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Experienced hire McKinsey

Just a quick and short question what does McKinsey look for in experienced hires? What qualifications exactly.

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Top answer
Phenyo
Coach
on Jun 06, 2025
Ex-McKinsey Consultant | Nova Top Talent - Madrid | McKinsey HiPo recruit | McKinsey Digital & Analytics

Short-answer, it depends on the role and the experience. For generalist roles, the same rules would apply as every other. For expert-roles, more emphasis on your area of expertise will be incorporated in your process. 

Drop me a message and we can look at your profile and hear what you had in mind for roles.

Mariana
Coach
edited on Jun 07, 2025
Free CV evaluation | xMckinsey | 1.5h session | +200 sessions | Free 20-min introductory call

Hi there,

It depends on what type of role, focus and seniority you are talking about: One can be considered an experienced hire with 3 or 20 years of experience. Also, it is different when we are talking about a generalist or an expert track. Besides that, role is for an Associate, EM or Associate Partner / Partner position require different qualifications.

Tackling some of the possibilities: For experienced hires with few years of experience, firms are looking for academic records, credentials (big brand names) and professional achievements (what value have you generated). 
For those that have more years of experience, academic records become less important and the experience and expertise itself combined with the achievements play a bigger role, specially for the expert track.

If you’re to be considered for the EM position, a high performance in leadership experience will be required while for the AP one, the ability for you to potentially develop new clients and lead complex engagements will be expected.

Best,

Mari

on Jun 06, 2025
#1 Rated McKinsey Coach | Top MBB Coach | Verifiable success rates

Ah, that's a great question. 

Primarily, knowledge. 

Second, skills cross-pollination. 

Basically, McKinsey is attracted by experienced hires who come in with some sort of value proposition. For instance, somebody who has already worked as a product owner, and has a lot of digital experience in working in banks across Western Europe. This person would be super valuable then if they were to join as a senior associate or engagement manager and do projects such as digital transformations in banking. 

Not only would they be able to bring the knowledge to the clients, and teach also the consulting team more about digital work in practice, but also bring into the firm a range of new skills that were specific to their previous role. 

Best,
Cristian

Mattijs
Coach
on Jun 06, 2025
Free 15m intro call | First session -50% | Bain| Hiring team | 250+ successful candidates

Hi,

McKinsey is looking for people with the following core skills, amongst others structured problem solving, analytical thinking, concise communication, leadership and impact. 

For an experience hire, they expect you can show already some relevant experience, especially on the communication, leadership and impact skills.

Good luck with your preparations.

Mattijs

Mihir
Coach
on Jun 21, 2025
McKinsey Associate Partner and interviewer | Bulletproof MBB prep

1. Proven leadership and problem-solving skills (i.e., have you been successful elsewhere in a high-stakes role and can you manage a team)

2. Sector knowledge (i.e., is there a specific field where you'd add value)

3. [Depending on seniority] Network (i.e., will you be able to leverage your network to bring in new projects).

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