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Early careers

Assessment and selection process
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Discover all the information you need to know about our assessment and selection process.

How our Early Careers assessment and selection process works

We're a skills-enabled organisation, allowing us to identify, develop and future-proof the skills our people need today and in the future. Our assessment and selection process focuses on the human and technical skills you need to be successful at PwC. The assessment journey will also provide you with insight into who we are, how we work, and what you could expect from your career with us.

We're promoting cross-functional teamwork, driving inclusive growth, and maximising value for our clients. And by doing this, we do more than develop skills - we cultivate potential. Enabling you to develop the skills you need, for the career you want. So that you can grow here and go further.

 The Early Careers assessment and selection process

Each of the stages of our assessment and selection process are detailed below. At the start of your application, you'll be given access to resources that will give more detail on what to expect and how to prepare for each stage.

The first step of your application journey is to find the right opportunity for you. You can read about our entry level, undergraduate and graduate programmes on our careers website and select the opportunity you wish to apply to. We want to make it easy for you to find your place at PwC, without having to become an expert in our business before you apply, so if you need more help or have any questions you can also use our chatbot. When completing your application, remember to:

  • read and follow instructions carefully
  • proofread everything you write, including checking grammar and spelling
  • be as concise as you can
  • not be vague or lie about your results as we'll check your academics at a later stage in the process
  • provide us with details on the type of visa you require if you require visa sponsorship

The first stage of the assessment and selection process is a series of online activities and assessments that measure your cognitive skills, behaviours, natural preferences and reasoning abilities. The test is hosted in the SHL platform. As part of this stage, there will also be a non-assessed activity get a feel for what it might be like to work at PwC – this activity is called ‘Bringing our values to life’. It is designed to help you reflect on whether PwC’s culture and ways of working feels like the kind of environment in which you would thrive, and to support you in deciding whether you would like to continue with the rest of our assessment process. 

If you feel that PwC is right for you, you will then take a behavioural assessment, followed by a cognitive test. A behavioural profile test asks about your natural behavioural preferences in a work setting. A cognitive assessment is an ability test including numerical, inductive and deductive reasoning. The behavioural test is not timed, but the cognitive assessment will be.

The next stage of our assessment and selection process is an on-demand video interview which will be conducted virtually via the SHL platform. You’ll be presented with a series of questions on the screen and asked to describe your experience. Instead of having an interviewer, your answers will be recorded and reviewed afterwards by one of our assessors.

The penultimate stage of our assessment and selection process is a virtual immersive assessment centre. The purpose of the assessment centre is for us to learn more about you, assessing you against the core skills and attributes that are crucial for success in a role at PwC. The experience will also provide you with insight into who we are, how we work, and what you could expect from being part of the PwC team. This is as much of an opportunity for you to find out if our firm is the right fit for you and your career aspirations as much as it is for us to assess your human and technical skills.

If you've made it to this stage of our assessment and selection process you can be proud, you have demonstrated the skills and behaviours we look for in our people.

What happens at this stage

Once you’ve been matched to your business area and office, you’ll be asked to schedule a call with one of our recruiters. During this call, we'll tell you more about the business area and office you’ve been matched to, guide you through the next stage of the assessment and selection process, and provide you with support resources to help you confidently prepare. This will include a recap on your feedback from the previous assessment stages.

Please note, preferences are considered but not guaranteed.

The final stage of our assessment and selection process is an interview with a senior leader from the business area you’re matched to.

This will be in person in the office that you have been matched to. It will be your chance to meet a leader from the business area you’d be working in, find out more about the office and the team, and tell us more about why you are interested in joining PwC.

A member of the PwC UK Careers team will contact you with feedback from your business assessment and will let you know if you’ve been successful in your application.

What's next?

Our culture is all about our people and we want you to feel supported and part of PwC as soon as you join us. You’ll be invited to our onboarding portal where you’ll be able to complete all your onboarding actions ahead of your first day. Before your start date, you’ll also be invited to attend a pre-joining event. Here you can meet fellow new joiners and learn more information about the team you’ll be joining and your forthcoming induction. Find out more about your development pathway once you’ve joined us here.

Part of our onboarding process includes checking your grades and job history, so please make sure everything is correct on your application form. We’re known for accuracy, so carrying out checks like this protects our reputation.

Important information

You’re restricted to one application at a time for our Early Careers roles. We’ll only consider one application for our 2027 programmes. If you’re unsuccessful or withdraw from our process, you’ll need to wait to re-apply for one of our programmes starting in 2028. For these purposes, the definition of an 'application' includes any roles that you have been offered, withdrawn from or been unsuccessful in your application. Please take the time to check that you're able to make a new application to us now before you apply. We take any attempts to circumvent this policy very seriously.

Our employees act with honesty and integrity, so we expect the same from you. If you already work at PwC, please ensure that you’ve contacted the Ealy Careers team to discuss your application before you proceed.

We take candidate professional conduct seriously and undertake regular reviews of applications and assessment activity to protect the fairness and integrity of our Early Careers recruitment process. These reviews include checks for duplicate accounts, highly similar responses, identical transcripts, and indicators of third-party or AI-assisted support.

Our assessments are designed to evaluate your individual skills, judgement and potential and must be completed independently. The use of AI tools, AI-enabled services, or any third-party assistance to generate, edit, rewrite, summarise, coach or otherwise complete assessment responses is not permitted unless explicitly authorised by PwC.

While PwC uses AI to support aspects of its business, we do not use AI to assess candidate performance within the Early Careers selection process. We want every candidate to have a fair opportunity to demonstrate their own capabilities and potential.

If we identify evidence that our recruitment process has been compromised, or that assessment responses are not a candidate's own work, we will withdraw the application from the recruitment process. We also reserve the right to notify relevant academic institutions, professional bodies, regulatory organisations, or other appropriate third parties where appropriate. 

Variations and adjustments to the process

Applications for the majority of our Flying Start programmes must be submitted through UCAS using the specific course UCAS code. If your application is accepted by the university, you’ll then complete the standard PwC assessment and selection process.

We're committed to ensuring all candidates have a fair and equitable opportunity to demonstrate their abilities during the assessment and selection process. If you have a disability, if you’re neurodivergent, or if you have a condition that you believe may affect your performance during our assessment and selection process, we’ll be happy to make reasonable adjustments to our processes for you. You’ll have the opportunity to let us know about any adjustments you may need as you complete your application. We’ll continue this conversation if you join us as an employee, and we’ll work with you to make sure you have the adjustments you need to succeed in your role. Find out more on our adjustments to the recruitment process page.

Expenses for travel from outside the UK to attend our in person offer holder event won’t be reimbursed without prior agreement and only includes economy fares. If you're travelling from overseas, we request you don't book travel arrangements yourself, but to instead contact our recruitment helpdesk.

Application Support

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