Feedback mckinsey

Hey there,

I think there is a misunderstanding of what it means to finish a case in a McKinsey interview.

The case ends when the interviewer has collected enough coherent data points on your performance rather than when you ‘’solved'' it and got through every question they have prepared for you. Most candidates don't go through all questions and the best ones usually answer the least amount of questions, yet to perfection.

What this means is that instead of moving quickly through each question, you should take the time to answer each question exhaustively and properly.

I want to provide a specific example for structuring:

At the core, McKinsey wants to see creative ideas communicated in a structured manner, the more exhaustive the better.

Your goal should be to come up with a tailored and creative answer that fits the question. The framework should - broadly speaking - follow these three characteristics:

• Broad
• Deep
• Insightful

As I understand from your answer question (with limited context, be aware!), you were focusing on efficiency and speed over exhaustiveness and explanation.

In a McKinsey interview, you can take around 2 minutes to think about your structure, then up to 6-8 minutes (extreme cases) to present your structure, your qualification, and hypotheses. This is due to the interviewer-led format that McK employs. 

The firm wants to see exhaustive and creative approaches to specific problems, which more often than not do not fit into the classic case interview frameworks that were en vogue 10 years ago...

Again, this only applies if everything you say

• adds value to the problem analysis
• is MECE
• is well qualified
• includes a detailed discussion of your hypotheses at the end

The difference in format and way of answering a question is the reason why I recommend preparing very differently for McK interviews vs. other consultancies.

The same principles also apply to 

• chart interpretation
• math questions

Have a look at the article I wrote about McKinsey interviews, that discusses more relevant elements: https://www.preplounge.com/en/mckinsey-interview

All the best!

Florian

Hi there,

You are approaching casing/fit completely wrong.

There is a massive different between working through something methodically and efficiently and rushing.

Would you rather listen to a 5,000 word essay spoken in rapid speed that rambles, or a 1,000 word essay that gets to the point?

You need to be structured, objective-driven, concise, and precise in everything you do in an interview. That applies to frameworks, case leadership, charts/exhibits, math, recommendations, fit, etc.

Get to the point!

This is honestly a really hard thing to train on your own - I highly recommend you get a coach to work on this (I'm happy to send you past candidates I've worked with the get concise…it's not fun, but I promise I'll make you extremely deliberate + efficient in what you say!)

Hi there,

There is a fundamental difference between McKinsey cases and most other firms. 

• Most firms apart from McKinsey: Interviewee-led cases require you to work through the case quickly to get to the “final” answer. You are expected to manage time throughout this process.
• McKinsey: The interviewer is in the driving seat and tests candidates for specific skills by asking targeted questions and managing time. Often times, there isn't even really a final recommendation and the case just stops (for a lot of candidates it feels like the case stops “in the middle”). 

From a candidate perspective, the point is not to answer “all the questions” of a McKinsey case. Everybody can fail quickly… Instead, you should answer every question as best as possible and consider the following to do well and not waste time:

• Listening: A lot of candidates either don't listen to the question or they want to go above and beyond and explode the scope beyond that which was asked, which makes things tricky. Listen to the question and offer an opinion about next steps. However, don't start doing things that take a lot of time that you weren't asked. This will save you time.
• Content: Take you time to answer every question well and stop yourself at 80%. In case of the initial structure for example, this includes a few MECE buckets with a good list of appropriately placed 2nd level drivers that are well formulated ideas, not just empty words. The remaining 20% for a “perfect” answer would probably take more time than the initial 80%, which is why you stop yourself at 80% demonstrate good time management. This will save you time.
• Communication: The more you communicated top down, the shorter and more efficient your speech gets. This is not easy at all and something you'll learn on the job. However, it will serve you well in an interview and makes it easier for the interviewer to intervene when needed and guide you to the next step. This will save you time.

Let me know if you'd like to learn more sometime. I used to interview for McKinsey and know exactly what your interviewers will be looking for.

Best of luck!

You seem to believe that answering a lot of questions and getting to some “end” of the case means success. Well, this isn't a race. You also assume that there's a fixed length for the case… this is also incorrect.

When an analyst delivers crappy work fast… well, it's better than slow crappy work - but what I really want to see it good work. 

The objetive is to provide strong structured and insightful answers.

I've had candidates I was already 80% confident they would pass the interview after 10-15 minutes. It didn't really matter if they would get to the end or not. I would assess the other 20% and probably make some shortcuts within the case so we could have an end. 

In other instances, after 40 minutes I am still not sure, so I give out more one or two questions to make up my mind…

Hi there, 

in theory, the interview is 1 hour, but it can vary. The interviewers are experienced in quickly identifying which candidate to go, hence even if your interview was shorter, you went through the full evaluation. As other coaches say, even with a few personal questions and not a finished business case, the interviewer had a chance to assess you, 10 minutes more wont make a difference.

Good luck!

Lucie

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what cases did you get in the first round?