PwC Case Study

minagile

Hi I got an interview with PwC, on the email they stated: "you will be required to complete a short 20 minute case study which will be discussed with you during your interview".

Does anyone have experience, please advise me on this? What should I expect on the case study and what kind of discussions about the case study in the interview?:)

Thank you very much!

abcshamo

minagile wrote: »

Hi I got an interview with PwC, on the email they stated: "you will be required to complete a short 20 minute case study which will be discussed with you during your interview".

Does anyone have experience, please advise me on this? What should I expect on the case study and what kind of discussions about the case study in the interview?:)

Thank you very much!

I have the same question. Maybe u can ring HR and ask them .maybe they will give u some hints?

deirdre452

The case study portion of the interview is new this year, you will be given a newspaper article 20 minutes before your interview time to read and you will be asked a couple of questions about the article/ area during the interview, Hope this helps

abcshamo

deirdre452 wrote: »

The case study portion of the interview is new this year, you will be given a newspaper article 20 minutes before your interview time to read and you will be asked a couple of questions about the article/ area during the interview, Hope this helps

20 mins for a newspaper article? Then it must be a long article!


As far as I know there will be competency based interview. So they will use this to test ur business awareness? I am bad at doing this.

deirdre452

I was involved in the recruitment fair and that is what we were told it was, the questions about a business leader you admire, tell me about a business, questions were being phased out and replaced by this. Will be general test of whats going on in the world but the interview will not focus on this

abcshamo

deirdre452 wrote: »

I was involved in the recruitment fair and that is what we were told it was, the questions about a business leader you admire, tell me about a business, questions were being phased out and replaced by this. Will be general test of whats going on in the world but the interview will not focus on this

Could you please explain that more clear?

Are these questions based on the information from the newspaper article?

Will we still have competency based interview for the rest of 40 mins?

Thanks.......:)

deirdre452

I understood the article to be coming from a recent newspaper, detailing a business related story, such as expansion/ closure/ issues affecting the company what ideas you might have to help- along the lines of the business awareness question on the application form, but focused on the article in question not the company you would have chosen for this. A couple of questions in the interview will be related to this.

My interview 2 years ago lasted bout 10-15 minutes so i dont really know how long they typically are but I doubt 40 minutes, the partners/ managers wouldnt have that kinda of time to give to every interviewee but maybe I'm wrong. Competency based will still focus especially on team work- have 2/3 different scenarios in your head that you can draw on- looking out for how you dealt with difficult teams members/ issues you encountered.

Best bet is to know why PwC over the others, what do you think you will be doing on a daily basis, why an auditor, masters or no masters and how do you think you will cope with work and study, hobbies/interests. Know your application form well and relax, if you need a second to think take a sip of water, don't get frazzled.

The only iffy question I remember is what would your friends say are your good and bad qualities.

abcshamo

deirdre452 wrote: »

I understood the article to be coming from a recent newspaper, detailing a business related story, such as expansion/ closure/ issues affecting the company what ideas you might have to help- along the lines of the business awareness question on the application form, but focused on the article in question not the company you would have chosen for this. A couple of questions in the interview will be related to this.

My interview 2 years ago lasted bout 10-15 minutes so i dont really know how long they typically are but I doubt 40 minutes, the partners/ managers wouldnt have that kinda of time to give to every interviewee but maybe I'm wrong. Competency based will still focus especially on team work- have 2/3 different scenarios in your head that you can draw on- looking out for how you dealt with difficult teams members/ issues you encountered.

Best bet is to know why PwC over the others, what do you think you will be doing on a daily basis, why an auditor, masters or no masters and how do you think you will cope with work and study, hobbies/interests. Know your application form well and relax, if you need a second to think take a sip of water, don't get frazzled.

The only iffy question I remember is what would your friends say are your good and bad qualities.

Thank you very much! precise information. Would you mind if I ask, r u the current employee of PwC?

deirdre452

1 year with the firm today and its been a brilliant year- best of luck with the interviews

george507

No writing required as far as I know, it is just a simple question, which used to be asked in the interview

teddy54321

Had the interview yesterday. Its only a page long. And they just ask you to discuss it with them in the interview. For exapmle a piece in the article may state, 'they may face challenges' and you may have to say what those challenges could be. Its just a discussion to see if you understand a business story and talk about it. Its ok and nothing to worry about...

O and you get hald an hour to read it before the interview. You can take notes down on paper they give to you and bring them with you into the interview aswell.

One tip I'd give is be early. I went half an hour early purely by accident but it was great. The HR girls there were lovely and settled my nerves so I wasnt nervous going into the interview. It meant I had half an hour to read the case study aswell. No pressure.

Good Luck

abcshamo

teddy54321 wrote: »

Had the interview yesterday. Its only a page long. And they just ask you to discuss it with them in the interview. For exapmle a piece in the article may state, 'they may face challenges' and you may have to say what those challenges could be. Its just a discussion to see if you understand a business story and talk about it. Its ok and nothing to worry about...

O and you get hald an hour to read it before the interview. You can take notes down on paper they give to you and bring them with you into the interview aswell.

One tip I'd give is be early. I went half an hour early purely by accident but it was great. The HR girls there were lovely and settled my nerves so I wasnt nervous going into the interview. It meant I had half an hour to read the case study aswell. No pressure.

Good Luck

Hi,friend, thanks for ur information! Would you mind if I ask you :are you in milkround?

And just would like to know how long did they give u to read the article? and how long was the competency based interivew?

How was the competency based interview? Did they ask you any tricky questions?

Thanks!

bah1011

I did the interview yesterday as well. We got 30mins to do the case study and there were 8 people in the room with me.
When i went into the interview I was there for 55mins and was never asked once about the case study they didn't even mention it. It was really a conversation about my C.V. There were no typical interview questions or anything. Not sure if that is a good or bad sign. they also said I would know by today or tommorrow.

minagile

bah1011 wrote: »

I did the interview yesterday as well. We got 30mins to do the case study and there were 8 people in the room with me.
When i went into the interview I was there for 55mins and was never asked once about the case study they didn't even mention it. It was really a conversation about my C.V. There were no typical interview questions or anything. Not sure if that is a good or bad sign. they also said I would know by today or tommorrow.

I finally did my today, I was giving 20 mins to read the case study. It was ok, just the HR girl never smilies, I don't feel confortable about, beside that was fine. I hope I can hear form them soon. Good Luck!:)

reverseswing

Could either of you elaborate on what the newspaper article was about?

maninblack

Yeah what the hell is this business article?

Is it a real-world article or a mock article PwC did up themselves (Company XYZ etc)?

And what were the questions asked in the interview relating to the article?

Kind of nervous about this. I'm usually solid enough at interviews as I feel I can steer them in the direction I want them to go. But this business article thing could go anywhere really :o

teddy54321

Yes im in the milkround. And they gave us over half an hour to read the article, when we could also take notes. It only takes you 2 minutes to read the article so you have lots of time to think of questions they will ask you and the answers you could give. Jot them down, you can bring piece paper in with you. Interview in total was about 40 minutes I'd say but it flew. Yes they asked tricky questions all about current affairs stories I didnt think they would be interested in. Well about the presedential election but thats over now. They try to make you feel out of your depth, see how you can handle it. I didnt try to pretend I knew something that I didnt but I always had an answer. I said how I was preparing for the interview so hadnt been focused too much on the presedential election the past week.......... They did ask questoins about college and team work. How you work in a team and the role you prefer. They ask about your grades, some of mine that were low and why. Its ok though just dont panic and you will be fine.

teddy54321

abcshamo wrote: »

Hi,friend, thanks for ur information! Would you mind if I ask you :are you in milkround?

And just would like to know how long did they give u to read the article? and how long was the competency based interivew?

How was the competency based interview? Did they ask you any tricky questions?

Thanks!

Yes im in the milkround. And they gave us over half an hour to read the article, when we could also take notes. It only takes you 2 minutes to read the article so you have lots of time to think of questions they will ask you and the answers you could give. Jot them down, you can bring piece paper in with you. Interview in total was about 40 minutes I'd say but it flew. Yes they asked tricky questions all about current affairs stories I didnt think they would be interested in. Well about the presedential election but thats over now. They try to make you feel out of your depth, see how you can handle it. I didnt try to pretend I knew something that I didnt but I always had an answer. I said how I was preparing for the interview so hadnt been focused too much on the presedential election the past week.......... They did ask questoins about college and team work. How you work in a team and the role you prefer. They ask about your grades, some of mine that were low and why. Its ok though just dont panic and you will be fine.

teddy54321

The business article is fine. I applied for tax and got an IEA article. I don't think they make them up, but the articles vary between audit etc. You have lots of time before you go into the interview to prepare and read the case study. It is fine and I didnt understand one bit of it, I admited this and I got offered a place so don't worry. And I thought I could steer them on the compency based side of the interview but it didnt happen. They only asked about certain things and very certain examples in certain situations such as one particular job I had stated in my application form.