Do I still have a chance?

Hi there,

Sorry to hear about the issues with the interview. In terms of your question:

Q: Do you think I still have a chance or I am out? 

All interviewers should agree that you should move forward to pass to the second round. If they have doubts, at McKinsey you might be offered an extra first-round interview.

Good luck!

Francesco

Hi there,

I sympathize with how you feel. None of us can give you a definitive answer and everyone here will tell you that it's impossible to tell, because we haven't been there.

That being said, here's some positive news:

• I had various coachees who experienced something similar, which is best described a black out combined with panic and completely loosing the plot - and they still got through.
• As an interviewer for McKinsey, I always gave people a break in those situations to recover and move on - I never penalized them because it's a common thing to happen even among the best candidates.

Bottom line, you may view your experience in a very negative light but if all goes well, the interviewer will look beyond this episide. Will you get through? That will depend on how you performed throughout the rest of the interview.

Crossing my fingers for you!

Best,
Moritz

Hi there,

First of all, congratulations on the invitation from McKinsey!

I think this is an interesting question that may be relevant for many people. I would be happy to share my thoughts on it:

• First of all, while I can completely understand your ambition to control the situation, I would highly advise you not to do so since you essentially no longer control it except for the third interview. As such, I would highly advise you to consider reaching out to an experienced coach about it.
• Moreover, generally speaking, your performance will be assessed holistically, including all three first-round interviews. Depending on how severely your errors are seen, this might result in a rejection or not.
• Lastly, I would highly advise you to distract yourself in the meantime by spending time with family and friends, pursuing a hobby, or applying, preparing, and interviewing with other strategy consulting companies.

If you would like a more detailed discussion on how to best prepare for your upcoming interview, please don't hesitate to contact me directly.

Best,

Hagen

Yes!

Of course you still have a chance! Make sure you shine in this one.

I can't recommend coaching enough. Not only can they help you handle all situations (getting caught off gaurd is part of interviews), but also help you get used to the pressure situation.

Here's some reading to help:

https://www.preplounge.com/en/articles/how-to-shift-your-mindset-to-ace-the-case

https://www.preplounge.com/en/articles/pitfalls-case-interview-preparation

Hi there, 

Yes, you still have a chance, so try to stay positive. 

Usually, candidate self-assessments tend to be harsher than the actual perception of the interviewer, so it might not be as bad as you think. Plus, you don't need to perform flawlessly in all your interviews in order to be progressed to the next round. 

Best of luck with the last one!
Cristian

Hi there,

while obviously this is not ideal, you still have a chance, as firms like McK look at your performance more holistically. Pretty much noone sails through the interview process perfectly, so suggest you just wait and see. Suggest you rather focus on the things you CAN control.

Wish you all the best.

Regards, Andi

Hello A,

It's difficult to say for sure whether you still have a chance or not, as it ultimately depends on how well you did in your first interview and how the other candidates perform. 

However, it's important to remember that everyone has bad interviews from time to time, and it's not uncommon to feel nervous or caught off guard during the process. 

Try to learn from your experience in the second interview and use it to improve for the third. Stay focused and keep a positive attitude, and give it your best shot. 

Good luck!

Hello,

You absolutely still have a chance! Remember that interviews don't have to go perfectly for you to advance the next round. People get nervous and make mistakes, it happens. Do your best to rest up and prepare for your next interview, you are very much still in the game at this stage. Best of luck!

You still have a chance. If you have 2 good interviews they may consider the one that went bad as an outlier.

It's really hard to tell from an interview whether it went well or not - you may have got flustered but might actually have answered the questions well in the content of what you were saying. Even if it didn't go well, the interviewers know that sometimes things go awry and if the other two interviews go great then they may well overlook it. Try to put this one behind you and focus on nailing your last interview. 

Good luck!