Get a Job at Accenture: Interview Process and Top Questions was originally published on Exponent.
Learn how to prepare for Accenture interviews with this in-depth guide.
Accenture is an exciting place to work—it’s a professional services company and global leader in consulting. Accenture provides many companies with consulting services in strategy, business optimization, and technical system implementation.
Below, we break down the Accenture interview process and top questions you should expect to answer.
Accenture Interview Process
Accenture’s interview process is fairly standard but also changes slightly depending on the role. For example, the tech screen sometimes comes first for technical roles, followed by the recruiter call. Expect a standard big tech interview process, with a recruiter call, then a virtual screening call, followed by a multi-stage final round conducted either virtually or in person.
The Accenture interview process typically takes about 3–4 weeks and involves:
- Recruiter phone screen,
- Hiring manager screen or technical screen,
- Final round.
Recruiter phone screen
During the initial phone screen at Accenture, expect a short call with an Accenture recruiter. In this stage, you’ll briefly talk through your resume and background. You’ll likely get a few short questions about how your past projects and experience fit the role. Make sure to show your excitement, ask relevant questions about the role and interview process, and send a short thank-you email after the call.
Prepare beforehand by studying Accenture, its culture, and particularly the area of the company you’ll be working in.
Hiring manager screen
Most roles receive a 1-hour hiring manager screen as the second step in the Accenture interview process. Certain roles may skip this step and do a technical screen instead. Ask your Accenture recruiter in your initial phone call what to expect in your process.
During the hiring manager screen, expect to answer both behavioral and domain questions. Your hiring manager will likely assess whether your prior experience matches the needs of the role and also assess your soft skill fit with the team. Study this team ahead of time and prepare relevant questions to demonstrate your deep interest in the opportunity.
Technical screen
The technical screen at Accenture is a coding challenge. Expect an online assessment with two data structure and algorithm questions of medium difficulty.
Non-engineering roles may receive an aptitude online test, or they may skip this step and move directly to the final round.
Final round
The final round at Accenture is typically 2–3 interviews and includes a skills round, a concepts round, and an HR round. Expect to get tested on your hard skills through a combination of technical and concept questions, to complete a take-home assignment presented to a panel of interviewers, and to be assessed on your soft skills and culture fit by HR.
Top Accenture Interview Questions
These are examples of real interview questions asked at Accenture as reported by candidates.
Behavioral
- Tell me about yourself.
- How do you prioritize tasks?
- Tell me about a time you provided feedback that was helpful to a peer.
- Tell me about a time when you worked on a team and demonstrated leadership.
- Tell me about your experience.
Coding
- What are microservices?
- What’s the difference between git pull and git fetch?
- What programming languages are you familiar with?
- What are the core concepts of object-oriented programming?
- Explain B-trees and their advantages in database indexing.
System design
- Design a URL shortener.
- Design a hotel booking service.
- Design YouTube.
- Design WhatsApp.
- Design Netflix.
Machine learning
- What is cross-validation, and why is it important in machine learning?
- Can you explain the bias-variance tradeoff? How do you address it in your models?
- What is regularization in machine learning? Why is it important?
- Imagine you have a dataset with a high class imbalance. How would you address this issue before building a classification model?
- Let’s assume you’ve done fine tuning, but you’re still not achieving optimal model performance. What else can you do?
Data science
- How do you clean and preprocess data before building a model?
- You have a dataset with missing values. How would you impute the missing data?
- Predict the sales of a product for the next quarter.
- How do you deal with outliers?
Product management
- What’s your favorite product and why?
- Tell me about a time when you led a project from start to finish.
- How do you handle multiple projects simultaneously?
- What project management methodologies are you familiar with?
- How did you manage escalations in your past role?
Accenture Interview Loops
Behavioral
The behavioral round at Accenture is important because of how many Accenture roles work directly with clients. Prepare for scenario-based behavioral interview questions. Accenture interviewers want to see how you handle different situations and especially how you overcome challenges.
Accenture recommends you use the STAR format for its behavioral interview and prepare a couple of stories from your past roles ahead of time. Focus on showing off your skills in the following areas: problem-solving, teamwork, collaboration, creativity, adaptability, and resiliency.
Coding
Accenture’s coding round includes conversational interviews that discuss your prior experience, past projects, tech stack, and scenario-based questions. Expect additional coding questions in your final round similar to the data structure and algorithm questions tech screen, but applied to scenarios of the role.
Common coding topics at Accenture:
- Java
- Arrays
- Strings
- SQL
- HTML
- Object-oriented programming
- Graphs and trees
📖
Interested in preparing more in-depth for a role as a software engineer? Study with Exponent’s Software Engineering Interviews course.
System design
The system design round is included for most engineering roles at Accenture. Expect a standard system design high-level question. Focus on key system design aspects, like scalability, reliability, high availability, maintainability, and performance. Beyond the technical design aspects, focus on your communication. Speak clearly, explain your decision-making process throughout your design, and leave time for follow-up questions from your interviewers at the end.
📖
Interested in preparing more in-depth for your system design round? Study with Exponent’s System Design Interviews course.
Machine learning
During Accenture’s machine learning round, you’ll have discussions about your past ML projects and models you’ve previously built. Come prepared to go in-depth about your past projects. The ML round includes a 1-hour conversational interview that also touches on ML concept questions. Then, you’ll also get a take-home ML case study to complete and then present to a panel of interviewers.
📖
Interested in preparing more in-depth for a role as an ML engineer? Study with Exponent’s Machine Learning Engineer Interviews course.
Data science
The data science round at Accenture is typically conducted by a DS manager or a senior-level data scientist. The final round includes data manipulation coding questions. You’ll be assessed on solving problems, writing basic SQL queries, and manipulating data using Python, pandas, or R. You’ll also be assessed on data science concept questions, especially statistics questions. Expect to also discuss past projects in depth.
The data science interview includes a round where you get a case study about a real-life scenario to solve. You’ll be expected to complete it as a take-home assessment and then present your solution to a panel of interviewers.
📖
Interested in preparing more in-depth for a role as a data scientist? Study with Exponent’s Data Science Interviews course.
Product management
In the product management round at Accenture, you’ll be assessed on interpersonal skills, past experience, and your PM knowledge in 2–3 conversational interviews. Strong technical skills are needed, so expect technical questions related to the team you’ll be joining.
Study standard PM realms and concepts to prepare. Practice strategy, technical, analytical, design, execution, and estimation questions before your onsite.
📖
Interested in preparing more in-depth for a role as a PM? Study with Exponent’s Product Management Interviews course.
Accenture Interview Tips
Accenture values innovation.
Innovation is one of Accenture’s core values, so Accenture wants to hire candidates who have a forward-thinking mindset. During your interviews, highlight your measurable impact and experience with innovative projects in your past roles. Mention your emphasis on innovation and thinking toward the future in your behavioral round, too.
Accenture prioritizes a client-first mindset.
A lot of roles at Accenture are closely tied to clients, if not working with them directly. Demonstrate your customer-first thinking during your behavioral interviews because Accenture interviewers will look for it.
Know Accenture inside and out.
- Get to know Accenture.
- Learn about all of Accenture’s services.
- Read up on news, current ventures, and client stories on Accenture’s insights page.
- Learn about Accenture’s code of business ethics.
FAQs
How competitive are Accenture interviews?
Accenture interviews are fairly competitive. You’re in for a process of about 4–6 interviews total, but each interview is usually a medium difficulty level.
How should I prepare for my interview at Accenture?
- Before applying, get a resume review.
- Brush up on your coding skills and behavioral interview questions.
- Study interview questions asked at Accenture.
- Prep for interviews according to your role: ML engineering, data science, SWE, system design, or PM.
- Get expert coaching ahead of your Accenture interview.
Does Accenture hire students or new grads?
Yes, Accenture offers internships for current university students, apprenticeships, and early career roles for new graduates.
More Accenture Interview Prep Resources
Exponent has extensive resources to prepare you to feel your best when it comes time for your interview at Accenture:
