeed reported that half of US job posts uploaded to their website advertised ‘at least some employer-provided salary information’ - the highest share yet recorded by the company.