Deloitte, PwC, KPMG, and EY hire several thousand work-study students ("alternants") every year in France, mainly in audit, accounting, and consulting. It's one of the most accessible entry points into these firms - provided you understand precisely what they expect from a work-study candidate, and structure your application accordingly.
What the Big Four look for in a work-study candidate
Contrary to a common assumption, the Big Four don't only recruit from Parisian business schools. Their needs span audit, accounting, and consulting, but increasingly also data, cybersecurity, and tax law - with a diversification of sought-after profiles that's accelerating alongside the sector's digital transformation.
What matters most for a work-study position: rigor (an audit doesn't tolerate approximation), the ability to learn quickly (assignments often change every few weeks), ease dealing with a range of stakeholders (clients, partners, teams), and clear motivation for the target role - not just for the firm's brand.
All four firms hire at scale: back in 2019, Deloitte was already hiring around 2,500 new employees a year, followed by KPMG (1,900), PwC (1,700), and EY (1,300) - volumes that give a sense of the scale of work-study recruitment, particularly concentrated around September.
💡 To go further: our guide on the finance work-study calendar recaps the recruitment windows to watch, across every sector.
The recruitment process, step by step
The recruitment journey typically lasts 3 to 8 weeks depending on the firm and time of year, with a faster pace during on-campus recruitment sessions:
- Online application via the firm's careers site, with a resume and cover letter
- Online tests (logical reasoning, numerical, sometimes personality) at most firms
- HR interview assessing motivation, soft skills, and fit with the firm's values
- Business interview(s) with a manager or partner from the target practice, more technical
- Assessment center for some programs, combining a group exercise and a case study
Applications go directly through the firms' official sites: Deloitte 🔗, PwC 🔗, KPMG 🔗, and EY 🔗 post their work-study openings continuously, with a peak between March and June for a September start.
📊 Go deeper: our article on what's evaluated in a work-study interview details the precise criteria recruiters use at each stage.
Tailoring your resume and cover letter for a Big Four firm
A resume for a Big Four work-study application should fit on one page and highlight, in this order of priority:
- Education: school or university, specialization (audit, accounting, finance, data), GPA if strong
- Relevant experience: internships, student jobs, extracurricular projects demonstrating rigor and autonomy
- Technical skills: advanced Excel, accounting/IFRS notions for audit, specific tools (Power BI, SQL) depending on the target practice
- Languages: professional English is nearly mandatory, especially for international engagements
The cover letter should avoid two common pitfalls: a generic copy-paste that could apply to any audit firm, and excessive flattery about the firm's "reputation" with no concrete argument. It's better to explain why this specific practice (financial audit, transaction services, risk advisory) matches your project, with a concrete example of what prepared you for it.
⚠️ Watch out: the Big Four use automated screening systems (ATS) to process the massive volume of applications they receive every year. A poorly formatted resume, even from an excellent candidate, can be filtered out before a human ever reads it.
Typical assignments in audit and consulting work-study programs
A work-study student's day-to-day at a Big Four firm varies significantly by practice:
In financial audit: contributing to statutory account certification engagements, internal control testing, third-party confirmations, drafting memos summarizing conclusions - with strong seasonality (January to April concentrates most of the workload, known as "busy season").
In accounting: maintaining and reviewing client bookkeeping, preparing tax returns, providing first-level advice to small and mid-sized clients, with a steadier pace throughout the year.
In consulting (risk advisory, transaction services): contributing to financial due diligence, data analysis for transformation engagements, drafting deliverables for client executive committees - generally more varied assignments, though also with a heavy workload.
In every case, expect a supported onboarding: dedicated proximity managers, sponsors, and mentors are standard at all four firms to help work-study students build skills quickly.
Prospects after a Big Four work-study program
A successful Big Four work-study experience frequently leads to a permanent job offer at graduation - it's actually one of the main goals of these programs for the firms, which invest heavily in training their work-study students.
Typical career paths afterward: internal progression to senior then manager over 4-6 years, or an "exit" to a corporate role (financial controlling, finance department, in-house M&A) after 2-3 years - Big Four experience remaining a strong, sought-after signal on the job market.
💡 To go further: our guide on the difference between an internship, a work-study program, and a VIE helps you choose the format best suited to your situation before applying.
Landing an interview at a Big Four firm starts with a resume that clears the first filter - human and automated alike. FinanceCV generates a resume and cover letter with a professional presentation, compatible with the automated screening tools these firms use, so you can focus your preparation on interviews rather than formatting.
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