PwC assessment day advice!

Hi, I am having an assessment day with PwC for the UK office in a few days. I haven’t been to the assessment day held by PwC before and I am quite nervous.

I have an email explains the format of the assessment day. The section worries me the most is the group exercise and partner interview :frown:

. I will be grateful if someone can give me some advice for these areas.

Thank you very much.

Very nervous Carol :confused:

What scheme?

I'm not familiar with assessment days at all to be honest, so my advices may be totally out of place, so bare with me.

Firstly, it's quite hard for me to give advice on so losely defined areas such as "group exercise and partner interview", when also the reasons for your nervousity isn't that clear either.

But, generally, I have come to realise that there are a few quite important things to note, when dealing with companies that you would like to see yourself working at in the future.

1. Know everything there is to know about PwC. Read it's websites. Go to the library and find articles relating to PwC for a few months ago. Even if you won't directly have use of your knowledge, they'll notice if you can make references to recent news about PwC. "E.g. yes, that is an almost identical situation as PwC was in when it tried to do ... in Shanghai two months ago". Or whatever. you know what I mean. It has the same effect as name dropping.

2. Get yourself an acquintance at the company. It's really easy. It doesn't have to be elaborate. You could really just call someone and present yourself and say that you're interested in PwC and would really like to get to know it better, and ask if you can buy him/her a lunch and discuss PwC. Or something. I makes you more well-read on the company, it enables you to name drop his/her name, if you'll make a good impression you'll have someone to recommend you, and you'll know things that the others that have just read the websites etc. don't know.

3. Make sure you're prepared. It relieves you of some nervousity too. Take the day off before if it is necessary. Be happy during the interview :smile:

Try to be on the same level as the interviewer. If he leans back, do it yourself. If he jokes all the time, do it yourself. You should soon notice that he/she will begin to follow you - hopefully. But this is perhaps over course. Don't focus on things like this if it distracts you.

4. Make sure the listener knows the situation before you start talking about something. it's often neglected.

5. Laugh! If you're laughing together, you'll create a very positive feeling about eachother that will last a very long time. The next meeting will be between friends.

6. Show interest in the company/position by asking questions! It also sends out signals that they should be lucky to have you. It's like dating. What female would ever consider a guy that doesn't measure the girl, just takes whatever he can get?

7. Greet everyone in the room. Show tact to everyone. Don't see the other candidates as competitors, see them as colleagues. Present yourself with full name. Wait until you're seated. Have a good posture. Listen carefully.

8. The interviewer is probably also nervous. Relax. It's cool. If necessary, imagine the interviewer naked hehe. It doesn't work for me, I just start laughing out loud, for appearantly no reason.

9. Be able to say "I don't know". It's important. Do not, whatsoever, bluff. It doesn't work. Plus, it's a good quality to be able to be honest. They'll notice.

10. Make no decisions during the interview. This relates to the last part of point 6. Also, doing so may make you seem impulsiv and uncareful.

11. (jeez I didn't know I had this much advices). If it's for a specific position - ask them to show you where you'll work.

12. Never ever complain about previous employers.

13. If you have to think before answering - do it.

14. Follow up. E.g. write them a thank you note for having the pleasure of coming to the interview. It will show that you're socially competent, thoughtful and respectful. But also, it will differentiate you from the rest - most won't know to do this, you'll have the chance to further stress or mention something you said during the interview or clarify something, and it shows that you're interested in the job. Be short though.

15. ok really, I have things to do myself today hehe. Drop me a PM if you have any questions or something. I'd love to help.

Cheers!

Reply 3

dancingqueen

Hi
I went for an assessment day last week at pwc and now I have an internship!
The group exercise was fine. There were 5 of us, given 20 minutes to read through some material and write some notes. Then we discussed it for half an hour. You need to make sure you get your points in and speak clearly. Always think what you're going to say and make sure it's relevant to what other people have said or the point that you think needs making.
My interview was good, the guy was really nice and made me feel at ease. Basically he asked me about different business situations, but don't worry, none of it was overly complicated! As long as you have a rough idea about business, and know about the issues surrounding their business you'll be ok. They seem to like asking you about the general issues surrounding professional services work. I'd advise knowing about the enron and worldcom stuff, as they seem to like asking about that in interviews!
Otherwise, good luck, relax and be friendly and you'llbe fine!
Which office and service line are you going for btw?

Reply 4

Wstroud

um, cant talk about PwC but im currently at Deloitte which as a similar day.

1. Read up about something going on currently in the business world: BBC have some good stuff in their business pages - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/default.stm

2. Dont be over-assertive in the group assessment, there is nothing worse than having someone in your group always shouting stuff down. Conversely dont just sit their, but make sure you allow others their say as well.

3. Get a copy of the Economist and have a quick flick through, pick out some headlines and read a couple of articles and that should cover that.

4. Read the stuff off their website, i know this has been said before, but they want to see what you know about the company, get details like revenue etc if you can.

5. Finally, im not sure which department you are applying for, but be sure to know why you want to be in it, you may well get asked why that department

Good luck