First round at mckinsey

Hi there,

Since the pandemic and virtual interviews, they are most often not b2b (unlike before), sometimes scheduled on the same day with some space in between, and sometimes spread over multiple days.

I have also seen that interviews are scheduled and canceled/rescheduled on much more short notice than before or even scheduled at odd times (had one candidate with an interview at 10 pm local time…). 

Overall, the applicant experience has significantly decreased…

To prepare, have a look at the articles I wrote:

McKinsey Case Interview

McKinsey PEI Interview

Cheers,

Florian

Hey there, congratulations on making it to the McKinsey interviews! 

The standard scenario is to have a ‘batch day’ per round, meaning you have a day with 2 or 3 interviews of the first round, and then another day with another 2-3 interviews of the second round.

That said, you might get a scenario where the interviews within a round are on different days. This can happen depending on the interviewer availability. From my experience as a McKinsey 1st and 2nd round interviewer, this is more frequent for the 2nd round interviews since APs and Partners have busier agendas. 

Good luck to you, don't hesitate to reach out to me if you have questions about the interviews! 

Hi there,

Q: I would like to know if the first round is composed of 2 back-to-back interviews, or if the 2 interviews are normally completed during different days.

Usually you have a first round with all interviews on the same day, however there are exceptions. This may happen due to conflicts in the agenda of the interviewers or specific recruiting schedule, in which case they may allocate the interviews for the same round on different days. In any case, HR should let you know in advance.

Good luck!

Francesco

Hey there, it depends and I've seen both scenarios. Typically, first round would be 2 interviews in 1 day and the second round would be 2 interviews on another day. if you are doing the interviews on zoom, not in person, things might be more scattered. Personally, I had my 2 rounds back to back in 2 days (2 interviews on the 1st, 2 on the 2nd) but that was because the hiring team had flew in for few days only. 

Hi there, 

Traditionally the two interviews of the first round would happen on the same day. 

Sometimes due to scheduling they could put them in different days. You can clarify this with HR when you schedule the slots. 

Best of luck with R1!

Cristian

Hi there,

The most frequent scenario is you will have these on the same day. Of course things happen, but HR will let you know of the schedule.

As others have said, normally they're back to back, but sometimes there is a problem with getting interviewers on the day and they need to split them out over two days. This is not at all common though. Good luck!

Hello,

Congratulations on getting an interview! Generally the first round comprises of 2 interviews on the same day (back-to-back or with some space in between), but as others here have pointed out, this will depend on interviewer availability and whether you are interviewing in person or virtually. I would recommend checking with HR at the office which you are applying to.

I second Florian here. If the interview is in-person, they will try as much as possible to have it back to back. This will not be the case with remote interviews, whereas you can have a bit of interval between interviews, or even have then in different days. Having said this, they still try to have them as close as possible (but with a small gap between them).