What to Do & Not Do in Your Big 4 graduate interview

Be Prepared for your Big 4 Interview

It is Big 4 graduate interview season and if you are fortunate to be invited to all Big 4 interview rounds, congratulations!

In this article I am going to help you out with 10 great tips, to help ensure you make the best possible impression in your Big 4 interview.

Tip 1
Make sure to attend any drink receptions and don’t drink!  If you want to appear professional you can’t be tipsy and unfortunately when us humans are nervous or anxious alcohol will exacerbate these conditions, thereby exaggerating your nervousness or anxiety. You can appear to be having a glass of wine by holding it, just don’t drink it. 

Tip 2
You will meet a lot of people that work for the firm at the meet and greet receptions, don’t talk to everyone,  try to stick to meeting those that are in the service line you wish to join e.g. audit or tax.  Make a point to remember the names of the people you meet including trainees and jot them in your phone notes app with any salient advice or knowledge that they gave you.  You can use their name and their view/opinion etc in the interview particularly as part of your answer to the ‘What do you know about us’ question and ‘Why do you want to work here’ questions.

Tip 3
When entering the office for the interview be extra charming to the receptionists, they are the eyes and ears of the building and trust me, as ex Head of Recruitment at KPMG and Deloitte, I can assure you they are extremely influential with the Partners and will report any rudeness to the interviewing team.

Tip 4
Don’t bring big bags and coats with you if you can help it, as there may be no where to put these and it will impact your first impression with the interviewer.  Leave these at home or with someone close by.

Tip 5
Do accept a glass of water in the interview room, there is nothing worse than getting a dry mouth in an interview with nothing to relieve you of it.

Tip 6
Leave the aftershave and perfume off.  I know an interviewer that has a bad allergy to certain perfume ingredients and has been distracted with sniffles and a tickly nose whilst interviewing, which didn’t help them follow the candidate’s answers.  It’s not worth the risk.  Do make sure you wear deodorant though ?

Tip 7
If you have been asked a question you haven’t prepared for don’t panic, say this ‘That is an interesting question, let me think about that for a moment’, all these Big 4 interviewers have been trained in interviewing and are completely accepting of allowing you 20 seconds to come up with an answer.

Tip 8
If your interviewer seems to be taking the ‘bad cop’ approach and appears disinterested or irritated by you, use this disarm-er, once, when they ask you a question half way through the interview, ‘That’s a good question’, you can only use this once and don’t use it at the beginning, only if you haven’t got them warmed to you.  This ‘good question’ approach strokes their ego and makes them feel important and clever and they will naturally feel warmer to you.  
 
Tip 9
If you are being interviewed by two people use the 70/30 ration with eye contact, 70% to the person that asked the question and 30% to the other person at salient points in your answer, to make them feel included and have good feelings about you.

Tip 10
If you feel in anyway unsure of how to answer questions, such as competency questions, don’t hesitate to get help from me with preparing your interview answers. Big 4 interviews are straight forward for me, I worked as Head of Recruitment at both KPMG and Deloitte and know exactly what they want to hear in your answer, no-one else that I know of has this valuable information to impart with you.  Book into the coaching asap, you will be really happy that you did.


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