Online Application
This stage required very little detail. I did not have to share details of my academic results, work history, or any writing. You are asked to confirm that you are either on track for a 2:1 or have extenuating circumstances to accompany a lower result.
You will automatically be advanced to the next stage
Online Tests
There were 2 online tests: a personality & situational judgement test and a competency based video interview. The personality test will give you questions that have two opposing options (eg. “When confronted with a new problem, do you [stick to tried and true solutions]/[try a new working strategy]”, “I prefer [working alone]/[working with others]”) and you have a slider between them. You will get several situations where you have to drag and drop different potential responses in order of most effective to least effective.
Finally, there will be some basic maths questions that include chart reading and percentage calculations. The video interview is a hybrid of all types of tests. Many of the video recordings are you speaking onscreen to describe what you would do in response to a situation. The “job simulation” will give you a bundle of scenarios and each scenario will come up with a set of questions. For example, you may be asked to do a video situational response followed by writing an email as if you were in another stage of that same scenario.
There is a lot more numeracy and language skills involved here, as you have to do a lot of reading comprehension, graph reading, and combination of the two. To prepare for these tests, you should do several things. First, brush up on your reading comprehension. The reading comprehension given to you in the job sim are hybrid quantitative-qualitative report on the economy (borrowing behaviour, job market, etc) so make sure to focus on heavily quantitative reports. Second, brush up on maths and figure out how to use a calculator.
The skills you want to focus on are percentages and graph reading. Have a piece of paper on hand to do quick calculations with. Finally, commit Deloitte’s 4 values to memory (paraphrased): integrity, collaboration, quality work, inclusion/respect. You will be asked questions where having these values integrated into your answers will not only flag you as a star candidate, but also help you structure your answers.
Example
A lot of situational questions that align with situations that you might face on the job to gauge whether your approach to solving problems will fit into firm values. For example, you might be asked how you would fix a colleague’s erroneous report to gauge 1) your accuracy and drive for quality; 2) your ability to collaborate with and mentor others.
For numeracy questions, you will often be given incomplete data sets and asked to figure out a missing number. For example, you can get a survey result that includes regional representation of respondents as a percentage and breakdown of respondent choices, based on which you’ll be asked to figure out things like respondent head count, regional breakdown of respondent choices, etc. I had relatively few reading comprehension questions but I got an article that I was meant to do rhetorical analysis on. I would be asked for the overall tone of the article, techniques used in the headline and blurb, etc.
How to respond for success
I would suggest looking into Deloitte’s core values again because those can make your answers really stand out in video responses. For me, the core values are really beneficial in structuring my answers, as I can either respond to something by 1) identifying which core values are engaged and having specific action points under each heading; 2) flag out action points and tell the interviewer which core value(s) that action would demonstrate. I did not use online resources but if you’re not used to public speaking, especially in front of a camera, please take some time to practise speaking in a recording (not another person).
There are several reasons for this: 1) you will not be asked for a follow up so you want to make sure that you’re able to get your entire response clear in the first try; 2) you get very limited time to prepare each answer so you don’t get a script to read–what helps is having sticky notes that have prompting words (phrases that flag out the major headings of what you’re going to say in each response). Finally, as with any recorded interview, you are advised to have minimal visual/auditory “noise”. This means finding a quiet place to record in, or getting discreet headphones that will improve your sound quality. For visual noise, you’ll want to make sure that your face is the only focal point in the video: I suggest sitting in front of a white wall while wearing a white button down.
Expect around a 2 week wait before progressing to the next stage
Online Tests
There were 2 online tests: a personality & situational judgement test and a competency based video interview. The personality test will give you questions that have two opposing options (eg. “When confronted with a new problem, do you [stick to tried and true solutions]/[try a new working strategy]”, “I prefer [working alone]/[working with others]”) and you have a slider between them. You will get several situations where you have to drag and drop different potential responses in order of most effective to least effective.
Finally, there will be some basic maths questions that include chart reading and percentage calculations. The video interview is a hybrid of all types of tests. Many of the video recordings are you speaking onscreen to describe what you would do in response to a situation. The “job simulation” will give you a bundle of scenarios and each scenario will come up with a set of questions. For example, you may be asked to do a video situational response followed by writing an email as if you were in another stage of that same scenario.
There is a lot more numeracy and language skills involved here, as you have to do a lot of reading comprehension, graph reading, and combination of the two. To prepare for these tests, you should do several things. First, brush up on your reading comprehension. The reading comprehension given to you in the job sim are hybrid quantitative-qualitative report on the economy (borrowing behaviour, job market, etc) so make sure to focus on heavily quantitative reports. Second, brush up on maths and figure out how to use a calculator.
The skills you want to focus on are percentages and graph reading. Have a piece of paper on hand to do quick calculations with. Finally, commit Deloitte’s 4 values to memory (paraphrased): integrity, collaboration, quality work, inclusion/respect. You will be asked questions where having these values integrated into your answers will not only flag you as a star candidate, but also help you structure your answers.
Example
A lot of situational questions that align with situations that you might face on the job to gauge whether your approach to solving problems will fit into firm values. For example, you might be asked how you would fix a colleague’s erroneous report to gauge 1) your accuracy and drive for quality; 2) your ability to collaborate with and mentor others.
For numeracy questions, you will often be given incomplete data sets and asked to figure out a missing number. For example, you can get a survey result that includes regional representation of respondents as a percentage and breakdown of respondent choices, based on which you’ll be asked to figure out things like respondent head count, regional breakdown of respondent choices, etc. I had relatively few reading comprehension questions but I got an article that I was meant to do rhetorical analysis on. I would be asked for the overall tone of the article, techniques used in the headline and blurb, etc.
How to respond for success
I would suggest looking into Deloitte’s core values again because those can make your answers really stand out in video responses. For me, the core values are really beneficial in structuring my answers, as I can either respond to something by 1) identifying which core values are engaged and having specific action points under each heading; 2) flag out action points and tell the interviewer which core value(s) that action would demonstrate. I did not use online resources but if you’re not used to public speaking, especially in front of a camera, please take some time to practise speaking in a recording (not another person).
There are several reasons for this: 1) you will not be asked for a follow up so you want to make sure that you’re able to get your entire response clear in the first try; 2) you get very limited time to prepare each answer so you don’t get a script to read–what helps is having sticky notes that have prompting words (phrases that flag out the major headings of what you’re going to say in each response). Finally, as with any recorded interview, you are advised to have minimal visual/auditory “noise”. This means finding a quiet place to record in, or getting discreet headphones that will improve your sound quality. For visual noise, you’ll want to make sure that your face is the only focal point in the video: I suggest sitting in front of a white wall while wearing a white button down.
Expect around a 2 week wait before progressing to the next stage
Final Interview
My interview was around 90 minutes, with around 1 hour being the questions themselves and the next 30 minutes being my questions for the interviewer. I prepared by doing mock interviews with people who secured offers at any City firm (doesn’t matter whether they’re in banking, law, consulting, etc) and writing up a list of experiences I’ve had in my school/jobs that demonstrate transferable competencies. Like I would with any other firm, I tried to go with a cool but professional vibe. I get the impression that Deloitte leans heavily towards candidates who are relaxed and laid back in their personality and are self-assured. I wore semi-casual on the day and it didn’t seem that my interviewer really minded (or even noticed) and it seems to be the vibe across the office.
How to respond for success
A lot of my responses to competency questions were about things that were not at all related to consulting/risk advisory, so what made them stand out was how I highlighted what skills I used in each story. The STAR format doesn’t have to be fancy in order to work, I even laid out each section and this probably made my answers easier to digest.
Second, instead of trying to cover all different competencies with various situations I’ve been in, I focused on making myself someone whose story and core values can be summarised in a minute. I described my experience with taking minimum wage jobs, moving countries alone, and exploring financial services without any experience in order to convey that at my core I value ambition and resilience, and subsequently those values have led to things like emotional intelligence and intellectual curiosity.
Finally, make sure to strike up a rapport with your interviewer by being personable, reciprocal, and humble. Interviewers are not deterred when candidates ask questions, as it shows that you are open minded and ready to learn. Admit to when you don’t know something, but don’t be complacent and ask for more details because it shows agility when you are able to come up with an answer to a question in less than a minute based on information you were just given. Don’t just ask questions about the job, but also ask the interviewer about themselves because they have a lot of career and industry insights to contribute that you may not get elsewhere.
