Deloitte Assessment Tests

Careers at Deloitte

Encouragingly, Deloitte offers a range of early career programmes for school and university students and recent graduates.

A-Level students can partake in Career Shapers programmes, which allow you to test out your liking for a career with Deloitte via introductions to its work in a variety of service areas.

For school students who don’t feel university is the right fit, Deloitte runs entry-level apprenticeships and the BrightStart Apprenticeship.

For first-year university students who are unsure about their career direction but want a taste of what a Deloitte career is like, there’s the two-day Spring into Deloitte programme.

Penultimate-year university students can apply for the annual summer vacation scheme, which is a four to six-week placement. There is also the option to work for Deloitte on a 12-month industrial placement.

Graduates can apply to Deloitte’s graduate programme across a range of business areas, from audit and assurance and tax to consulting and technology.

As illustrated by the range above, Deloitte provides many supportive routes through education into its business sectors.

Whilst it may appear easier to secure employment at Deloitte through these routes, be aware that these are not a prerequisite of employment. If you are an experienced hire without any previous contact or experience at Deloitte, you should not be deterred.

There are opportunities for professionals across all service areas. Deloitte prides itself on its inclusive culture and values, as well as its learning and development opportunities, and flexibility for agile working.

Deloitte Application Process

As expected, there is great competition to secure a role at Deloitte and this is the case across all service sectors. The multi-stage recruitment process is particularly challenging; careful preparation is needed to excel and impress at each stage.

To ensure the best talent is recruited, the Deloitte application process consists of a variety of online assessments, including a number of reasoning tests and a job simulation exercise.

These tests help to gain insight into a candidate’s mental capability, as well as into their behaviour and alignment with the Deloitte culture, values and ways of working.

If you progress to the final stages, you will have to impress the recruitment team at the final stage assessment, which centres on a skills and motivation interview and, for many roles, a discussion exercise.

Below is a detailed breakdown of the stages in Deloitte’s recruitment process. Note that the process may vary slightly according to the type of programme or role you are applying for.

Online application

The first stage of the process is to complete an online application. You will first be asked to indicate the opportunity or role you are applying for. You will then need to complete your candidate profile, adding your work experience and educational qualifications.

It is recommended that you have your grade information handy before launching the application portal.

You may also be asked a few simple questions regarding your motivation for applying to the company and role (this is dependent on the opportunity you are expressing interest in). The answers required will likely have a 100-word limit.

Deloitte Aptitude Tests

Deloitte’s online aptitude tests are delivered as a single immersive online assessment, blending questions from several types of psychometric tests to assess different aspects of a candidate’s mental capability. These will likely be numerical reasoning, verbal reasoning and situational strengths questions.

There is some variation to testing depending on department, role, and office location. And there is no strict time limit, although your response speed on some questions is factored into your score. It is, however, a requirement to complete the test in one sitting (most candidates take around an hour to complete it).

Note that Deloitte branches tend to use Cappfinity as their test publisher.

For some vacancies, the question styles below will be blended into a single assessment. For others, they will be in distinct sections following on from each other. Either way, you will be answering the same style of questions, just in a different structure.

Deloitte numerical reasoning

The numerical reasoning test will present candidates with multiple-choice questions based around basic mathematical skills - such as fractions, percentages, ratios, sequences and simple algebra - and data interpretation from charts and tables.

Deloitte verbal reasoning

The verbal reasoning questions will require candidates to read passages and answer questions related to sentence structure, emphasis, synonyms, and implied meaning.

Deloitte situational strengths

The situational strengths test will ask you a series of questions related to how you would respond in different work scenarios. It aims to assess your behaviours and whether they align with Deloitte’s workplace culture and values.

Deloitte Job Simulation

The next stage of the recruitment process is Deloitte’s Job Simulation assessment. This consists of a series of questions relating to the work you would be doing in the role at Deloitte.

The questions are in a variety of formats, some requiring written responses (eg email), whilst others are multiple-choice or require a ranking.

There will also be questions that require a short video response. You will have a few minutes to prepare your answer, record and submit. Due to this, you will need a quiet neutral space in which to complete the assessment, along with a decent webcam and strong internet connection.

As you will be on camera, dress professionally and pay attention to your body language and eye line.

Practising answering questions in front of the camera is recommended, so you appear at ease and confident when recording your responses. There are a few practice questions at the start of the assessment, so you can become accustomed to the structure and interface.

As the questions relate to client scenarios, some numerical problems based around client data may also be included.

Feedback on this stage of the process should be received within three weeks.

Deloitte final stage assessment

The final stage of the recruitment process involves a live skills and motivation interview lasting around 50 minutes, likely with a senior staff member from the department you hope to join.

The interview will include motivation questions, scenario questions, questions on general topic areas and questions about you, your strengths and values. There will also be an opportunity for you to ask your own questions to determine if Deloitte is the right fit for you.

For many roles you will also complete a discussion exercise. You will be given a topic to prepare, then asked to talk through your thinking with your assessor. This part of the assessment typically lasts around 30 minutes.

You should receive feedback within one week of your final stage assessment.