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02 / Hiring process
Five stages, and one of them decides it
5 stages from application to offer. Online assessment is reported to be the one that decides it.
5stages
01
Online assessment situational judgement, and coding for tech
A timed online assessment. Advisory and campus candidates are reported to get a situational judgement section, while technology candidates are reported to face two or three coding problems on top of it.
02
First round two 30 minute interviews
For advisory and consulting, one interview runs a case and the other runs behavioural questions. For technology roles this is reported instead as a single technical screen with a senior engineer, focused heavily on your own resume.
03
Written case a packet, a deadline, a slide
Reported for most advisory and consulting offices: a data packet of twenty to forty pages, forty five to sixty minutes to prepare, and a recommendation delivered as a short slide presentation. Technology candidates are reported to instead face one or two deeper technical rounds covering live coding and system architecture.
04
Manager or director round behavioural, situational
A discussion with a manager or director covering situational judgement and soft skills, reported across every practice area regardless of the technical rounds that came before it.
05
Partner round career goals, cultural fit
A shorter, more conversational discussion with a partner about career goals and alignment with the firm. Reported to feel less evaluative than the rounds before it, though it still decides the offer.
Ask before the interview: what will this round cover, who will I meet, and is there anything I should prepare?The question almost nobody asks
03 / Question library
Interview question practice library
The online assessment and the manager and partner rounds are reported across every practice area, so the core set below applies whatever you applied for. Each practice area then adds the rounds specific to it.
60questions
Asked in every interviewAsked in every KPMG interview
01 Why KPMG, and why this practice area? Motivation Open guide
Find your angle. Opens most first round interviews. A generic answer about the Big Four brand or prestige says nothing about fit for the specific practice you applied to.
Build your answer
- Name something specific about the practice. A service line, an industry focus, or something from a recent engagement type, not the firm in general.
- Connect it to your own background. Why this specific area suits what you've actually done, not what sounds impressive.
- Say what you want to build here. A concrete skill or path, stated plainly.
Bring the evidence
One concrete, checkable fact about the specific practice area tied to something real about your own background.
What weakens it
KPMG is a globally respected firm with great opportunities for growth.
Likely follow upWhat other firms are you interviewing with, and how does this compare?
Pro
Build this answer out of your own experience
The guide for this question: what the stage is scoring, three steps to structure the response, the evidence worth bringing, what weakens it, and the follow up. Then Pro drafts your version of it against your CV, so you walk in with your own answer rather than someone else's script.
Subscribe to Pro Unlimited preparation, every question, every company.02 Tell me about a time you disagreed with a finding a colleague was confident in. Disagreement Open guide
Find your angle. Professional services work is reviewed constantly. They want to see disagreement handled through evidence, not deference or confrontation.
Build your answer
- State your original concern plainly. What specifically didn't sit right with their finding.
- Describe how you raised it. Directly with them, with your reasoning, not around them.
- Say how it resolved. Whether you were right, they were, or you met in the middle, honestly.
Bring the evidence
A plainly stated concern, direct engagement with the colleague using specific reasoning, and an honest account of how it resolved.
What weakens it
I raised it carefully so as not to damage the working relationship.
Likely follow upWhat would you have done if they had outranked you and dismissed it?
Pro
Build this answer out of your own experience
The guide for this question: what the stage is scoring, three steps to structure the response, the evidence worth bringing, what weakens it, and the follow up. Then Pro drafts your version of it against your CV, so you walk in with your own answer rather than someone else's script.
Subscribe to Pro Unlimited preparation, every question, every company.03 Describe a time you had to deliver a piece of work to a very tight deadline. Time pressure Locked
Pro
Build this answer out of your own experience
The guide for this question: what the stage is scoring, three steps to structure the response, the evidence worth bringing, what weakens it, and the follow up. Then Pro drafts your version of it against your CV, so you walk in with your own answer rather than someone else's script.
Subscribe to Pro Unlimited preparation, every question, every company.04 Tell me about a time you had to explain something technical to someone without that background. Communication Locked
Pro
Build this answer out of your own experience
The guide for this question: what the stage is scoring, three steps to structure the response, the evidence worth bringing, what weakens it, and the follow up. Then Pro drafts your version of it against your CV, so you walk in with your own answer rather than someone else's script.
Subscribe to Pro Unlimited preparation, every question, every company.05 Describe a time you took ownership of a mistake at work. Ownership Locked
Pro
Build this answer out of your own experience
The guide for this question: what the stage is scoring, three steps to structure the response, the evidence worth bringing, what weakens it, and the follow up. Then Pro drafts your version of it against your CV, so you walk in with your own answer rather than someone else's script.
Subscribe to Pro Unlimited preparation, every question, every company.06 Tell me about a time you pushed back on a client or stakeholder request you thought was wrong. Integrity Locked
Pro
Build this answer out of your own experience
The guide for this question: what the stage is scoring, three steps to structure the response, the evidence worth bringing, what weakens it, and the follow up. Then Pro drafts your version of it against your CV, so you walk in with your own answer rather than someone else's script.
Subscribe to Pro Unlimited preparation, every question, every company.07 Describe a time you kept improving something after it was already good enough to submit. Excellence Locked
Pro
Build this answer out of your own experience
The guide for this question: what the stage is scoring, three steps to structure the response, the evidence worth bringing, what weakens it, and the follow up. Then Pro drafts your version of it against your CV, so you walk in with your own answer rather than someone else's script.
Subscribe to Pro Unlimited preparation, every question, every company.08 Tell me about a time you said something unpopular in a meeting. Courage Locked
Pro
Build this answer out of your own experience
The guide for this question: what the stage is scoring, three steps to structure the response, the evidence worth bringing, what weakens it, and the follow up. Then Pro drafts your version of it against your CV, so you walk in with your own answer rather than someone else's script.
Subscribe to Pro Unlimited preparation, every question, every company.09 Describe working with someone very different from you who improved the outcome. Together Locked
Pro
Build this answer out of your own experience
The guide for this question: what the stage is scoring, three steps to structure the response, the evidence worth bringing, what weakens it, and the follow up. Then Pro drafts your version of it against your CV, so you walk in with your own answer rather than someone else's script.
Subscribe to Pro Unlimited preparation, every question, every company.10 Tell me about work you did because it mattered beyond the assignment. For Better Locked
Pro
Build this answer out of your own experience
The guide for this question: what the stage is scoring, three steps to structure the response, the evidence worth bringing, what weakens it, and the follow up. Then Pro drafts your version of it against your CV, so you walk in with your own answer rather than someone else's script.
Subscribe to Pro Unlimited preparation, every question, every company.11 How do you prioritize when you're staffed on more than one engagement at once? Prioritization Locked
Pro
Build this answer out of your own experience
The guide for this question: what the stage is scoring, three steps to structure the response, the evidence worth bringing, what weakens it, and the follow up. Then Pro drafts your version of it against your CV, so you walk in with your own answer rather than someone else's script.
Subscribe to Pro Unlimited preparation, every question, every company.12 Tell me about a time a client or manager gave you negative feedback. Feedback Locked
Pro
Build this answer out of your own experience
The guide for this question: what the stage is scoring, three steps to structure the response, the evidence worth bringing, what weakens it, and the follow up. Then Pro drafts your version of it against your CV, so you walk in with your own answer rather than someone else's script.
Subscribe to Pro Unlimited preparation, every question, every company.13 Describe a time you had to learn something new very quickly for a project. Learning Locked
Pro
Build this answer out of your own experience
The guide for this question: what the stage is scoring, three steps to structure the response, the evidence worth bringing, what weakens it, and the follow up. Then Pro drafts your version of it against your CV, so you walk in with your own answer rather than someone else's script.
Subscribe to Pro Unlimited preparation, every question, every company.14 Why professional services rather than industry? Motivation Locked
Pro
Build this answer out of your own experience
The guide for this question: what the stage is scoring, three steps to structure the response, the evidence worth bringing, what weakens it, and the follow up. Then Pro drafts your version of it against your CV, so you walk in with your own answer rather than someone else's script.
Subscribe to Pro Unlimited preparation, every question, every company.Tax8 to practise
8 questions
The questions this role actually gets asked
The core set above is asked whatever you applied for. These 8 are specific to Tax, and they are usually what the decision turns on.
Create a free accountWhat you get
Less than the cost of one lunch, for a great deal more confidence.- Unlimited tailored interview preparation
- A massive database of actual questions and answer guides
Role specific
Pick your role and the list narrows to what that role tends to get asked.
A guide for every answer
What the question is testing, three steps to build your answer, and the evidence to bring.
Prepared, not guessing
You walk in knowing the shape of the round and which of your own stories fits it.
04 / In the news
Worth mentioning in the room
The strongest answer to why this company is something that happened last month.
4stories
Free account
What happened at this employer this month
Stories screened from everything published about this employer, chosen because they can be used in the room rather than because they are recent.
- Each one carries a line on how to use it in the answer
- Crime, recalls, litigation and share price moves are excluded outright
- Refreshed daily, so it is different the week of your interview
05 / The five values
What is actually being scored
KPMG publishes five values worldwide. Bring one clear story for each rather than a general answer about wanting to work at a Big Four firm.
5stories
Integrity
A time you held a position under pressure because it was the honest one, not the easy one.
Excellence
A specific standard you raised in your own work, with evidence you kept raising it rather than settling once.
Courage
A time you said the unpopular thing in a room where it would have been easier to stay quiet.
Together
A time a colleague genuinely different from you improved the outcome, not just the atmosphere.
For Better
Work you did because it mattered to someone outside the room, not because it was the assignment.
06 / Before you apply
Where candidates lose it
Pro
Where candidates lose this before anyone meets them
The part of the process that eliminates most people is not the interview. It is what happens around it, and almost none of it is written down anywhere.
- The assessment answers that read as dishonest rather than confident
- What the availability question is really deciding
- The application detail that cannot be edited once submitted
Interview in 48 Hours
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