EY Interview Prep

The EY interview process

This is how the process usually runs, so nothing on the day is a surprise. Your invitation is the one source that knows for certain, so check it for what your version looks like.

• Online application: You choose your programme, service line and location, then enter your personal details and qualifications. Shortlisting runs on a rolling basis, and applications can close once positions are filled. What to expect: Apply early in the season. Know the difference between Assurance, Tax, Consulting and Strategy and Transactions, and pick the one you can explain convincingly.
• Online assessments: A Realistic Job Preview, the first stage of online assessment, covering teamwork and learning capability, followed by a behavioural skills test. EY provides a preparation hub inside the assessment portal, and some assessments may ask you to keep your camera and microphone on or record video responses. What to expect: Use the preparation hub before you start. Answer behavioural questions honestly and consistently, and prepare as you would for a recorded interview in case a video response is included.
• EY Experience Day: The assessment centre stage, in person at a UK office for graduate, industrial placement and apprentice programmes, and virtual for summer internships. It includes work-based scenarios and a chance to meet EY people. Candidates often report a group exercise built around a business case pack. What to expect: Collaborate visibly in group work, structure your analysis and bring quieter people in. Treat informal conversations as part of the day too.
• Final interview (some programmes): Where your programme includes one, the final interview usually takes place two to three weeks after a successful Experience Day. Candidates often report a strengths-based conversation with a partner, director or senior manager about motivation for the service line and office. What to expect: Know why this service line, why this office and why EY. Expect questions about what energises you and how you have handled change, and have a view on how technology is changing the work.
• Experienced hire route: Experienced professionals go through initial screening, interviews with the hiring team and, depending on service line, a presentation, case study or technical assessment, with a final stage with senior stakeholders or partners in some cases. EY says the process typically takes a few weeks. What to expect: Expect a mix of behavioural, technical and role-specific questions. Bring quantified examples of client value you created and be ready to show how you work in line with EY values.

Common EY interview questions

Why EY, and why this service line?

Why they ask: Motivation is tested at every stage, and EY wants to know you have chosen your service line deliberately rather than applying to all four firms at random.

How to answer: Be specific about what someone in your first year in that service line actually does and why it appeals to you. Mention something you learned from an EY event, person or publication. Link it to an experience of your own rather than generic praise for the brand.

What kind of tasks energise you, and which ones do you find draining?

Why they ask: A classic strengths question. EY is listening for natural enthusiasm and self-awareness, which are hard to fake.

How to answer: Answer quickly and honestly with a real example for each. For the draining side, show how you still deliver good work on tasks you enjoy less. Overly polished answers tend to sound rehearsed in strengths interviews.

Tell me about a time you had to learn something new quickly.

Why they ask: Maps to being curious, one of the strengths EY names: quick to learn with a questioning mindset.

How to answer: Use STAR. Explain what you had to learn, how you went about it, the questions you asked and the measurable result. Close with how you have used that skill since.

Describe a time you did the right thing when it was not the easy option.

Why they ask: Tests the ethical strength and EY values around integrity and doing the right thing, which matter enormously in audit and tax work.

How to answer: Pick a real situation where acting with integrity had a cost, such as admitting a mistake or raising a concern. Explain your reasoning and the outcome. Avoid stories where the right answer was obvious and cost nothing.

How do you think AI and new technology will change the work of this service line?

Why they ask: EY lists technology-embracing as a strength it assesses, and the firm talks publicly about data and AI shaping its client work.

How to answer: Pick one concrete change, such as automated testing of whole data sets in audit, and discuss what it means for clients and for a graduate in that team. Show you are excited by it but realistic about risks like data quality.

Tell me about a time you had to adapt quickly when plans changed under pressure.

Why they ask: Maps to the agile strength: thriving under pressure and adapting to change, which client deadlines demand.

How to answer: Describe the change, how you reprioritised, who you kept informed and what you delivered. Show calm decision making rather than heroic last-minute effort.

Tell me about a time you built a relationship with someone who was hard to work with.

Why they ask: Relationship-building and teaming sit at the heart of client service and of EY values.

How to answer: Explain the difficulty fairly, without making the other person the villain. Focus on what you did to understand their view and earn trust, and what changed as a result.

Walk me through a piece of work where you created real value for a client or stakeholder.

Why they ask: A standard question for experienced hires, testing impact, ownership and how you communicate results.

How to answer: Frame the problem in 30 seconds, explain your specific contribution, quantify the result and mention what you would do differently. Keep your role distinct from the wider team.

What EY looks for

These are the things they listen for, even when the question is about something else entirely.

• Building a better working world
• Integrity, respect, teaming and inclusiveness
• Energy, enthusiasm and the courage to lead
• Relationships based on doing the right thing
• Curious and technology-embracing
• Proactive and agile

How to prepare

Read EY's own description of its eight strengths and prepare a short, real example for each: proactive, ethical, curious, relationship-builder, agile, critical thinker, technology-embracing and motivated. Use the preparation hub in the assessment portal before the Realistic Job Preview and behavioural skills test, and answer them as yourself. Research your service line until you can describe a first-year week in plain English. Follow business news that affects its clients, and form a view on how AI and data are changing the work. For the Experience Day, practise a group case with friends and focus on visible collaboration. Strengths questions reward natural, quick answers, which only come with practice. Run a Voxxhire mock interview out loud and read the transcript back to spot rambling openings, missing results and answers that sound memorised.

Roles this guide applies to

This guide fits best if you are going for one of these.

• accountant
• management-consultant
• financial-analyst
• data-analyst