PWC Fit Questions

Hi there,

Q: I am interviewing with PWC, and was wondering what are the most common Fit Questions, and tips on preparing for this section.

Common fit questions you may expect in a consulting interview are:

1. Tell me about yourself
2. Why consulting
3. Why us
4. Give me an example of when you led a team
5. Tell me about a time when you had to convince someone
6. What has been your major achievement so far
7. Tell me about a time when you failed
8. Why should we hire you

Questions about personal experience (4, 5 and 6) are standard at McKinsey, but other companies may ask them as well. 

Good luck!

Francesco

Hi there,

Try to come in being flexible and adaptable.

Rather than predicting questions, just make sure you listen to the question and answer it logically.

If you are limited in prep time, no matter what make sure you understand who you are, who they are, and what the role is: https://www.preplounge.com/en/articles/tell-me-about-yourself-interview-question

Hi there,

Congrats on getting this far and best of luck for your interviews!

This is what I’ve seen typically across Big4s… whereas first interview consists of motivation/fit questions and then a mini-case, the second round has a larger and more complex case followed by motivation/fit questions.  The second round case will take around half the interview (~30min) and tends to be a written case in which you have ~1hr to prep in advance before presenting back to the interviewers and fielding some questions.  Not sure if that has indeed been what HR/Recruiting have communicated to you?  Feel free to ask them for more clarity on what to expect if you’re not sure.

For the motivation/fit part of the interview, they can ask just about anything (as unhelpful of an answer that is!)  Similar to the first round, they will pick at your CV/CL, asking you about your experience, strengths, weaknesses, challenges, motivation, why PWC (vs other consultancies), why consulting, why now, experience in teams, leadership, failures/successes, industry interests, interest in the team’s work etc.  One thing you should keep in mind is that if you feel you answered a question poorly in the first round or have a weak point in your CV, they will ask you about it.  So reflect back on that first round and think what points you want to add or how you might be able to preemptively address some of their potential concerns about you.  Also do your research!  What is it exactly that draws you to PWC?  What clients do they tend to work for? What internal stuff seems cool?  What do they pride themselves upon and how does that resonate with you?  Who do you know there and have you talked to them about your motivation?  The more you can turn the interviewer-interviewee dynamic into a flowing conversation, generally the better.

Once again, good luck with your preparation and interviews, and feel free to reach out if you have other questions!

Tom

Hi there, 

There are a few great and comprehensive answers below from my fellow coaches. The only thing that I want to add is the importance of forging a connection.

Interview decisions are not rational, but emotional decisions. What that means in practice is that interviewers, being human, are a lot more likely to pass somebody who they can connect with even though their performance wasn't perfect, rather than somebody who had a great performance but is rather un-relatable. There's a good reason for it - consulting is a people business. For instance, Partners - theoretically the masters of the job - are excelling at handling people not analyses, which is why communication skills are so critical. 

Make sure that you approach the interview with an open mind, be relatable, ask questions, show curiosity, learn more about your interviewer. Your one objective should to be connect with them, not to answer correctly all their questions. 

Best,

Cristian