Willis Towers Watson Case Interview: HireVue Comes First

The four steps WTW publishes, and no case interview among them

The application process page opens with a scope line: "Whichever early careers program you apply for, your application will be handled with care by our early careers recruitment team." Then four numbered steps.

Step two carries a footnote most candidates never read, and it is a right rather than a courtesy: "We are required in line with New York City's law to provide at least 10 days' notice to applicants that may be requested to complete our video assessments as part of the selection process."

If you are applying in New York City, that notice is owed to you. Everywhere else, the sentence still tells you something useful: the video assessment is a standing part of the process rather than an occasional extra.

Step three is where formats diverge. Assessment center or interview, decided by location and program. WTW does not say which markets get which, and it does not describe what an assessment center of its own contains.

Two more mechanics from the same page. All candidates must apply online, even where the firm visits your campus. And the firm encourages one application per recruitment cycle, "to avoid duplications at the interview stage".

The AI rule that runs against the market

WTW publishes a candidate AI guidance page, and its position on note takers runs against the market. Where a candidate plans to use an AI application such as a note-taking assistant, the firm asks you to "inform the interviewer beforehand and seek their consent". It adds that "The interviewer will also let you know if they are using Co-pilot or another AI application for the interview process." Declared, consented, and reciprocal.

Compare McKinsey's instruction on its interviewing page, which tells candidates to disable previously installed AI software such as note-taking tools or virtual assistants, because they may record or assist with the interview. One firm asks you to switch it off. The other asks you to declare it and get agreement, and offers the same transparency back.

On assessments WTW is stricter and clearer: "When completing assessments, rely on your own knowledge and understanding. Assessments are designed to reflect your individual abilities, and using AI during these times can affect the fairness and accuracy of the evaluation."

So the rule splits by stage. Assessments are yours alone. Interviews allow a declared tool. If you plan to use one, raise it at the start of the call rather than after, and expect the interviewer to say what they are using too.

The firm also warns about recruitment fraud on its careers home page, stating that it contacts candidates only from WTW addresses, never asks for money, and never uses messaging apps to recruit.

With no WTW case interview published, read the annual report

WTW publishes no case, so the useful preparation is the business itself. Its 2025 annual report states that the firm "has two reportable operating segments organized by business areas: • Health, Wealth & Career ('HWC'); and • Risk & Broking ('R&B')", and that it has approximately 47,000 colleagues serving more than 140 countries and markets.

The same filing describes the work in plain language. Its retirement business "provides actuarial support, plan design, and administrative services for all forms of pension and retirement savings plans". Its risk control services run "from strategic risk consulting, including actuarial analysis and various due diligence services, to practical on-site support such as health and safety or property loss control consulting".

Note that the careers site presents four areas rather than two: Risk and Broking, Health, Wealth and Career, Corporate Functions, and Operations and Technology. The two structures coexist, and the one that matters is on your job description.

What WTW says it wants is on the FAQ: "We seek bright, highly motivated candidates with outstanding communication skills and a true passion for business. We also look for people who demonstrate our values, which are: Client Focus, Teamwork, Integrity, Respect and Excellence."

Start dates are published by region, which is rarer than it should be. In North America, internships start in May or June and graduate programs in January. In the United Kingdom, internships run July to August and graduates start in September. India starts graduates in June, Singapore and Hong Kong in July, and the Philippines runs internships all year. Irish placements last between six months and a year.

A combined ratio case interview, worked to the 27% break-even

Insurance economics is one equation, and a candidate who can run it out loud is doing what the job does.

A commercial insurer earns $600m of premium. Losses run at 68% of it and expenses at 31%, so the combined ratio is 99% and the underwriting result is $6m. Underwriting leaders propose writing 20% more exposure by cutting price 4%.

1. Write the new premium. Twenty percent more exposure at 4% lower price gives $600m times 1.20 times 0.96, so $691.2m.
2. Scale the losses with exposure. Losses follow the risk, so $408m times 1.20 is $489.6m. Price changes do not change what claims cost.
3. Split the expenses. Say $96m of the $186m is commission at 16% of premium, and $90m is fixed. New commission is 16% of $691.2m, so $110.6m, and fixed stays at $90m. Total $200.6m.
4. Read the result. $691.2m minus $489.6m minus $200.6m is about $1.0m, and the combined ratio lands at 99.9%. A fifth more business turned $6m of profit into $1m.
5. Find the honest break-even. Holding profit at $6m needs exposure growth of about 27%, because each unit of new business now carries a thinner margin. A 4% price cut needs a quarter more volume to stand still.

Step five is the point, and it is where the standard error lives. The price cut is 4% of premium, and premium is not the margin. The margin is one point of a ninety-nine point ratio, so four points of price is four times the entire underwriting profit. The required volume is not 4%, and it is not 20%.

One more thing to say out loud: the 68% loss ratio on new business is an assumption, and it is doing all the work in this case. New business written at a lower price usually looks fine for a year, because claims take time to develop. The premium is certain and the loss ratio is an estimate, and that asymmetry is the entire argument against buying growth with price.

The dimensions we mark the arithmetic on

No firm publishes a marking scheme, WTW included. The weights below are ours, applied by our own grader, each out of a hundred and read from the code that scores. The reasoning sits on how an answer is assessed.

What WTW does not publish, starting with the case interview

Whether there is a case interview. The word appears nowhere in the process or the FAQ. It is not excluded either, and your recruiter can settle it.

What the HireVue assessment contains. No question count, no preparation time, no retake policy.

What an assessment center holds. Named as a possible step three, described nowhere.

Which markets get an assessment center and which get an interview.

Entry titles and degree requirements. Both are pushed to the job description, explicitly.

Application deadlines. The firm says timelines vary by year and country and advises applying quickly.

Any threshold or weighting. None published.

Everything above about WTW was read on the page it is credited to, on 29 September 2026. The combined ratio case is ours, and every figure in it was recalculated by hand before this page went up. The scoring weights are ours as well, and the page says so where they appear.