EY interview process for fresher and experienced

About EY (Ernst and Young)

EY or Ernst and Young is one of the leading professional consulting firm in the world. It is one of the members of Big 4 group. Ernst & Young provides audit, tax, business risk, technology and security risk services, and human capital services worldwide.

Ernst and Young was started as two different companies in early 1900s, and which were merged in 1988. Currently EY operates from 150+ countries with over 200,00 people working with it. EY is headquartered at New York City. The key business divisions at EY are Assurance, Consulting, Strategy and Transactions, and Tax.

Interview Process at EY

EY hires for both fresher/fresh college graduates and experienced professionals for various positions.

The Quality that Ernst and Young look for in employees are:

Excellence in academics
Leadership
Integrity
Respect
Teamwork
Enthusiasm

We will now share details of interview process of EY. This hiring process covers both fresh graduates as well as experienced professionals.

There are multiple stages involves in the EY hiring process.

Online Application
Online Assessments
Telephonic Interview
Screening tests
Interviews

Online Application process at EY

All candidates who are interested in applying for various positions at EY must visit EY job portals to submit their application. There are 2 portals for jobs – For students/entry level positions and for experienced professionals. Steps for online job application process

Go to relevant job portal
Search open positions. You can filter on basis of location, role etc
Apply to position of your interest
You will have to create an account (if you are first time user) or need to sign in
Once you are signed in, fill in the relevant information asked in online form
Upload your CV
That’s it

The candidate profile and application takes about 30 minutes to complete. You can save your application at any point and return to it if necessary. To apply for more than one position, or to work in more than one location, you must complete an application form for each position.

Online assessments

Once you apply for any open position, your application is passed to the relevant department for initial screening. It is important that you must have filled all required information clearly and uploaded latest resume. Once the EY screening team qualifies you for their process, you will receive an email with detailed instructions to complete variety of recruitment tests needed in the hiring process. You will have up to 72 hours to complete the online tests.

Situational Strengths Test/Behavioral test

The EY online tests start with the situational judgment test. The objective of behavioral test is to help EY understand how candidates would react to situations which are common in the workplace.

Questions Format: Text and Video questions
No of questions: 15-20
Answer options: Rate between 1-5 (1 is least likely and 5 is most likely)

This test help recruiters in understanding of how you deal with issues in the workplace, and as a result, they can identify whether you are a good fit for the role.

EY Online Numerical Reasoning Test

The numerical reasoning tests are used to assess candidates and determine their suitability for the role. As it can be difficult to understand true capabilities during an interview alone, the online numerical tests are a way to gain a better understanding of the candidate’s suitability.

EY online numerical reasoning test typically contains 12 or more questions, which you need to complete within a specific timeframe. The test can be undertaken online at home and you will be expected to achieve a minimum score, before being able to move on to the next stage of the recruitment process. In the numerical reasoning test, you will need to be able to interpret information from various sources, including tables and charts. You need to be able to perform basic maths calculations, but you have less than a minute to answer the questions, so accuracy and speed are paramount.

This test includes:

Financial Accounting concepts
Verbal and Communication testing
Logical Reasoning
Analytical Reasoning

EY won’t ask you much practical sums or problems, its more theory and concepts they will ask you. More weightage is given to Accounts and concepts which also include basics of taxation also. You will need to know the Accounting Standards, Basic Journal Entries, Concepts and definitions, rates and figures etc.

Verbal and communication tests your language skills. You should be very good with tenses, present, past and future. Grammar, spellings etc. This will be very simple.

Logical Reasoning is bit tricky , but its the easy one to score full. They give you many combination of alphabets and words , you should find the correct combination or they will ask you to frame a word with combination of letters.

EY Verbal Reasoning Test

The EY online verbal reasoning test is used to identify and ensure you have strong reading comprehension skills, both written and verbal.

Two types of questions are used in the verbal reasoning test.

One of these is to look at a highlighted word and determine the option which is the closest to it contextually.
The second type of question involves looking at a statement and deciding whether it is true, false or impossible to say, based on the text you have read. It is possible to practice the verbal reasoning test by looking at other online examples.

EY Personality Test

In this online test, you are required to have different descriptions, and you will need to rank them by those which are most like you and those that are least like you. It is important that you’re not tempted to choose the answers that you think the recruiters are looking for, as they are primarily looking out for inconsistencies in your responses. If there are inconsistencies, you will be penalised, and it will affect your overall ranking. With this online test, you can’t practice as it’s more about your behaviours and personality, but you need to maintain composure and work in a quiet environment, as otherwise you may not read the answers correctly.

EY Telephone interview

Once you have cleared your online assessments, you will be contacted by EY HR team for initial telephonic round discussion. This is short telephonic process of 10-15 minutes. The main objective of EY telephonic round is to judge that candidate is a fit for the company and he/she is interested in. Questions will be asked mostly on candidate profiles like work experience, current job etc.

Basic evaluation of the candidate to understand the profile fit and relevance of experience is basic criteria that get check at this round.

Most common questions asked in EY telephonic interview round

Tell me about yourself
What is your Education and family background?
Can you state your previous experience and highlight your achievements?
Have you gone through the JD, what makes you an idle candidate for the role?

EY Interview process

Once you are clear with all the screening rounds, you are now in interview stage. In this stage of the hiring process you will meet with other applicants to participate in group and role play activities, case studies and presentations (depending on the role you have applied for). This will also consists of multiple rounds of face to face interviews with project manager, director, HR. Technical interviews are with your project manager and project director or sometime with VP. HR round of interview is to check your compatibility with company’s culture and negotiating salaries and other remunerations.

Group Discussion

This round is usually taken for fresher and junior positions hiring. You will be asked to participate in a group discussion, which constitute of 8-12 members. Questions are mostly related to current affairs, recent news etc

Some of the GD topics asked in EY rounds are :

Business Ethics are only a passing affair
Studying in India or Abroad, which is better?
Budget should be prepared annually or monthly

Case discussion

Case discussion is most common form of interview technique at Ernst & Young firm. You are given a business case with all the details and relevant information regarding the decision a company is considering making. You will need to scan through, analyse and understand a series of information then prepare your recommendations to address the issues the company is facing. You will also be asked to prepare a plan to manage the team including creating a work schedule, individual tasks, contingency plans and progress checks.

Sometimes, you will be given guestimate case too. Example of such case studies are:

Evaluate the profitability of a cinema. What are the key levers you can use to improve profitability?
Assume your client is considering opening a gas station in a major city. What are the key information you will need to know to evaluate this investment?
A major producer of premium headphones is considering to develop a new, cheaper product line to increase market share. Advise the client on the feasibility and profitability of this strategy.

EY Situational Strengths Test

The Situational Strengths Test or SST is a type of situational judgment test (SJT). The SST includes 16 questions, each accompanied by a video and text depicting a work-related scenario.

These questions will come with 5 possible responses for how you would resolve the situation at hand. You must rate each of these responses on a scale from 1 (most likely) to 5 (least likely).

Case study example of situation based

You have finished your assigned work early for an existing client. There are several other tasks that you must accomplish within the next two weeks, but nothing is urgent for today. You must produce an article for the company’s blog as well as some other administrative jobs to take care of.

What do you do?

Spend some time learning more about the task you have just completed.
Email your manager asking for a meeting to discuss your work plans.
Work on the blog.
Email other graduates asking them if they need any help on anything.
Look at your calendar and see what time you must complete your administrative tasks.

EY Business Behaviors Test

This assessment is very similar to the SST in that it presents you with work-based scenarios likely to come up during your time of employment with EY.

Just like with the SST, you will encounter many different options for dealing with each new situation. You will need to rate each of these options from 1 (most likely) to 5 (least likely) regarding how you would respond. This test is in text rather than video format.

Example of EY SST

At 11 am you are scheduled to meet a client with your supervisor, but she has just told you that she is running late and has asked you to start the meeting without her.

What do you do?

Make small talk with the client until your supervisor arrives.
Give a brief summary of what you and your supervisor are going to be talking about so that the client is prepared.
Speak to the client about yourself, how long you’ve been with the company and how you are enjoying your job so far.
Begin the meeting. Your supervisor will be able to pick up where you left off.
Tell the client you are both running late.

Excel test at EY

Total 15-20 questions may be asked based on MS-Excel and its working. You will be provided with excel files.

Examples of questions that can be asked in EY Excel test are:

Pivot Tables and use filters, and plot graph
Mathematical functions like Average, Weighted Average
Formatting data
Sorting and sanitizing data
Using Macros
Vertical and horizontal look up, Index match
VBA

PowerPoint PPT based test at EY

You will be provided with a PPT presentation deck (usually made by junior associate) and will be asked to make presentation deck as per EY guidelines. You are supposed to make sure that following things are correct in presentation deck.

There should not be any spelling mistakes or grammar error
Presentation should use standard formatting and design. No uneven fonts, color etc.
Check for standard formatting and design
Make the presentation deck better presentable to client.

Interview rounds at EY

Technical Interview Round at EY

Once you successfully clear various written test rounds at EY, you will now appear for the face to face interview round with the project team.

These interviews are of 2 types and your technical expertise as well you as your adaptability with work situation is tested.

Role specific interviews (interview round with Team Lead, Project Manager etc)
Behavioral interview with Senior Management (Director onwards)

Points to note for role specific interviews

This is for accounting and taxation

You should know about the core accounting terms and practical knowledge
Questions will cover different accounting principles, standards, terms like Journal Entries, Vouching, Auditing, Source Documents, Cash Flow Statements, Accounting Ratios, Accounting Standards, Accounting Concepts and Conventions, Errors in Financial Statements, What are Financial Statements, CRR, SLR and other accounting terms.
Case study based questions will be asked, and you will be asked to review account statements, find out important information based on ratios and other important data etc

HR interview round

You final round will be taken by HR team (usually HR Team lead level). This round consists of general questions based on your profile, some behavioral questions etc.

Examples of questions asked in HR interview at EY

Tell me something about yourself
What are your future Plans
What is your family background
Why EY
Why Auditing etc.

Preparation tips for EY interview round and tests

Brush up on your numerical, verbal and critical thinking skills. These skills are essential for working at a firm like EY. Brushing up on these skills will allow you to work quickly through each of your tests and assessment centre activities as well.
Time management. Many of the psychometric tests you will encounter during the EY recruitment process are timed. Practicing beforehand will allow you to quickly and accurately answer each question giving you a better chance at beating the clock.
Answer behavioral questionnaires openly and honestly. Knowing how to answer certain behavioural questions while remaining true to yourself is the key to passing this sort of test.
Review the general competencies EY is looking for as well as the specific competencies mentioned in the description of the job you applied for. This will give you a better understanding the sought-after personality and behavioral traits looked for by the company.
Whenever in doubt in case study or face to face interview, let interviewer know about your doubt. It is better to ask for clarification again, then attempting blindly.
Take care of communication skills and presentation style when you are appearing for EY interview test.
Wear proper formals when going for EY interviews

End note

In this article, we have shared you complete interview process of EY (Ernst and Young). If you have any confusion or need clarification, please feel free to contact us. This article is prepared from multiple rounds of candidates who have recently taken EY interviews and from online forums.

We are offering interview preparation and practice test modules for clearing EY hiring process. You will get practice quizzes and learning material on various written test rounds, mock interviews from senior professionals from consulting industry, cv review and many more. Do reach us at rakesh@xamnation.com to know more.

EY Interview Process for fresher and experienced professionals