Unclear teach-back expectations and an overly unstructured assessment process.
The interview process started with a teach-back session in Mayb2026. However, the expectations for the teach-back were not clearly explained. The communication suggested that it would be a topic-based teach-back, with or without a presentation. Based on that, I prepared accordingly.
During the actual session, a senior stakeholder (AVP) from the facilitation team conducted the assessment. This was unexpected based on the earlier communication, and the session turned into a much deeper facilitation simulation with continuous pushback, questioning, and challenge. If this was meant to be a high-pressure facilitation simulation, that should have been clearly communicated in advance.
The topic given was broad, and the preparation time was limited. The process expected the candidate to demonstrate depth, stakeholder handling, and facilitation judgment without clearly sharing the audience profile, business context, learner pain points, role expectations, or evaluation criteria.
What made the experience disappointing was that the interviewer appeared to judge the session mainly through the lens of internal facilitation depth, without first making a serious effort to understand my previous training experience, the audiences I had trained, the type of programs I had delivered, or the contexts I had worked in. For an external candidate, especially someone not already familiar with Deloitte’s internal leadership culture, some context and benefit of doubt are necessary.
The feedback I later received was that the examples lacked depth. I am open to constructive feedback, but the process itself felt under-briefed. A candidate can only prepare according to what is communicated. A “teach-back” and a “high-pressure facilitation simulation” are not the same thing, and the difference should be made clear upfront.
Please clearly define the format of the teach-back session, who will attend, what level of challenge to expect, whether a presentation is required, and what criteria will be used to evaluate the candidate. If the role requires internal facilitation depth, stakeholder pushback handling, and business-contextual examples, candidates should be told that beforehand. This would make the process fairer, more transparent, and more respectful of candidate preparation time.