Navigating PNC Bank Teller Assessment: Your Career & Interview Guide
PNC is a bank holding company that approaches the hiring process with a relationship-building mindset. This consequently affects the style of questioning and assessment that you will be required to undergo when applying.
Preparation is key for a prestigious job such as this. This article will walk you through the exact processes and assessments in place so that you can showcase your skills and talents. Specifically, it will help you ace the PNC Bank Teller Assessment so that you can get a head and shoulders above other candidates!
Read on to discover all you need to know about preparing for and passing the PNC interview and assessment test.
Table of Contents
What is the hiring process for PNC?
- Send resume and cover letter
- Phone interview
- PNC’s online assessments
- Panel interview
What should I include in a cover letter?
If you are applying for a position at PNC via a job site, you will have usually uploaded your resume to the site, which will be available to prospective employers. Most job postings will also ask for a cover letter, and it is important to include one.
A cover letter should give an employer a brief overview of your personality as well as a personal introduction.
You can include details such as hobbies, your beliefs and principles, and any career plans or objectives. These details may not seem directly related to the position. But, they will give the employer an insight into who you are as a person and how well you will fit into the company’s culture.
What should I expect during the phone interview?
It may take a week or two for you to get a response after sending your resume and cover letter, but the process will most likely begin with a telephone interview.
A phone interview is the perfect opportunity for hiring managers to efficiently screen potential candidates. The interviewer will ask questions about:
- Salary expectations
- Prior work experience
- Availability
During this phone call, you can also decide if the salary offered meets your needs and whether you are a fit for the company.
It is very important to make a good impression during the call. Make sure that you schedule it for when you have free, uninterrupted time in a calm and quiet space.
What should I expect in the PNC assessment tests?
For a new position within PNC, you will be asked to take an aptitude test. These assessments are done online in order to save time and money.
Aptitude tests can be tricky because:
- Some questions involve logic and abstract thinking
- Strict time limits imposed when taking the test
- Questions and their formats may be unfamiliar
Job Test Prep offers a host of free and paid practice aptitude tests. Find sample questions and take timed exams to ensure that you are fully prepared — practice makes perfect.
What is an aptitude test?
An aptitude test is the general term applied to a pre-employment exam. These tests measure your cognitive ability and also evaluate your ability to make connections and recognize patterns. They will also record the knowledge and skills you have accumulated through education and your work experiences.
Some questions will be logical and straightforward, such as solving equations or asking about simple machines, whilst others will require you to analyze abstract patterns. There are a wide variety of subjects and test providers for these aptitude tests and therefore, no two tests are the same.
However, they may bear some similarities to tests that you will have taken when applying to colleges, such as SATs and ACTs.
The tests are completed online and will be timed. The time limits are often pretty strict. Unfamiliarity with question types or strategies for answering could lose you precious points when trying to complete the test.
The most common forms of aptitude tests are numerical, verbal, and logical but this will often be dictated by the position for which you are applying. You should still expect variety within these categories and you may even be asked to take multiple tests so that the company can evaluate your results via a composite score.
How can I prepare for an aptitude test?
Whilst aptitude tests are designed to assess your intelligence or cognitive ability — and much of this will be innate — it is still important to prepare for the test.
Learning strategies to answer the questions will enable you to answer more efficiently and give you a competitive edge over other candidates.
There are two main steps that will help you to adequately prepare yourself:
1. Complete as many practice questions as you can prior to the test.
It is crucial that you complete these practice tests under strict timed conditions in order to be adequately prepared. The time limits imposed on the test are, in fact, an integral element of the assessment process because without it, the exam would, of course, be much easier.
2. Review all of your answers very carefully.
This will give you an opportunity to make and recognize any necessary corrections but you should also take the time to think about whether there was an easier way to answer certain questions. These tests are all about efficiency and it is therefore crucial to practice that skill.
Why do companies use aptitude testing in the hiring process?
It is an unfortunate fact that no matter how much time and care you take when writing your resume, one resume can end up looking very much like any other.
You can only put so much information into a one-page document and this doesn’t always reflect much of your character beyond facts such as location, education, and work history.
Employers appreciate the importance of hiring good employees – employees who are hard-working and fit well into company culture, community, and ethics. The process of hiring and training workers can be a costly one, both in terms of money and time, and employers are keen to get it right the first time. Re-hiring after a poorly recruited candidate can lead to more loss in terms of money, productivity, and company morale.
The most important qualities for an employee include intelligence, personality, and dedication. The ability to learn quickly, remember large amounts of information, and handle responsibility are much sought after by employers looking for suitable employees.
Aptitude tests are completely automated and will not necessarily mean that you secure the job. But they will help you through to the interview round. There it will be up to you to impress and place yourself above your competitors in terms of your suitability.
Aptitude tests have proven to supply accurate results and therefore employers can rely heavily upon them. Not everyone works well in a test situation which is why it is so important to prepare.
What other tests should I expect during the PNC application process?
There will be different tests depending on the position for which you are applying but these may include:
-
Numerical test
This will include calculation questions involving addition, subtraction, multiplication and division with whole numbers, fractions, decimals and percentages. The test will be in a multiple-choice format requiring you to choose the correct equation from a set.
Get some practice with this free Numerical Reasoning test from Job Test Prep.
-
Verbal test
This test will measure your comprehension ability when reading. You may also be asked to compare and analyze different texts and to identify inferred meaning.
Try Job Test Prep’s free Verbal Reasoning test.
-
Logical reasoning
Testing your ability to see patterns and relationships within presented information. Job Test Prep will enable you to become familiar with the structure of these tests by giving you the opportunity to take multiple practice tests.
What is the format for the PNC face-to-face interview?
The face-to-face interview for PNC can be quite daunting if you do not know what to expect or are unprepared.
There can be up to seven people on the interview panel and these will include team leaders and managers asking a range of questions designed to evaluate how well you will fit into company culture, along with your understanding of the various aspects of the position for which you are applying.
It is also during this panel interview that you will be able to ask any questions you may have about the specifics of the job. The formal interview is the perfect opportunity for you to stand out as an ideal candidate by asking relevant and well-informed questions that can begin a dialogue or discussion about the position.
What questions can I expect at the panel interview?
There will be a range of questions designed to evaluate how you might react in different workplace situations. You will be asked to give examples of ways in which you have resolved and avoided conflict in previous jobs and how you have worked together with colleagues.
Questions about your hobbies or interests will give PNC employers further insight into how you might fit into company culture. PNC is committed to building teams that work well together and so interests can provide valuable insight as to how this may be achieved.
Some example interview questions might include:
- What do you know about the company?
- Why did you apply to PNC?
- How do you set priorities to complete a task?
- Explain your organization systems
- Where do you see yourself in your career in 5-10 years?
- Give an example of a conflict you faced in a previous workplace and how you resolved it
- How would you handle a situation where employees were in disagreement?
- Have you ever had to overcome a challenge?
- What is something you have done that you regret and why?
How can I prepare for my PNC panel interview?
Make sure that your resume is fully up to date and that you are well aware of specifics. This will make things much easier if you are asked any questions about your resume during the interview.
Make sure you have done your research about the PNC position you are applying for and what will be required of you. Knowing what the job description contains will give you an advantage when answering questions about it.
It is very important to be confident during the formal interview. Be prepared to demonstrate the skills you have and how they relate to the job. Have answers ready to provide examples of how and where you have used your skillset to achieve results.
Research PNC as a company with regard to its history, values, ethics, and services. It would be good to cite any relevant or up-to-date information that may have been in the news or similar to show that you really have your finger on the pulse of the company.
At the end of the interview, you will be asked if you have any questions yourself and it is very easy to go blank at this point if you do not have any pre-prepared questions just in case none have arisen during the interview itself.
Try to make your questions different with those that could easily be answered by just glancing at the PNC website for example, as this could make you appear ill-informed. As much as PNC will be interviewing you, it is important to remember that you are also interviewing them in a way to ensure that they are a good fit for your skills and ambitions.
History of PNC
PNC traces its history back to 1845 as part of the Pittsburgh Trust and Savings Company founded in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The Great Fire of Pittsburgh delayed full operations until 1852 when it opened offices on Liberty Avenue and 12th Street.
The company prides itself on its:
- Honesty
- Fairness
- Integrity
It takes its legal responsibilities and those of its clients and shareholders seriously.
In summary, around one in three candidates are successful when applying for a position with PNC. We recommend the resources available at Job Test Prep to fully prepare you for working within such a prestigious company and enable your strengths to shine through during the interview process.
Related Study Guides
Written by Karen Stanley
Karen is a former teacher of 20 years and ten times published author. She writes content for educational organisations and businesses, nationally and internationally. She coaches new and budding writers through to publication and is passionate about creativity; she runs creative writing workshops in schools and fostering agencies.
Sarah is an accomplished educator, researcher and author in the field of testing and assessment. She has worked with various educational institutions and organisations to develop innovative evaluation methods and enhance student learning. Sarah has published numerous articles and books on assessment and learning. Her passion for promoting equity and fairness in the education system fuels her commitment to sharing insights and best practices with educators and policymakers around the world.
