SOS!!!!
I just got an offer for a customer consulting role for Financial Services at PwC but I felt that the interview process was too easy. It was 3 conversations on mostly behavioral questions when I was expecting for it to a bit deeper or to be given cases. Any PwC folks have similar experiences? Worried of the talent I’d be working with or if this is the kind of consulting that I want (similar to MBB)
MBB is typically growth oriented strategy work, whereas the consulting you do here is often highly specialized to the service line you are in. That being said, I joined a strategy focused group earlier this year and underwent a similarly less rigorous recruitment process as they were quickly staffing a project and I came in with directly translatable experience from another Big 4.
MBB recruitment is also typically much more rigorous as they review a larger pool of talent per application and have the prestige/salary bands to allow them to the luxury of making applicants jump through more hoops. A more comparable group would be our Strategy& team rather than general consulting which you are joining.
It’s extremely difficult to transfer to Strategy& from PwC. You can’t bank on this even if you work strictly with S& peers, projects and partners. So don’t take the offer with if this is the path that will make you happy!
Def re-evaluate. If quality of peer group and type of work (in your case: strategy) are clear criteria, then you need to ask yourself if you’re applying in right places. If you want to do strategy work, pls apply at MBB / T2 (Oliver Wyman, Kearney, Strategy&, EYP etc.) or similar. Plain and simple.
Well, I’m not doing a strategy consultants job. My projects don’t have the same stakes and breadth (and the hours are demanding but much more sustainable) but our client teams are still ex strategy consultants. And my peers are much smarter than me
We are hiring aggressively and not all interviews will be made the same.
That being said, you may have just been a rockstar and killed the convo.
Not sure about your last question, but PwC is not MBB
Let’s hope that’s the case! Haha
That’s crazy I just got rejected after applying online within 3 hours
Consider yourself lucky!
It is because these firms are desperate for bodies to staff long-term PMO / staff aug / implementation projects. Experienced this with other firms and would consider a red flag.
This is right. You won’t be doing anything close to what a consultant at MBB does. If tou are desperate take it but the work is mind numbing.
Might just be the area you’re applying for. I know EY FSO was similar. They probably need bodies right now too
What was offer for EY FSO?
FS here. Yes we are hiring aggressively to keep up with the demand, which is fast outpacing what we can staff. The work itself varies wildly by project and frequently deviates from traditional FS MC work, but successful behaviors that I see in dwindling supply relative to demand right now are people that can adapt quickly to new subject content, understand how to structure the project for client visibility (i.e. pmo), balance multiple high priority items simultaneously, and to deploy thoughts onto paper to drive action. SME experience won’t matter as much. Very easy to get involved in business development right now at all levels too.
PwC or Strategy&?
This is a good team, quick interviews are because of a pressing recruiting need
Pwcs interview process is relatively straightforward as they tend to hire ppl with direct domain experience - usually both industry and function. Generalists or switchers need much more vetting.
I’m very surprised you didn’t receive at least one case though.
Don’t worry you give case interviews to mba hires. Much better to be the giver!
Demand vs supply at the moment tends to affect recruiting quality and rigor for staff roles at most firms . If you found the interview cursory , most probably they need you urgently and don’t have bench
Don't need case interviews all the time, outside of "how would you do x, y, and z" from a few different angles per discussion. Came in as experience senior in a tech aligned practice and would feel that anything more than the interview process I had (which was similar to what you're describing) would have been entirely unnecessary. Though, I was a referral so that may have changed things. Given where I'm at now, I feel I could perform the smell test in an interview pretty easily, but you gotta walk the walk afterwords of course.
How much they offer you and what level
PwC is weird. I interviewed for a business/ops role. My all interviews including partner discussion were on that line. They came back saying that they were looking for more technical skills.
Chief
Sounds about right.
Take the job. Love it here!
Is that a general PwC sentiment? Or are you also in FS
I am expecting an offer as well from PwC - do you mind sharing what was the compensation like?
How long did it take for you to get an offer? I just had round 3 yesterday.
Good luck!
Is it with their DnA or Risk practice?
Pretty sure neither (tho I’ve never heard of DNA before) what are the other options
I had a similar experience. I interviewed for a Tech position and I had a few questions that I felt tested the fact that I knew some deeper concepts in this field. The rest of the questions were behavioral. You could ask someone applying for anything in this company those same questions. It felt odd that they did not go as deep but I guess they were going for personality.
My group has never done case interviews.
Is the offer good