How To Get Into The Big 4 Consulting Firms For Freshers? (2024)

TheBig 4 Consulting Firms are PwC, Deloitte, EY, and KPMG. They are the top 4 Consulting firms in the world. They are well known for being the top audit firms in the world.

The big four consulting firms are the largest professional service firms in the world. The reason they have this designation is because of the number of employees they have to offer professional services to clients. The professional services they offer are audit services, tax services, and advisory services. For each firm, audit services provide their largest source of revenue.

The Big 4 consulting & accounting firms are hiring a huge number of accounting graduates for their Indian as well as offshore functions in varied fields. But getting into Big 4 accounting firms is not an easy task.

Big Four firms have a variety of different divisions, including audit, consulting, tax, technology, and advisory. Before applying you need to be clear about where you want to work and why. At PWC, 50% of applicants go into audit/assurance. The next biggest area of junior recruitment at the firm is consulting, followed by tax, advisory, actuarial, and technology.

The Big Four are big on psychometric tests. You should expect them at the initial stages of your application process.

PWC runs a selection of numerical tests, logical reasoning tests, and personality tests at the first stage of its selection process.

The professional services firm operates numerical and verbal reasoning tests along with a situational judgment test to assess how candidates will react in different scenarios.

If you perform badly on the tests you’ll be out. Around 50% of the applicants are rejected following online tests.

There are several rounds of interviews that a candidate needs to crack to get into the Big 4.

1. Initial HR interview- In this round, HR would ask questions about the background of the candidate, career objectives as well as their strengths and weakness.
2. First Technical round- Here the Manager/ Team Leader under which the candidate would be working takes the technical round of interviews.
3. Partner/Director round- This round is taken by Partner/ Director. The interview may or may not happen for entry-level candidates.
4. Final HR Round- Once all the above rounds are completed, a candidate has to appear for the final round of interviews with senior HR personal to finalize the candidate.

Big 4 accounting firms provide a very good career opportunity. Working in Big 4 also helps in overall personality development and monetary growth in the later stage of a career. So it’s important for all aspiring candidates desirous of making a career in the Big 4. To start preparing for interviews they should start once they are into the final year of graduation. Remember there is no instant formula for success. It is the result of continuous hard work and labor. So it’s important for all to stay focused and work hard to get in the big league.