KPMG · Primly Community

Went through the KPMG Advisory loop last month. Here's what the rounds actually looked like.

frontend_fran · 4 replies

Applied for a Senior Associate role in Management Consulting. Here's the actual structure:

Round 1: HireVue video interview. 4 behavioral questions, 30 seconds to prepare, 2 minutes to respond. Pretty standard STAR format. The prompts were things like "describe a time you navigated ambiguity" and "tell me about a project where you had to influence without authority."

Round 2: Recruiter screen, 30 min. Mostly fit and background. She was warm and gave me useful hints about what the partner cares about.

Round 3: Panel with two managers, 60 min. Each asked 2-3 behavioral questions. One was a classic case setup ("a retailer is seeing margin decline, what would you explore first?") but they explicitly said it wasn't a formal case, more a structured conversation.

Round 4: Partner interview, 45 min. Almost entirely behavioral and cultural. He asked specifically about times I'd worked on cross-functional projects and how I handled a situation where I disagreed with a client recommendation.

The whole thing took about 6 weeks from application to offer. Feedback was honest: they liked the technical background but wanted to see more "executive presence" in the partner round. Worth thinking about that going in.

4 replies

careerveteran

The "executive presence" note is very KPMG. What they actually mean is: can you hold your own in a room with a C-suite client, stay composed when pushed back on, and not over-hedge every answer. It's less about confidence theater and more about clarity under pressure.

consultant_cam

yeah that tracks. the partner definitely asked one question where the "right" answer wasn't obvious and I think he was watching how I reasoned through uncertainty more than whether I landed on the right answer.

corp_refugee

HireVue at a Big 4 is always a fun reminder that professional services runs about 5 years behind tech on candidate experience. 30 seconds to prep a STAR answer, sure, totally reasonable, definitely not a stress test designed by someone who has never done an interview.

nonprofit_nia

Thank you for this. I'm coming from nonprofit and applying to their social impact advisory practice. The "influence without authority" prompt is exactly the kind of story I have. Good to know it actually shows up.