Big 4 video interview questions and tips

Graduate and internship applicants to Deloitte, PwC, EY, and KPMG commonly report a one-way video interview before a live conversation or an assessment centre. Each firm writes its own questions. Service line, office, and year change them. A prompt someone posted last cycle is not a description of the interview you are about to open.

HireVue and Spark Hire are platforms candidates in this process commonly name. Other platforms show up too. The invitation, and the first screen of the interview, are the source of truth for the timer, the number of questions, and whether a retake exists. Those settings are chosen by the employer.

The prompts candidates commonly describe fall into a few types: why this firm and why professional services, a story about a deadline where the work still had to be accurate, a time you learned something quickly, teamwork or a disagreement, attention to detail, a mistake, and a difficult client, customer, or stakeholder. Audit, tax, consulting, and deals interviews lean on the same types. What changes is the example you choose.

A longer list of practice prompts is on the Big 4 video interview questions page. Treat every prompt there, and every prompt below, as an example for rehearsal. None of them is an official question from Deloitte, PwC, EY, or KPMG.

Split the answer in two. One part is why client work, on a deadline, where someone else relies on your output. The other part is why this firm, and it has to be something you could say out loud without reading a careers page from memory. A service line, an office, a public report, or a piece of work you actually understand is enough. Prestige, a ranking, and a line about the people fit every firm, and they sound like it on a recording.

Example answer: I want professional services because someone else depends on the work, the date is real, and a small miss shows up. I am choosing this firm over a general application because I have read its description of the graduate program and the service line I am applying for, and I can say which part of that work I want to learn first. I will not talk about a culture I have not seen.

That is an example for practice, not a script. Replace the service line with the one you mean, and only mention work you could explain if someone asked a follow-up later.

Use the STAR shape: situation, the task that was yours, the actions you took, and the result. On a two-minute timer, keep the situation short. The reviewer needs what you did and how it turned out. If your experience is university, a part-time job, or a society, use it. A modest story with a result beats a vague story about a famous brand.

Example answer: Our final-year group report was due Friday, and on Wednesday two sections were still bullet points. I had said I would compile the document. I sent each person a short brief, wrote the two unfinished sections myself, and checked every source on Thursday night. We sent it on time. The marker asked one question and did not send it back.

That example is not from a real interview, and it is not a script to memorize. If your real result is that you submitted the work and it passed, say that. Do not upgrade it into a number you do not have.

During prep time, write three words: the situation, the action, the result. If you write sentences, you will read them, and reading looks like reading. Start with the point of the answer. A thank-you and a sentence about being excited uses the opening, which is the part a reviewer is most likely to watch.

Look at the lens for the first sentence and for the result. Light your face from the front. Plan to finish before the timer hits zero, so the result is in the recording. If you only get one take, practice one take. A forum post that says a firm always allows a retake is one person's report, not a rule.

You can rehearse this format in OneShot with a prep countdown and an answer limit you set to match the invite. Your video stays in the browser. The transcript text, not the video, is sent so the answer can be scored. Close the practice site before you open the real interview link. Using notes, a second screen, or an AI tool while the employer is recording you is not preparation.

Deloitte, PwC, EY, KPMG, HireVue, and Spark Hire are names of their respective owners. OneShot Interview is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by any of them, or by any employer. Nothing on this page describes a firm's current process. The questions and sample answers are examples for practice. They are not taken from any firm's interview.

Run one free practice session before you open the real link. You get a question, a countdown, and a single take, then a look at whether the answer had a point and a result. Close this site before the employer's interview starts.