- Feb 17, 2018
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When was your PWC Legal interview?
April 2017
What was it for?
PWC vacation scheme
Please describe the interview process at PWC Legal.
The first interview was with a recruitment company who were screening applicants for PwC. They asked mostly competency based Qs, pretty standard ones such as; Describe a time you had to receive feedback, Describe a time you had to work in a team, Describe a time you had to solve a complex problem, Describe a time you've led a team, Describe a time you've had to deal with a difficult person etc. After these straight-forward questions were dealt with, the interviewer asked a few other Qs about why law and what I knew about the next stage (e.g. LPC)
The second stage was an assessment centre that was three parts; individual assessment (timed exercise where you had to read a document through that had multiple options in it, summarise the pros and cons of each and then recommend an option), group exercise (timed exercise where you had to read a number of documents related to your particular solution to the issue (we had a client looking to expand into the hot drinks industry and needed recommendations about which area to move into), then present back to the group the pros and cons of your particular solution before deciding as a group the best approach to take) and finally psychometric evaluations (timed verbal reasoning and diagrammatic tests).
The final stage was a further invitation back for a face to face interview with a partner. This was, largely, competency based Qs again but with follow-up Qs each time now. e.g. Describe a time you received feedback and how you dealt with it, answer, Ok, what about giving feedback?. Other interviewees mentioned their partners had a more general approach to interviews - e.g. asking them about commercial issues affecting PwC now or the UK legal scene etc.
What advice would you give to future applicants for the PWC interview?
Practice practice practice. Competency based Qs are the easiest thing in the world if you practice them (using a methodology like STAR) and don't deviate whatsoever from your answer. I messed up the final interview by deviating on one of my answers and making myself sound like a walkover, if I had stuck to my original planned answer, the feedback I got was that I would have gotten the vacation scheme.
Furthermore, think about how PwC operate. They're a really interesting law firm to work for given they sit within a MDP, so you have a lot of access to internal experts and get to go with them on client meetings. Think about how this can affect you (for better or for worse) if you were working there.
Finally, be aware of how widely PwC operate both geographically and as a law firm. They have massive departments in various areas of the law, they like their applicants to have noticed that (e.g. they have a top rated immigration dept)
Name: Jonty
April 2017
What was it for?
PWC vacation scheme
Please describe the interview process at PWC Legal.
The first interview was with a recruitment company who were screening applicants for PwC. They asked mostly competency based Qs, pretty standard ones such as; Describe a time you had to receive feedback, Describe a time you had to work in a team, Describe a time you had to solve a complex problem, Describe a time you've led a team, Describe a time you've had to deal with a difficult person etc. After these straight-forward questions were dealt with, the interviewer asked a few other Qs about why law and what I knew about the next stage (e.g. LPC)
The second stage was an assessment centre that was three parts; individual assessment (timed exercise where you had to read a document through that had multiple options in it, summarise the pros and cons of each and then recommend an option), group exercise (timed exercise where you had to read a number of documents related to your particular solution to the issue (we had a client looking to expand into the hot drinks industry and needed recommendations about which area to move into), then present back to the group the pros and cons of your particular solution before deciding as a group the best approach to take) and finally psychometric evaluations (timed verbal reasoning and diagrammatic tests).
The final stage was a further invitation back for a face to face interview with a partner. This was, largely, competency based Qs again but with follow-up Qs each time now. e.g. Describe a time you received feedback and how you dealt with it, answer, Ok, what about giving feedback?. Other interviewees mentioned their partners had a more general approach to interviews - e.g. asking them about commercial issues affecting PwC now or the UK legal scene etc.
What advice would you give to future applicants for the PWC interview?
Practice practice practice. Competency based Qs are the easiest thing in the world if you practice them (using a methodology like STAR) and don't deviate whatsoever from your answer. I messed up the final interview by deviating on one of my answers and making myself sound like a walkover, if I had stuck to my original planned answer, the feedback I got was that I would have gotten the vacation scheme.
Furthermore, think about how PwC operate. They're a really interesting law firm to work for given they sit within a MDP, so you have a lot of access to internal experts and get to go with them on client meetings. Think about how this can affect you (for better or for worse) if you were working there.
Finally, be aware of how widely PwC operate both geographically and as a law firm. They have massive departments in various areas of the law, they like their applicants to have noticed that (e.g. they have a top rated immigration dept)
Name: Jonty
