What Willis Towers Watson actually looks for
Willis Towers Watson (WTW) was formed through the 2016 merger of Willis Group, an insurance brokerage, and Towers Watson, an HR and benefits consulting firm, and the combined company now operates across insurance broking, risk management, and human capital consulting, including retirement, compensation, and employee benefits work. Because the firm spans genuinely different service lines, insurance broking is a very different business from HR and benefits consulting, interviewers assess candidates specifically against the practice area they're applying to rather than a single generic WTW profile. For actuarial and benefits consulting roles, expect real technical depth on pension and retirement plan design, health benefits, or compensation structures. For broking and risk management roles, expect questions grounded in how insurance and reinsurance markets actually work, since WTW advises large corporate clients on managing genuinely complex risk exposures. The firm's culture reflects its merger history, blending the client-relationship, sales-oriented instincts of a brokerage with the more analytical, technical consulting approach from the Towers Watson side.
Common questions and how to answer them
How would you advise a corporate client on structuring their employee benefits program to control costs while remaining competitive for talent? is a realistic question for HR and benefits consulting roles, and strong answers balance cost discipline with genuine understanding of what employees value. Walk me through how you'd assess the right insurance coverage for a company with complex, multinational risk exposure tests broking and risk management thinking specifically. WTW brings together insurance broking and HR consulting under one roof, how do you see these two sides of the business working together for a client? tests whether you understand the firm's actual combined value proposition rather than treating it as two unrelated businesses.
How to prepare
Understand which side of the business you're interviewing for, insurance broking and risk management, or HR and benefits consulting, since these are genuinely different disciplines requiring different technical knowledge, and prep accordingly rather than treating WTW as one undifferentiated firm. For actuarial or benefits roles, brush up on pension, retirement, and compensation fundamentals, since these interviews test real technical knowledge. For broking roles, get comfortable with how commercial insurance and risk transfer actually work for large corporate clients. Read a little about the 2016 Willis and Towers Watson merger so you understand the firm's combined identity and can speak to it if asked.