Agility is the most important skill a candidate can demonstrate when applying for a job at PwC, a Big Four accounting and consulting firm.
That's according to Chairman Bob Moritz, who told Insider that during an interview, job applicants should demonstrate their ability to adapt to new challenges. It's a common theme across industries such as tech and finance: The strongest candidates embrace change.
PwC is looking to hire workers with such soft skills as the ability to take risks, learn, and be agile. The company announced a $12 billion plan last week to hire 100,000 people through 2026. About 10,000 of those hires are expected to be Black and Latino students.
Candidates looking for jobs at PwC may have to answer questions such as: "What are the examples where you've had to lean into a new opportunity to digitally lead? What did you learn from that? How did you apply that learning thereafter?"
Moritz gave some suggestions on how candidates could answer these questions. If you are a college student, you can talk about a time when you joined a new club or how you were able to adjust to virtual learning.
"That's a new way of demonstrating, 'Hey, I'm agile. I quickly adjusted from the old world to the new world, and look at the outcome I delivered,'" he said. "That's a good predictor of their future agility, mobility, and advancement going forward."
Even if you're applying for a more technical role at the firm, expect to answer more general questions, he added. A candidate for a tax job might have to answer questions about how taxes are applied to environmental, social, and governance standards, he said.
"How does tax get applied in a new workforce? So it's the application of that to the new themes, to get to these different outcomes in the world of trust," Moritz said.
Regardless of the role, job seekers need to demonstrate their ability to take on new responsibilities with ease, he said. Always think about how you can redefine yourself, Moritz added.
"I can't guarantee that specific job is going to be there three years from now when you think about the combination of what the world needs and the changing work that we do," he said.
