Professional Services / ConsultingModerate

EY
Interview Prep

EY (Ernst & Young) is one of the Big Four and distinguishes itself with a 'strength-based' interview approach — asking what you enjoy doing, when you feel energized, and what you're genuinely good at. This format is different from competency-based interviews and requires specific preparation.

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EY Interview Process

Online Application

EY Strengths Assessment

First-Round Strength-Based Interview

Partner/Director Interview

What EY Tests

Strength-based interview answersEY's 'Better Working World' visionTechnical skills for roleCommercial awarenessPersonal values & motivations

Common EY Interview Questions

What are you naturally good at, and how has that strength created value in your work?

EY uses strength-based interviewing — they want to understand your natural talents, not just your achievements. Identify a genuine strength (analytical thinking, stakeholder communication, pattern recognition, team leadership), describe where it comes from, give a concrete example of it creating significant value, and explain how it aligns with the work you'd do at EY.

Pro tip: EY strength-based interviews are different from competency-based STAR interviews — they're looking for authenticity and self-awareness, not rehearsed stories. The question 'what energizes you?' is as important as 'what can you do.' Show genuine enthusiasm for the strength you describe.

Tell me about a time you made a meaningful contribution to building a better outcome for a community or society.

EY's purpose is 'Building a Better Working World' — they want people who connect their work to broader impact, not just financial outcomes. Describe the contribution (pro bono work, community initiative, sustainability project, policy input), why it mattered to you personally, what you specifically did, and the outcome for the community or cause.

Pro tip: This doesn't have to be a formal volunteering story. Candidates who connect EY's work itself to societal impact — 'improving financial reporting standards helps capital flow to productive companies, which creates jobs' — demonstrate the broader thinking EY values.

Describe a time you collaborated across different teams, functions, or cultures to achieve a shared goal.

EY is a global professional services firm where large engagements routinely involve teams across service lines, geographies, and client organizations. Describe the collaboration challenge (different priorities, time zones, communication styles, or technical backgrounds), what you did specifically to bridge those differences, and what was achieved.

Pro tip: EY particularly values what they call 'teaming' — a culture of sharing knowledge and helping colleagues across practice boundaries. Stories where you reached out to a colleague in another service line or country to get the best outcome for the client resonate strongly.

Tell me about a time your work directly helped a client or stakeholder navigate a significant challenge.

EY measures success by client impact. Walk through the challenge the client faced, your specific contribution (analysis, recommendation, implementation support, risk identification), how you tailored your approach to their specific situation, and the measurable outcome for them. Show genuine care for the client's success, not just task completion.

Pro tip: EY's culture prizes 'exceptional client service' — going beyond the deliverable to ensure the client actually benefits. 'I delivered the analysis on time' is insufficient. 'The analysis led to a decision that saved the client €4M in regulatory penalties' is what EY wants to hear.

How do you approach a situation where you don't have all the information you need to make a decision?

Professional services work regularly involves incomplete information, tight deadlines, and the need for judgment. Walk through your decision-making framework under uncertainty: how you identify what's critical vs. what's nice-to-know, how you gather the most important missing information quickly, what assumptions you make and how you flag them, and how you reach a defensible conclusion.

Pro tip: EY strength-based interviews often probe judgment and resilience. Show you're comfortable making decisions under uncertainty — not paralyzed by incomplete information — while being transparent about your assumptions and their limitations.

What aspect of EY's work excites you most and why?

EY interviewers genuinely want to understand your motivation — they're assessing whether you'll find the work energizing over a long career. Do your homework: identify a specific service line or industry group (Transaction Advisory, Technology Risk, Climate Change & Sustainability), explain what specific work they do, and connect it to a genuine interest or skill you bring.

Pro tip: Generic answers ('I want to work with big clients' or 'I want to learn a lot') are insufficient at EY. Show you've researched the specific practice, understand what the day-to-day work involves, and have a genuine reason — not just a career strategy — for wanting to do it.

Describe a time you turned a significant challenge or setback into a learning opportunity.

EY's strength-based approach values resilience and growth. Describe a real setback (a failed project, a difficult client, a role that wasn't the right fit), your initial reaction, what you chose to do with the experience, and what specifically you took away that made you better. Show emotional maturity and a growth orientation.

Pro tip: EY interviewers look for candidates who process challenges constructively — not those who catastrophize or minimize. The best answers show you felt the difficulty of the setback AND chose to learn from it — both parts of that story are important.

Tell me about a time you used data or evidence to challenge an assumption or conventional approach.

EY values analytical rigor — the ability to question the obvious and surface better insights. Describe the assumption (something the team, client, or organization had taken for granted), what data or evidence led you to question it, how you raised it professionally, and what changed as a result.

Pro tip: For tech and advisory roles especially, EY wants people who are evidence-driven rather than assumption-driven. 'Everyone assumed the bottleneck was X, but when I analyzed the process data, it was actually Y' is a classic form of this answer.

Tips from People Who Got the Offer

EY's strength-based questions ask what YOU enjoy — give authentic answers about genuine strengths, not polished corporate responses.

Prepare for rapid-fire questions (30+ in an interview) — EY strength interviews move fast to catch instinctive, authentic answers.

Research EY's global vision: 'Building a better working world' — show how your personal values align with this mission.

EY has a strong technology transformation practice — technical candidates should highlight data, digital, and cloud skills.

Roles at EY

Financial Analyst Business Analyst Data Analyst Software Engineer Project Manager

More preparation resources

AI Interview Copilot →AI Mock Interview →Behavioral Questions →STAR Method →All Companies →

EY Interview FAQ

EY uses strength-based interviewing rather than competency-based (STAR) interviewing. Questions focus on what you enjoy, what comes naturally, when you feel most engaged, and what you do better than others. The goal is to find roles that align with natural talents. There's no 'right' answer — authenticity is the key.

Very fast. EY strength-based interviews can include 30–40 questions in 45 minutes — roughly one question per minute. This pace is intentional: it's designed to elicit instinctive, authentic answers rather than rehearsed responses. Practice rapid-fire question drills to prepare.

EY's first-round interviews are primarily strength-based. Later rounds (partner/director level) may include some competency elements and commercial case discussions. For technical roles, technical assessments run alongside the strength-based process.

EY's purpose is 'Building a better working world.' This encompasses sustainable business practices, long-term value creation for clients and society, and responsible growth. EY expects candidates to connect their personal motivations to this broader mission — practice articulating why EY's mission resonates with you specifically.

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