Hints and tips

Explore. Inspire. Reimagine.

Whichever opportunity you're applying for, there are some things that you should be thinking about - so we've put together some hints and tips for you.

These assessments help us build a clearer picture of your capabilities and where your strengths lie. This is important to the work we do for our business, and our clients. These skills and behaviours make up our global leadership framework, the PwC professional. The precise details of each stage will vary according to where you want to work, but the focus throughout will be on the qualities you need to do well. Having the right academic results is only part of it.

We’re aware that there are providers selling guidance and assistance on how to complete our recruitment assessments. We have no relationship with and do not endorse any of those providers. Our PwC careers page offers access to hints and tips on our process, opportunities to sign up to events to find out more and talk to our recruiters. We encourage applicants to use the tools available on our channels.

We take candidate professional conduct very seriously. This means we undertake periodic reviews of candidate applications to identify activity we believe undermines the integrity of our recruitment process. This includes, but is not limited to, comparing candidate video interview responses, assessing if transcripts are identical and proactively looking for duplicate accounts across our systems. Where we find evidence of undermining our recruitment processes, you will be disqualified from our recruitment process.

You’re restricted to one application at a time with student recruitment. In addition, if you are unsuccessful or withdraw from our process, you’ll need to wait six months from the date you completed the first stage online assessment before re-applying. For these purposes, the definition of an 'application' also includes any roles that you have been made an offer for. Therefore if you have been offered / accepted a role, you cannot apply to another vacancy. Please take the time to check that you're able to make a new application to us now. Our employees act with honesty and integrity so we expect the same from you. If you already work at PwC, please ensure that you have contacted the student recruitment team to discuss your application before you proceed. We take any attempts to circumvent this policy very seriously.

Before you apply

Remember what we're looking for throughout the process - we'll be looking for you to show awareness and evidence of the skills and qualities you need to succeed in our business. Wherever possible, you should be able to demonstrate and highlight how you match our requirements. For more information, please refer to the 'The skills we look for' page.

Do your research

We'll expect you to be able to talk coherently and confidently about PwC, the position you're applying for, the business world in general and yourself. The more you know about these things, the more prepared you'll be, so you'll have to get researching. If you're applying for a role that will require you to undertake a professional qualification, please make sure you research this fully.

Think about investigating the following sources of information:

our website (careers and corporate)
the financial media (press, television, internet)
relevant professional bodies (especially if they offer a qualification you're interested in pursuing)
anyone you know who works for PwC (or a similar organisational network).

Don't just give them a quick glance. Examine them, understand the issues and keep yourself up to date.

Application process

Career Uncovered
Application Form
Online assessment
Video interview
Assessment centre

Career Uncovered

Try our Career Uncovered tool. Explore your own preferences and learn more about our different business areas. This tool will allow you to identify suitable programmes for your current year of study and interests.

Application Form

Remember first impressions count so the application form is your opportunity to sell yourself. Before you complete the form, you should gather accurate details of your academic and employment history including any work experience placements.

While completing the form, remember to:

read and follow instructions carefully
proof read everything you write including checking grammar and spelling
be concise as you can elaborate at interview stage
don't repeat statements you've read in our brochures and the website
don't be vague or lie about your results as we'll check your academics at a later stage in the process.

Online assessment

The next stage will be a series of online assessments that measure your cognitive skills and behavioural preferences. We’ll also look at your numerical and abstract reasoning abilities too. For instance, how you overcome challenges, how you work towards goals and how you make decisions.

Video interview

The second stage of our process is a video interview. Here you’ll need to record your response to a range of motivational and scenario based questions. They bring to life the range of work we do and what it’s like working here. This is your opportunity to tell us why you're interested in a career with us. You can prepare in advance by thinking about the behaviours and skills we’re looking for by visiting "the skills we look for" page.

Read more about our use of automated decision-making in our recruitment privacy statement.

Assessment centre

The penultimate stage of our recruitment process is a virtual immersive assessment centre. It brings together everything you’ve learnt about us so far through a number of individual and group activities. You’ll also have a 30 minute live interview with a member of the student recruitment team who will ask you a number of motivational and scenario based questions.

Similar to the video interview, you can prepare in advance by thinking about the behaviours and skills we’re looking for and building your knowledge of business vocabulary by reviewing our 'Business 101' glossary.