PWC Business Insight Week 2019

Hey guys, I got an invite to the assessment day too. How are you guys going to prepare for it?

Hey guys, I got an invite to the assessment day too. How are you guys going to prepare for it?

Is anyone doing the coaching day in London on the 8th March??

What location?

Hey guys, I got an invite to the assessment day too. How are you guys going to prepare for it?

I am!

(Original post by Arthurreed)Hey guys, I got an invite to the assessment day too. How are you guys going to prepare for it?


Hiya, did you read the webpage that they sent to you - the skills that they look for? (I added it below in case you didn't receive it)

https://www.pwc.co.uk/careers/school-jobs/applying/the-skills-we-look-for.htm

Really?! How are you preparing?? im doing it at the embankment office and im so nervous as to how well i would do.

Oh yes I did read that, thank you tho!!

I just got rejeeeected!
Failed to meet the required standard in the Games Based Assessment - go figure.
But I've already done a coaching day because of a university scheme I'm on! So I didn't miss out entirely, I guess.

On the coaching days, you'll recieve information about PwC and they'll keep note of who's being attentive. They then set a groupwork task and watch your interactions with other students in your group - make sure to contribute and spend a lot of time listening to other people's contributions too, they want to see who works well in a team. Your assessed task will be to make a presentation to PwC/a company about what financial choices they should make in the future based on an assessment book you have been given - or at least it was for me - and then you'll write two pages on why you'd be an ideal candidate.

Personally, I think I did alright on the coaching day - it's just unfortunate I wasn't as good at the online tests! Hopefully I'll do better in the future.

I am!

How many other people did you do it with - so, how many students were there in each group?

I did it last year. Feel free to ask questions and stuff happy to help

hi did you do the digital or business week?

what kind of questions did they ask you?
what tasks did you have to do?
how was everyone dressed (mainly the girls)
was there a written task/ what was it like?
did you have to do a presentation ?
what were the group discussions like/about?
roughly how old was everyone there?
what kind of target grades did you/others have?

Anyone who has done the assessment / coaching day have you heard if you’ve got in yet?

Hi, I went to the business insight coaching / assessment day in Manchester on Monday
It was really good and tbh there’s isn’t much you can do to prepare, try to arrive around 20 minutes early so you can talk to some of the other candidates, the girls who I sat with in the waiting area were so lovely and I spent the majority of the day with them - this really helped calm my nerves and we all soon felt comfortable when you had to discuss things as a group
I’ll try to answer your questions as best I can:
The first thing we did was introduce our selves (we were all sat on different tables on 5/6 and you could chose where to sit) and say what college or school we went to. Then the main pwc woman went through a bit of what’s happening in the day and then showed us a PowerPoint and video about what pwc is, what the expect from their employees and what they do - I really advise looking up a few facts up online beforehand or making notes during this
Then we went through the Structure of a good written answer and was given a bit of a mark scheme for it - it basically said be concise, structure it well (paragraphs, subtitles, bullet points were recommended to us) & write in a professional tone
The first task was the written 30 minute task - yoy could structure it however yoy wanted but the woman advised us to use headings, bullet points and paragraphs. The task had 2 questions - 1) something along the lines of why you want to work for PWC - this had 3 bullets points underneath asking you say
- what you know about pwc
- what your career goals are
- why you chose pwc Over competitors
2) why you’re the ideal candidate (basically that but long winded)
The bullet points were:
- the qualities you have that our suitable
- what you want to gain from the week
- how the week can help you achieve your career goals
I’m really sorry I can’t remember the exact wording but I would recommend planning an answer to each bulletin point and learning the key points before you go - the time limit is actually quite hard so maybe practise writing an answer
Then we had lunch - if you are a fussy eater I recommend taking something to eat - there were sandwiches available but I didn’t like the fillings 😂
We had around 45 minutes to eat and you could eat with who you wanted and during this time current employees or apprentices came and spoke to us - it was very causal they just sat and ate with us and asked if we had any questions and just told us about what they do
After lunch we went through what makes a good team and why teams fail - you have to talk a bit with your table during this so try and bond with them as much as possible during the morning to avoid awkwardness
We were put into separate groups of 5 to split us up from who we were sat with from the morning session
For our group activity you basically had 20 minutes to read a 7/8 page booklet in silence about an entertainment business who was evaluating the pros and cons of different strategies - I made notes during this time
Then you had 30 mins as a group to prepare a presention (it was literally just standing in front of one assessor you didn’t have to make a PowerPoint or a full script) about what you thought the best strategy was - TAKE A WATCH in my group nobody had a watch other than me and if you have a watch you can say you’re organised so you will be the time keeper - just try not to talk over anyone and come to mutual decision - in the presentation you all have to talk for 1 min at least each and it was a 6 min presentation
Whilst you’re preparing there is an assessor watching you but try not to pay attention.
The presentation isn’t anything to worry about as it’s only in front of one person
After this we had a tour of the office and was told we would be informed in 10 working days if we got in our not. It finished around 3:10 so if you’re getting the train I would advise getting an any time day ticket as we finished 50 mins early.
Most girls were wearing skirts and tights or smart pants and blouses - don’t worry about this just anything smart casual is fine - the boys were mainly wearing pants and shirts.
Everyone in mine were in year 12 and some weren’t applying for the same office as me

Hope this helps - good luck

Hi, I went to the business insight coaching / assessment day in Manchester on Monday
It was really good and tbh there’s isn’t much you can do to prepare, try to arrive around 20 minutes early so you can talk to some of the other candidates, the girls who I sat with in the waiting area were so lovely and I spent the majority of the day with them - this really helped calm my nerves and we all soon felt comfortable when you had to discuss things as a group
I’ll try to answer your questions as best I can:
The first thing we did was introduce our selves (we were all sat on different tables on 5/6 and you could chose where to sit) and say what college or school we went to. Then the main pwc woman went through a bit of what’s happening in the day and then showed us a PowerPoint and video about what pwc is, what the expect from their employees and what they do - I really advise looking up a few facts up online beforehand or making notes during this
Then we went through the Structure of a good written answer and was given a bit of a mark scheme for it - it basically said be concise, structure it well (paragraphs, subtitles, bullet points were recommended to us) & write in a professional tone
The first task was the written 30 minute task - yoy could structure it however yoy wanted but the woman advised us to use headings, bullet points and paragraphs. The task had 2 questions - 1) something along the lines of why you want to work for PWC - this had 3 bullets points underneath asking you say
- what you know about pwc
- what your career goals are
- why you chose pwc Over competitors
2) why you’re the ideal candidate (basically that but long winded)
The bullet points were:
- the qualities you have that our suitable
- what you want to gain from the week
- how the week can help you achieve your career goals
I’m really sorry I can’t remember the exact wording but I would recommend planning an answer to each bulletin point and learning the key points before you go - the time limit is actually quite hard so maybe practise writing an answer
Then we had lunch - if you are a fussy eater I recommend taking something to eat - there were sandwiches available but I didn’t like the fillings 😂
We had around 45 minutes to eat and you could eat with who you wanted and during this time current employees or apprentices came and spoke to us - it was very causal they just sat and ate with us and asked if we had any questions and just told us about what they do
After lunch we went through what makes a good team and why teams fail - you have to talk a bit with your table during this so try and bond with them as much as possible during the morning to avoid awkwardness
We were put into separate groups of 5 to split us up from who we were sat with from the morning session
For our group activity you basically had 20 minutes to read a 7/8 page booklet in silence about an entertainment business who was evaluating the pros and cons of different strategies - I made notes during this time
Then you had 30 mins as a group to prepare a presention (it was literally just standing in front of one assessor you didn’t have to make a PowerPoint or a full script) about what you thought the best strategy was - TAKE A WATCH in my group nobody had a watch other than me and if you have a watch you can say you’re organised so you will be the time keeper - just try not to talk over anyone and come to mutual decision - in the presentation you all have to talk for 1 min at least each and it was a 6 min presentation
Whilst you’re preparing there is an assessor watching you but try not to pay attention.
The presentation isn’t anything to worry about as it’s only in front of one person
After this we had a tour of the office and was told we would be informed in 10 working days if we got in our not. It finished around 3:10 so if you’re getting the train I would advise getting an any time day ticket as we finished 50 mins early.
Most girls were wearing skirts and tights or smart pants and blouses - don’t worry about this just anything smart casual is fine - the boys were mainly wearing pants and shirts.
Everyone in mine were in year 12 and some weren’t applying for the same office as me

Hope this helps - good luck