EY HireVue Interview: Questions, Format, and a Worked Answer

EY uses a HireVue video interview for many of its student and early-career programs. Candidates report 4 to 6 questions with 30 seconds to think and up to 2 minutes to answer. Scored questions cannot be re-recorded.

EY's questions lean on teaming, integrity, and the energy to lead, which are the words in its published values. This page has the reported questions, what each is testing, and a worked answer timed to the window.

Want a run-through first? HireVue practice gives you the same timed format with your answers scored, free.

The clock and the format are the same HireVue product every employer uses. The timing guide covers what happens when the timer runs out, and how HireVue scoring works covers what the recording is scored on.

EY describes its people as those who demonstrate integrity, respect, teaming, and inclusiveness; who have the energy, enthusiasm, and courage to lead; and who build relationships based on doing the right thing. The reported questions test each of those.

• Teaming. A time you made a group work better than it was working.
• Integrity. A call you made the honest way.
• Courage to lead. Stepping up when nobody asked you to.
• Building relationships. Trust you earned with a client, teammate, or manager.
• Motivation for EY. A reason specific to the service line and its work.

Build one story for each line above. Every question below is asking for one of them.

These are the questions candidates report from recent EY screens, with the competency each one is built to test. Your set will be a mix of these and close variants.

1. Tell me about a time you stepped up to lead when nobody asked you to. (Courage to lead)
2. Why EY, and why this service line? (Motivation)
3. Describe a time you built trust with someone who did not trust you at first. (Relationships)
4. Tell me about a time you worked in a team with a difficult member. (Teaming)
5. Describe a time you had to choose between two right answers. (Judgment, integrity)
6. Tell me about a time you had to manage several priorities with a fixed deadline. (Prioritization)

For the shape of each answer type, see HireVue interview questions by format. For the answer structure itself, the STAR method guide has worked examples.

Question: "Describe a time you built trust with someone who did not trust you at first."

"When I joined the campus radio station as the new finance officer, the station manager had been burned by the last person in the job, who lost track of about a thousand dollars. She checked every purchase I made for the first month. I did not push back. I set up a shared sheet where every dollar in and out was visible to her the same day, and I sent her a one-line summary every Friday whether she asked or not. By the end of the semester she stopped checking, and in the spring she asked me to present the budget to the student union myself. Trust came from making everything visible before she had to ask."

Why it scores: A realistic starting point, no defensiveness, two concrete habits, and a clear sign the trust was earned. About 55 seconds spoken.

Specific to EY:

• Prepare a relationship story. EY asks about trust more than most firms, and most candidates only prepare teamwork stories.
• Say the service line in the "why" answer. Assurance and consulting are different jobs.
• Keep the "courage to lead" story about a moment you acted, not a title you held.

For any HireVue:

1. Day 1. Write one story per competency in the list above. Two or three sentences each: the situation, what you decided, what happened.
2. Day 2. Say each story out loud on a two-minute timer. Most people run long the first time. Cut until each one ends on the result with time to spare.
3. Day 3. Run the reported questions cold, in one sitting, no notes. Then set up the room: quiet, camera at eye level, light on your face, wired internet if you have it.

The full setup checklist and a five-day version of this plan are in the free HireVue practice guide.

After you submit, results often take a week or more. Here is how to follow up after an interview if the window passes, and a salary negotiation email for when the offer comes. Applying for a move up where you already work? See promotion interview questions.

Company guides in this series, each with the reported questions and a worked answer:

• Goldman Sachs HireVue (investment banking)
• JPMorgan Chase HireVue (investment banking)
• Morgan Stanley HireVue (investment banking)
• Citi HireVue (banking)
• Bank of America HireVue (banking)
• Barclays HireVue (banking)
• Deutsche Bank HireVue (banking)
• Bain & Company HireVue (consulting)
• Boston Consulting Group HireVue (consulting)
• Deloitte HireVue (consulting and professional services)
• Unilever HireVue (consumer goods)
• PepsiCo HireVue (consumer goods)
• Amazon HireVue (technology and operations)
• IBM HireVue (technology)
• Boeing HireVue (aerospace and engineering)
• Hilton HireVue (hospitality)
• Delta Air Lines HireVue (airlines)
• McDonald's HireVue (restaurants)
• Shell HireVue (energy)
• PwC HireVue (accounting and professional services)
• Accenture HireVue (consulting and technology services)
• Vodafone HireVue (telecommunications)
• Kraft Heinz HireVue (consumer packaged goods)
• Wells Fargo HireVue (banking)
• BlackRock HireVue (asset management)
• UBS HireVue (banking)
• United Airlines HireVue (airlines)
• Emirates HireVue (airlines)
• Marriott HireVue (hospitality)
• Johnson & Johnson HireVue (health care)
• PNC HireVue (banking)
• Kaiser Permanente HireVue (health care)
• KKR HireVue (private equity)
• Keurig Dr Pepper HireVue (consumer goods)
• Target HireVue (retail)
• Walmart HireVue (retail)
• Nike HireVue (sportswear)
• Macy's HireVue (retail)