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My EY Consulting interview experience: 4 rounds, a written case, and one genuinely tough partner convo

market_realist · 4 replies

Went through EY-Parthenon's interview process earlier this year for a senior associate role (post-MBA track). Sharing the full breakdown.

Round 1: Recruiter call, 30 min. Mostly logistics, why EY, salary expectations. Nothing hard.

Round 2: Behavioral interview with a manager. 45 min, 3 behavioral questions using their leadership framework. Questions were things like: a time you influenced without authority, a time you had to deliver difficult news to a client, and a time you changed direction mid-project. Classic. Prepare 5-6 strong STAR stories and you can hit all of these.

Round 3: Written case. 1 hour to review a client scenario doc, then 30 min to present findings to two interviewers. Not a live case. The scenario was a retail company considering an acquisition. They wanted a structured recommendation with supporting logic and risks. They pushed back hard on assumptions.

Round 4: Partner interview. 45 min. Half behavioral, half a strategic discussion on industry trends. The partner had strong opinions about where consulting is going post-AI. It was more of a conversation but you could feel how much weight it carried.

Total timeline: 5.5 weeks from application to verbal offer.

A few things that mattered: 1) Quantify your impact in behavioral answers. "I improved the process" won't land. "I reduced client reporting time by 40%" does. 2) Know EY's priorities in their current fiscal year. They publish a lot on this. Use it.

Good luck.

4 replies

finance_faye

the written case format is interesting. did they give you a specific framework to follow or was it genuinely open-ended? asking because i've been prepping with McKinsey-style structures and not sure if EY expects something more financial-modeling-ish.

consultant_cam

open-ended, no prescribed framework. they gave you a one-pager of data and a client question. i used an issue tree but didn't label it as such. financial modeling wasn't expected but you needed to be comfortable doing rough math in the presentation. no Excel, just your head and a whiteboard.

pm_priya

5.5 weeks is actually pretty fast for a large firm. my friend waited 9 weeks at Deloitte for a comparable role. did you have a competing offer or did it just move that quickly on its own?

returner_ren

this is really helpful. i'm targeting EY's Technology Consulting practice after a career gap and wasn't sure how heavily they weight the case component. sounds like for senior associates it's a real filter. will prep accordingly.