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

PwC sends an on-demand video interview to many campus and early-career applicants. PwC Canada and PwC firms in Central and Eastern Europe name HireVue as the platform. Candidates report 4 to 6 questions, with 30 seconds to 2 minutes to think and 2 to 3 minutes to answer. Most report no retakes on the scored questions. PwC UK runs its video interview on SHL, so check which platform your invite names.

PwC Canada says the video interview helps it understand why you want the job, your skills, and how you like to work, measured against its purpose, its values, and the five parts of its leadership framework. The reported questions lean on motivation, teamwork, and trust. This page lists the questions candidates report, what each one tests, and one worked answer timed to the clock.

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.

PwC publishes five values: act with integrity, make a difference, care, work together, and reimagine the possible. Its leadership framework, the PwC Professional, has five parts: whole leadership, business acumen, technical and digital, global and inclusive, and relationships. The reported questions test work together and relationships most often.

• Motivation for PwC. A reason for PwC and the service line that is about the work, backed by something you read or did.
• Teamwork. A group result where your part is clear.
• Building trust. How you earn trust with a teammate or client, shown in a real example.
• Handling hard relationships. A difficult teammate, what you did, and how it ended.
• Leadership. A time you took the lead, with or without a title.

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

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

1. Why PwC? (Motivation, research)
2. Why do you want to work in this service line? (Motivation, role fit)
3. Describe a situation where you had to work collaboratively as part of a team. (Teamwork)
4. Describe a situation where you had to work with a difficult team member. How did you handle it, and what was the outcome? (Conflict, care)
5. Tell me about a time you showed leadership. (Whole leadership)
6. Where do you see yourself in five years? (Ambition, fit)

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 situation where you had to work collaboratively as part of a team."

"On a team, I try to do what I said I would do, and to tell people early when I can't. Last year I was one of four students on a consulting project for a local food bank. In the first week I promised the director a summary of her volunteer data by Friday. On Wednesday I found that a third of the records had no dates. I called her that afternoon instead of sending a late file on Friday. I told her what was missing, what I could still deliver, and a new date for the rest. She sent us the missing dates the next day, and we finished on time. After that she started sending her questions to me first. I keep the same habit with teammates. If I take a task in a meeting, I write it down and post an update before anyone has to ask. Small promises kept are how people learn they can count on you."

Why it scores: It answers with a habit, proves it with one specific story, and ends on what the person does every week. It shows care and integrity without naming them. About 65 seconds spoken.

Specific to PwC:

• Read your invite. PwC firms use different platforms and timers, so the email tells you the real number of questions and the time per answer.
• Name the service line. Audit, tax, consulting, and deals do different work. Say which one you applied to and one reason it fits you.
• Use the think time. Reported prep windows run from 30 seconds to 2 minutes, so jot the three beats of your story before the camera starts.

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)
• EY HireVue (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)
• 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)