How to complete an internship at Deloitte? How does the recruitment process work within a Big Four? Augustin, alternating at Deloitte as a consultant, gave us all the secrets to a successful interview. He also lifts the veil on his daily life within the company.
Deloitte is an international group providing audit and assurance services, consulting, financial advisory, risk advisory And tax & legal. Founded in 1845, Deloitte is the largest audit firm in the world and therefore places recruitment at the heart of its growth strategy.
The firm carried out a record revenue of $46.2 billion for the 2019 fiscal year. It is ahead of the other members of the “Big Four” its main competitors (PwC, KPMG and EY). Established in 150 countries, Deloitte employs nearly 312,000 employees distributed in 641 offices. More than half of the employees work in the United States.
The journey of Augustin, student at Grenoble EM
Can you present your journey?
After obtaining an ES baccalaureate, I joined an ENS D1 preparatory class (law-economics), a double preparatory-university course, in which I followed courses in private law, public law and economics. Following these two years, I joined Grenoble EM in 2018, via the Passerelle competition, in a double degree in law and management with Grenoble Alpes University. I am now in Master 2, work-study, consulting and organization course.
I also completed several internships: two months as a general HR specialist at Siemens, then a gap year during which I worked for 6 months within the human resources consulting firm, idoko, on issues related to psychosocial risks. , training and restructuring.
I subsequently completed my second internship at Deloitte Consulting as a junior Social Strategy and M&A consultant within the Organization Transformation / Human Capital teams. Currently, I am in the final year of my master’s degree, on a work-study basis, at Deloitte, in the same team as my internship.
Recruitment processes at Deloitte
How did you join Deloitte?
I knew Deloitte through my student association at GEM. I was responsible for the GEM Swimming Cup, organized by the Ici Commence l’Océan association and whose main partner is Deloitte. I therefore had the opportunity to work directly with people from the company, both HR and consulting/audit. It was thanks to these discussions that I managed to get a first interview.
The recruitment process at Organization Transformation (OT) usually takes place in four stages for end-of-study intern and junior consultant positions:
- The first interview during the recruitment forum at GEM, with a graduate of the school. We seek to see if the candidate has understood the offer and the expectations of the intern/consultant position.
- The second interview is operational with a consultant on a case study, inspired by a real mission, covering OT’s main expertise: Social Strategy, Culture & Change and Organization Design. Here we judge the skills aspect and the good understanding of OT expertise.
- The third interview takes place with a senior manager or director. This is a motivational interview where we discuss the candidate’s appetite for organizational transformation topics and his interest in transversality.
- A final interview with the HRBP takes place to discuss topics related to career management and the candidate’s projection at Deloitte.
Do an internship at Deloitte Consulting
Have you noticed a gap between the image you had of Deloitte and reality?
Before starting my internship, I didn’t necessarily have a preconceived image of the world of consulting. So I had no basis for comparison. However, I was pleasantly surprised to see that as an intern, I was considered a junior consultant and that my missions were diversified and stimulating. They are not just about aligning slides and doing excels. I therefore realize that my work is valued and contributes to the smooth running of missions. To put it simply, at Deloitte, we are not drowned in the crowd. We have regular discussions and close support with managers.
What were your missions at Deloitte?
Within the Organization Transformation team, there are three main mission themes: social strategy and M&A, organizational design, culture & change management. More specifically, I am part of the Social Strategy and M&A team which supports clients from the angle of social relations, social engineering and support for transformations in times of crisis.
For example, I have worked on social communication missions: this involves supporting a human resources department in its internal and external communication as part of a job protection plan, as well as on the preparation of the announcement to employees and unions. Our deliverables are communication supports presenting the reorganization plan and its consequences on the various stakeholders (employees, customers, institutions, media, etc.). We also make managers aware of their role as local relays with the teams, to best support them in experiencing this type of transformation.
My second major mission was a social audit mission for a public transport company, in the context of responding to calls for tender. Our role is to audit all of its entities to summarize their social status, special regimes, etc. Our client’s objective is to harmonize its social statuses in order to be competitive in responding to the call for tenders. Our analysis is based on three dimensions: remuneration, other elements of remuneration and the organization of working time.
I also worked more occasionally on missions of due diligencesetting up a target organization or managing change.
What are the internal activities at Deloitte?
Participation in internal activities is very encouraged, it is even a criterion of the annual evaluation. This includes participating in the drafting of commercial proposals, i.e. responding to calls for tenders from our potential future clients.
Within OT, we have also set up cross-functional task forces on several subjects: marketing, HR, gamification, etc. The challenge is to strengthen and develop new aspects of our offer. Personally, I got involved in the HR task force on school relations issues. The main challenge is to make our Organization Transformation activity known to school students, by building partnerships with schools and universities and participating in forums.
Finally, I participate in the writing of a newsletter, covering restructuring news, as well as occasionally in the organization of meetings or team events.
Participating in internal activities is very interesting because it allows you to meet and work with new people within the teams, but also to better understand the functioning of the firm, its offers, and to be part of the dynamic of its development.
What is a typical day like at Deloitte?
The pace and organization of the day mainly depend on the missions I am working on. The days are generally animated either by client meetings or by internal meetings to advance the various missions. The majority of the day is spent producing deliverables for our clients. Given the health situation, we are gradually starting to work directly in the client’s offices again.
Coming back to my days, they usually start around 9:00 am. Evening hours can vary greatly, but I normally finish around 7-8 p.m. Teleworking has remained very present at Deloitte, we return about twice a week to Defense.
The profession of consultant
Why did you choose the profession of consultant?
Consulting is a very interesting field, because it allows you to work on very different missions and with varied clients. Consultants therefore have the opportunity to quickly improve their skills thanks to the different issues they face. This also allows you to be quickly positioned on strategic subjects, in direct contact with the executive committees. This is a level of exposure that does not have its equivalent in corporate at a junior level.
This also allows you to quickly create a network, both internally, but also with your customer contacts.
Advice for successful Deloitte recruitment processes
Any final advice for those who want to apply to Deloitte in OT teams?
The advice I have to give to students who want to apply as a junior consultant is to highlight and illustrate their qualities of rigor, analytical mind and strength of proposal. We must also highlight our capacity for integration and to put ourselves at the service of the collective: we are often told that a consulting mission is the result of collective performance.
You should also not hesitate to talk about your associative and extracurricular experiences. It’s usually the little things we’ve accomplished along the way that can have the biggest impact during a job interview. The challenge is to know how to highlight your acquired skills and soft skills, to enhance them in relation to the position for which you are applying.
