Having passively utilised this forum throughout my progression through PWC’s experienced hire recruitment process I thought it only fair to add some hopefully useful info to this very useful resource. So here goes.The initial phase was online numerical verbal and reasoning tests. Having done lots of research on the type of questions I spent time practicising SHL style tests (downloaded form assessmentday.co.uk I think), in reality the questions were much more quick-fire than those which I had practiced. From memory it worked out at about 15 secs per questions in the verbal and about 13 secs in the numerical, therefore there was no requirement to calculate any answers it was simply a case of rapid data interpretation.The subsequent stage was a technical interview, held at the London offices and run by 2 senior consultants. The interview was fairly informal and as the name suggests largely based around technical competencies. There were no ‘funnies’ in the interview and no good-cop bad-cop approach, they genuinely seemed more interested in experiences relating to the technical competencies required and whether they would feel happy working with me. The next stage was the assessment centre ; this was split into 3 phases. The first was the group case study, this included about 30 mins to read the case and make notes, then a 40 min group discussion. Each candidate had generic reading material and a small amount of unique material. I believe the aim is to show some EQ, and demonstrate an ability to work in a group – allow all individuals to speak, include those who may be less forthcoming etc whilst working in a standard problem solving framework. I don’t believe that there is a correct answer, but rather the ability to form a group consensus, state why that option was choosen and then identify and mitigate risks associated with the agreed solution. Part 2 involves a partner / director interview. I was interviewed by someone from the same functional area to which I was applying, but I don’t believe this is always the case. Again the interview was fairly informal and based around the organisation’s global core competencies and required me to provide examples that showed proficiency / experience in these areas. I used the simple but effective STAR approach to guide my answers. Off the top of my head questions included giving examples of: 1. Developed others, either peers or subordinates. 2. Gone above and beyond what was expected to support a work related task 3. Developed a work opportunity as a result of my network 4. Used feedback to develop my professional skils The final part was the individual written exercise. This was 50 mins and based around a scenario in which PWC had been hired to recommend one sponsor from a list of 4 companies. There were 10/12 pages of information to read through with the final output being a 2 page brief outlining the problem, strengths and weaknesses of each companies offering, and a final recommendation with identification of risks and potential mitigation measures. Within the info provided are client criteria which provide an ideal guide against which to analyse the bids. It is important to fit the answer on 2 pages, no more paper is provided / allowed, and ensure that you divide your time and ensure you know when the time is up as the supervisor leaves the room and does not remind you of the time remaining. I know this sounds obvious but a fellow candidate didn’t do this, thought they had 5 more minutes and therefore failed to write a thorough conclusion / recommendation. I believe that in a similar manner to the group scenario it is more how you address the problem, the method and structure you use to dissect the problem, than selecting the correct answer. I hope this provides a limited heads up to people undertaking the process in the near future.

Hi, thanks for your detailed experience, I hope you will get a result you wanted.Curious though, did you apply for a General Experienced Hire Consultant role? Because I am in the process, but totally different steps. I applied a Specialist Consultant Role, I had 2 rounds of interviews (by phone) with 2 senior consultants, and they let me meet another partner for the last round, and from the HR I spoke to, she confirmed there is no AC for me.So I guess PwC has different recruitment paths, anyone reckons?

Is it meant to be a test of your endurance or stamina or something? It sounds exhausting.

Thesus - I did get the result I wanted thanks; an offer which I have subsequently accepted. I applied for a role within the PPM function, therefore I believe I followed the generalist experienced hire process. However there was a specialist at the same assessment centre as me, and he seemed to follow the same steps expect that the Partner interview was before the assessment centre rather than after. BEP - I was pretty exhausting! especially all the faux laughter required ;-). That said as time consuming and thorough as the process was it did provide excellent exposure to PWC employees and a snapshot of the organisation's culture - all of which de-risked the decision to accept their offer.

i also went through this process, although i had a final Partner interview after the assessment centre. i believe this was due to my desire to work for a regional division rather than in London, and therefore the regional Partner wanted to scope me out.i must say i thoroughly enjoyed the process, and have subsequently received an offer which i am currently negotiating.the Partner who interviewed me in the final stage was by far the most impressive interviewer i have ever come across. he asked me to tell him about myself and gently moulded the conversation to allow me opportunities to answer the "competency based" questions he needed to cover. i didn't feel at all like i was being interviewed. he even accepted my request for a follow up conversation after the offer had been made, in which we discussed some of the concerns and preconceptions i had.

Thanks a lot,Your information is very detailed and informative.Just have a question regarding the technical interview firstly. Where there any questions you had not foreseen or were they all linked to global core compete cows and core competences?Also when doing the written assessment, what sorts of problems did the companies have. Just trying to get a feel for the type of question il be asked.Any help would be much appreciated, Thanks :)

Sorry meant to write global core competences and job description

Aaron575; Firstly the technical interview was based primarily around the competencies listed in the job description as opposed to the global core competencies. That said it wasn't overly technical, but that be due more to the less technical nature of the organisational area which I was interviewing for. To illustrate, there were no questions like - 'having established the project scope with the client what is the next step in the project management process', it was much more based around past experiences of competencies listed in the job description. In relation to the written assessment, both group and individual, the question wasn't based around an organisational challenge. In both cases you were part of a committee looking at a number of companies who were bidding to provide a service, the info contained outlines on the pros and cons of each businesses offering. So it was a simply case of establishing these, how they met the requirements, which offering best suited the requirements and then making a decision ensuring that anyt shortfalls in the companies offering were identified. I hope that helps...

I have recently got to the partner interview stage and would be keen to get some insight on the format of this final stage. PwC refer to it as technical based, but a few things I've read imply it's more focussed on global core competencies.Any tips or advice would be much appreciated..

I think it depends on the partner. The guy who interviewed me literally just said "tell me about yourself" and then had a really effortless style of guiding me into opportunities to cover off the mandatory questions on his sheet. I basically ended up telling him my life story.

Ok great thanks Richthekeeper - sounds like he was a smooth operator! Just to clarify, in your case, were the mandatory questions the partner covered only focused on PwC Global Core competencies or did they include questions on the technical requirements from the job spec for your role?

I don't know what the questions were, only that he had some.Some of them were your classic "STAR" type questions, others were more along the lines of "why do you want to do this job" and questions on my motivation/personality typeI'm pretty sure the technical competencies had been covered at the numerous prior stages

I can't offer a huge amount of advice in this area as I was fortunate to bypass the final partner interview. However what I have heard from other individuals is that this final stage is largely a governance / tick-box process which ensures that the recruitment process is churning out the required individuals. So it tends to be relatively informal. Best of luck.

Perfect. Thanks for both of your responses. I'll post an update after I've had mine.

Hi all, I recently attended an experienced hire "technical interview" with a pwc director. The interview was pretty informal. There were some questions based on the global competencies but not so obvious. But I haven't heard from PwC for the last 10 days. Does this mean I'd failed the interview? I've dropped an email to the HR too and no response so far. Any advice would be much appreciated. Many thanks.