Public Company Accounting Oversight Board Interview Questions
& Process

I got the vibe that they weren't really on the same page. My first interviews went pretty well, they seemed open and asked good questions. The second round felt more like an interrogation, the total opposite of the first. They mentioned a third round, but then I never heard anything back. I found out later there was some turnover, but that's no excuse for ghosting me.

Got contacted by a recruiter, they were super professional and kept in touch. Interviewed with the head recruiter and a bunch of people from different teams. They all seemed really into the investor protection mission. They gave me the lowdown on the org and asked some really solid questions to see if I'd be a good fit.

I learned about the internship through university connections. After applying online, I reached out to my contact at the PCAOB via email. I had to be the one to chase down HR to get things moving and schedule the interview. The whole hiring process dragged on for 3 months, though I was in regular contact with HR who seemed to be the bottleneck; the actual team I would have worked with was very responsive. It involved two phone interviews back-to-back that covered a mix of behavioral, experience-based, and technical topics. Nothing too challenging.

The interview process started with a phone screen by a PCAOB recruiter to go over my background and see if I was a good fit. If it was, my resume went to the office I applied to. Next, I had a phone interview with a Director about my previous experience. Finally, I had an onsite interview with several people from the office, including lead inspectors and associate directors. Each onsite meeting was 30 minutes and moved quickly. They had some standard behavioral questions but also asked about my past work and client experiences. Some questions were very specific to things I had done, and others were more general. Everyone was friendly and understanding.