PwC Functional Consultant Interview Questions and Answers

Interview preparation tips for other job seekers - Beprepared, Be Yourself.

Interview preparation tips for other job seekers - Relax it is not difficult.

Interview preparation tips for other job seekers - Be crisp to the point while answering,
Answer case study based questions and technical questions in a structured format

Interview preparation tips for other job seekers - There are largely 2 types of interviews - behavioral and case interviews. For behavioral, practice your situational querstions very well. Case Interviews are the typical types, in which the interviewer will provide an open ended case and will seek your help in navigating the buisness situation. Typically, Deloitte's cases are a bit tech centric, reflecting the majority of its projects, which are digital transformation projects.

Interview preparation tips for other job seekers - Prepare on business case studies

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: I asked a couple of clarifying questions: Does P&G manufacture/market shaving products? Answer: No. Is the integration complete (I got a vague response for this)? Are we defining a strategy for short term or long term? Answer: Both I then classified 3 areas of cost reduction: Sourcing, Manufacturing & Distribution. I also mentioned that we need to take 2 perspectives on each cost reduction measure: Operations View: Operationally how feasible is achieving cost reduction and a Strategic View: What are the strategic implications of the cost cutting measure Once I got affirmation of my structure I proceeded to identify the various broad level levers we could adopt. Sourcing: Rationalize the supplier portfolio, renegotiate contracts and allocate more to those who provide better rates Manufacturing; Consolidate manufacturing if P&G plants can produce Gillette goods. It turned out that only packaging could be consolidated as Gillette goods need specialized machinery that P&G does not have. Also P&G due to its larger size can have economies of scale in maintenance Distribution: I was asked to get deep into details regarding a couple of items and this is where I stumbled a bit. I believe the normal case preparation only lets you get a 30,000 foot overview of the situation. Since EnY also does implementation one must depart from a strategic view and address how these measures can be actually implemented. After all this, I ended the case by suggesting the use of a matrix to plot all measures. The X-axis would be amount of cost reduction that can be achieved and Y-axis would be ease of implementation.
Tips: Firms like EnY, Deloitte hire you as consultants for a specific vertical so you need to demonstrate fit in the resume, EoI and interview. It may be good to inquire about specific projects/expertise they have in the vertical of your choice and coming up with examples to demonstrate how your experience will be helpful.

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: 1) I said we can leverage our domain expertise to recommend innovative business models to telecom companies that involve triple-play, quadruple-play of services. We can see which model provides greatest benefits and suggest that our client use that. Our implementation focus can also help us
2) For this question, I took the conservative approach and was not very creative. I said that the 2 key areas are: driving innovation and controlling attrition.

Tips: When the interview is with people at the partner level, they become more like conversations. In my experience, in such cases the interviewer is looking for cut and dry responses and not the traditional rehearsed answers. Also, they look for a practical approach to problem solving and a passion for consulting.

Skills: Case Solving Ability, Case Analysis
College Name: Indian School Of Business (ISB)

Round: Resume Shortlist
Experience: I think they mostly look for a well rounded profile with a decent PORs and Internships. Be sure to quantify whatever you have done and show the impact you have made.

Round: Group Discussion
Experience: They look for people who can speak out well and express their opinion in a clear concise manner. Try to start the GD by introducing yourself and structuring the GD. Express valid points. Appreciate others if they have made a valid point. Overall make sure you stand out.
Duration: 15 minutes

Round: Behavioural Interview
Experience: It was situation based interview. Took around 20 minutes. Try to connect whatever you have done with the questions. For example, if they ask you 'Tell me a time when you had to face a challenge and how did you overcome the challenge?'. SO connect it with your past experiences during an internship and then convince them how you overcame it.

Round: HR Interview
Experience: It was more like an general HR interview with the partner at E and Y. Don't be nervous. Talk clearly and try to connect with him.

Skills: Communication, Proficiency In English, Organisational Skills
College Name: IIT Madras

Round: Resume Shortlist
Experience: Wish you all the best for your placements. 395 students applied for the profile. There were 3 profiles of Asscociate Consultant, Exceutive, Executive PFI open for the placements during December 2016. 7, 2 and 8 students got placed in each profile. 95 students are shortlisted for GD out of 395 students applied for this profile.

The students were allowed to apply for all the 3 profiles but were asked for preference later among these 3 profiles. Students are shortlisted for only 1 profile based on their 1st preference so be careful in choosing your interested profile. I don't know the criteria for resume shortlist exctly other than the preference selected out of 3 profiles
Tips: 1. Choose your profile preference with utmost care as it decides the final shortlist for GD of each profile.
2. Be careful in writing your RESUME as the interview is completely on Resume and HR questions. There were no puzzles/ guesstimates/ anything else other than resume and HR in interviews

Round: Group Discussion
Experience: There was a group of 10. We were asked to choose our own topic. As the topic trending is Demonetization everyone unanimously agreed with the suggested topic by one of the group members. This was a very big advantage as compared to other groups where the topic was given by the moderator and were very difficult to speak. TAKE ADVANTAGE OF YOUR OWN QUESTION BY SUGGESTING THE ONE YOU'RE BEST AT. YOU'LL LOSE IF YOU'RE AFRAID.

I've started the discussion by structuring and spoke moderately during the GD. It was difficult due to a good group and tough competition. Please get proper GD fundaes as it's very important to get selected for the interview.

It's very important to note the points during discussion. In our case, moderator asked everyone in the group to conclude and you can't do it without writing down points from discussion
Tips: 1. Sit back relaxed. Never lean to front on your chair and never slouch.
2. Try crossing your legs as it shows your confidence to the moderator and highly increases your chance of shortlisting.
3. Always keep smile on your face. Remember it's just a smile.....don't laugh/ smile very wide. Smile reduces the tension/ stress in you and gives a lot of relief to everyone.
4. Take note of the points spoken by all to give a conclusion.
5. SLIGHTLY RISKY BUT PAYS OFF A LARGE DIVIDEND - Try taking a stand different from everyone in your group. It makes the moderator think you add a different perspective to the team in general and you'll get shortlisted. But be careful that you need to have such stance during discussion and also need to mention points supporting your argument.

Ex: In the end when moderator asked to conclude I said "I'm not in support of Demonetization" whereas everybody else said they were in support of Demonetization

Round: Behavioural Interview
Experience: It began with a minute of silence which stressed me but don't speak random things to start. Let the interviewer start the interview. You just wish him, shake your hands, give your resume and take a seat. Then he asked, "Tell me about yourself which should be very well prepared if you want this job. MOST OF MY INTERVIEW WAS BASED ON POINTS MENTIONED IN TELL ME ABOUT YOURSELF. So, include the best of resume in this question. I've included my intern, operations management course, PoR with an initiative, my best project BTech Project (BTP).

Then he asked about my BTP which involved lot of Data analytics. I've explained the tools used and the entire process briefly including all the techniques used. He was satisfied with my answer due to the confidence levels even though he doesn't know a lot about data analytics.

Next he asked me about Market Research internship which I almost explained for 10 minutes. This was my best pitching point and I've prepared well. It has caught lot of interest in him. It was similar to the work I would be doing after I get this job. So he liked it and asked more about it.

Later he asked about innovation. In this I mentioned one of my project where we designed a new mechanism. Giving examples is the best way to answer any interview question. It means you've done something regarding it than just preparing the answers.

Stregths - Of course everyone needs to prepare it. MOST IMPORTANT Question. Mention the qualities given in skills required along with Job description provided by the company in portal. Again give examples for the qualities mentioned.

Weaknesses - There are several answers available online. Choose the one that suits you best and is not a problem to the company. Try not saying routine answers like too hard-working or too perfect. I said that I used to struggle working on multiple projects in my 1st year. And I've improved a lot by planning and did 3 PoR's in my 3rd year and have given very good results.

Future 5 years- Divide it into short-term(2-3 years) and long-term(5 years). Mention you'll explore and develop expertise in 2-3 years. Then you'll choose the domain of your interest and lead a team to offer best solutions to clients giving a larger impact on the society.

He asked about instances where I was a team-player, when I did social service. He also questioned me about my views regarding turning into a farmer and also about organic farming.

Finally he asked me if I had any questions. My question was "What's the role of analytics in Consultancy copmanies as we don't see lot of information in this sector?" He has explained it for quite some time which is a good sign of asking a good question and lands you brownie points.
Tips: 1. Be thorough with your Resume. He may ask anything from it and you should be able to answer. He didn't go anything out of it so better write a good resume to drive our interview
2. Prepare an exhaustive set of questions by doing good ground work online using Ambition box, Glass door.

Round: HR Interview
Experience: It began with the same question Tell me about yourself. Please maintain consistency in giving this answer at every round as they will definitely cross-check your qualities for evaluating you in their evaluation forms. I've mentioned 3 main points in this answer which were asked during the interview. Nothing else was questioned much.

I've explained about my intern, project etc. from the resume.

I've given an example of my competition being converted into course project for my innovative and creative skills. Later I've mentioned my social service activities. I have given many projects of mine as examples to prove that I'm a team-player.

Be best prepared with questions like Why consulting? Why not a start-up? Why corporate job? Why this company? You can use sources like 64 HR Questions.

Be prepared with your list of qualities for strengths. It has helped me in mentioning different types of qualities for each part of the question regarding parents/ friends/ team members/ mentors/ teachers etc.

Of course, I've prepared for only one question to ask and I've been asked if I had any questions in every interview. The interviewer was kind enough to let me go saying that it's not necessary to have questions. I was so happy with the situation. I was quite sure that I'm placed with the end of this round as they kept on taking me round by round for each interview continuously without any gap.
Tips: 1. Be prepared with all the possible HR questions based on ground work using Ambition Box, Glass door. Don't overprepare which will give a feeling that you've by-hearted the answers. Just list out the points for each question and go through them several times so that you can fit that point at any time during the interview just like I've used strengths for the question about my qualities.
2. Be confident and don't bluff
3. Be thorough with your resume
4. Have questions in the end to ask

Round: HR Interview
Experience: It was a job fitting round. I'm sure about my offer after 2nd round of interview. So, I was more confident. However, you shouldn't mess up at any stage before getting the offer letter at least. So you need to do this well too.

Regarding location, say you're okay with any place. Regarding sector ask them for options and choose what interests you more. Also say that you would like to explore and then decide the interested domain in 2-3 years but as of now you would like to begin in that particular sector.

Skills: Integrity, Interest In The Job, Areas Of Interest, Knowledge Of Your Resume Points, Ability To Handle Situations, Adapting To Many Situations, Team Player, Self-Awareness
College Name: IIT Madras