PwC VR Recruiting: Employer Branding you can step into.

2023

PwC Germany commissioned a VR recruiting experience to redefine how employer branding is communicated. The brief was clear: create an immersive, interactive format that makes PwC’s corporate values tangible—not just visible.

The project began as an internal innovation prototype but evolved into a client-facing showcase for PwC’s #immersiveLab and events like Gamescom 2023.

Role

Creative Director VR / UX & Design Lead, Product Owner

client

PwC Germany

service

Product Development

PLATFORM

Meta Quest Pro

Timeline

6 Weeks

PwC Germany Product Case Study

From Client Brief To Public Showcase

PwC Germany commissioned NMY to develop a VR recruiting experience in six weeks. The objective: Translate PwC’s employer values into an interactive format for the ImmersiveLab in Frankfurt.

Four core themes structured the experience:

Work-Life Balance: Flexibility, remote equipment, volunteer time
Health & Social: Insurance, fitness programs, diversity networks
Benefits & Culture: JobRad, company events, corporate perks
Career & Future: Professional growth, mentoring, development paths

Each theme was implemented as an explorable scene, with interactions based on intuitive gestures (e.g., smartphone swipes, object manipulation).

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Process and collaboration

Team: Creative Director, Junior UX Designer, 3D Artist, Tech-Artist, Developer.
Workflow: Weekly builds, video feedback sessions, and Friday reviews to ensure alignment with PwC’s innovation team.
Brand Alignment: Developed a VR brand rulebook based on PwC’s corporate design system, ensuring consistency across all interactions and visuals.

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Originally planned as a one-off demo, the experience became a reusable format for PwC’s recruiting and client events. The project demonstrated how a small, focused team could deliver a high-impact VR experience under tight constraints—without compromising on quality or brand integrity.

An HR professional exploring PwC Germany’s VR Recruiting experience at the company’s ImmersiveLab in Frankfurt. (2023) LinkedIn

The Experience: A Rooftop full off Interactions

The experience begins in front of Tower 185 in Frankfurt, PwCs Germany Office. Users hold the PwC logo to teleport to the rooftop, where they select one of four themed environments. Each environment represents a core aspect of PwC’s work culture:

Work-Life Balance
Interaction: Swiping a smartphone reveals PwC’s flexible work policies.
Focus: Remote equipment, volunteer time, and individual scheduling.
Health & Social
Interaction: Opening a yellow umbrella displays information about PwC’s social security and wellness programs.
Focus: Insurance benefits, fitness initiatives, and diversity networks.
Benefits & Culture
Interaction: Placing a drink on a table triggers stories about company events and perks.
Focus: JobRad, team events, and corporate benefits.
Career & Future
Interaction: Tapping an EC card opens a panel about mentoring and career development.
Focus: Professional growth, training, and long-term opportunities.

Designed for intuition

Every interaction follows a simple principle: Familiar gestures, immediate feedback. No tutorials, no controllers—just natural movements that users already know from daily life. This approach ensures accessibility for all users, regardless of their prior VR experience.

Technical constraints as creative drivers

Hardware: Built for Meta Quest Pro, leveraging hand tracking and spatial audio.
Comfort: Teleportation between scenes (no free movement) to prevent motion sickness.
Duration: Compact experience (5–7 minutes) for event settings like Gamescom or client presentations.

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PwC Germany VR Recruiting was first used at the GamesCom 2023.LinkedIn

Design Principles & Brand Translation

Interaction is information
Every gesture carries meaning. Movement is not just input—it’s communication.

Example: Lifting a dumbbell reveals PwC’s health initiatives; opening an umbrella visualizes social security.
Why: Users discover content through action, not explanation

Learn by interacting
Each scene invited curiosity before explanation. Users picked up objects first, then discovered the content behind them.

Familiar gestures, frictionless flow
All interactions mirrored real-world actions such as swipe, grab, or place – removing the need for tutorials.

Presence without pressure
Teleportation between stations replaced free movement, keeping users comfortable and motion-sickness free.

Design as translation
PwC’s abstract values – flexibility, security, teamwork – became tangible environments with clear narrative focus.

Human first, hardware second
The Meta Quest Pro supported the story but never dominated it. The experience highlighted people, not technology.

Visually, the scenes balanced realism and abstraction: warm materials, architectural structure, and accent colors from PwC’s palette guided focus. Every object had an affordance – nothing decorative, everything intentional.

Workflow & Team Leadership

With six weeks and multiple stakeholders, structure mattered more than scale. From the first meeting, I set up a transparent workflow that kept all parties aligned and the pace consistent.

A single shared Miro board became our living project hub – containing concepts, flows, assets, QA notes, and client feedback in one place. Supporting tools included Slack for daily video updates, Figma for UI, Blender for 3D, Jira for tracking, and Unity as the main engine.

Every Wednesday a new build was delivered to PwC. Thursdays were reserved for feedback calls, Fridays for review and sprint planning. This rhythm ensured visible progress every week.

I worked closely with PwC’s innovation manager, who backed our fast-paced structure internally. Other departments often responded later, so we continued development in parallel and implemented their feedback afterward without disruption. Most of their comments related to wording or compliance rather than design, which kept production smooth and focused.

Despite the intensity, collaboration remained calm and structured – proof that clarity and trust outperform size in complex VR projects.

Engineers repeat this pattern across six scenarios — guided by EVA, using intuitive actions to collect, verify, and apply layout knowledge.

Result

Delivered on time in six weeks, the VR experience launched at PwC’s Innovation Lab and later appeared at Gamescom 2023 in the corporate area.

While no formal KPIs were tracked, the internal feedback was strongly positive: a complete, brand-consistent showcase that demonstrated PwC’s ability to communicate values through experience rather than messaging.

“A six-week sprint that delivered a fully functional, brand-consistent VR showcase — built under pressure, delivered without friction.”

This project proved that with clear structure, shared ownership, and consistent rhythm, even complex VR production can stay agile and human.
A disciplined process, transparent communication, and the right small team made it possible to ship on time – with no noise, no crisis, and no compromise.

PwC’s VR Recruiting offers a tailored way to position your company as a forward-thinking employer powered by cutting-edge technology. It turns your brand into an experience — making it far more appealing to talent than traditional recruiting approaches.
—
Dr. Holger Kern
Immersive Tech Lead at
PwC Germany