Help for the 1st Mckinsey's round interviews

Hi there,

Congrats on passing the first round - now the hard part!

Feedback, advise, material, etc. is exactly what us coaches are here for! Feel free to reach out to me and I'll be happy to work with you.

Hi there,

Congratulations on passing the Imbellus!

I would recommend the following to maximize the likelihood of an offer (you have probably covered already some of them in your prep):

1. Define a calendar for your preparation. Identify how many hours you have before your interview and allocate a time slot for preparation in your calendar for each day, working on the points below. Many candidates need 100+ hours to be ready before the interview starting from zero so you can keep that as a benchmark.
2. Read Case In Point or Case Interview Secrets for a general understanding of what a consulting interview is. Don’t focus on the structures proposed in the books, as they are not good enough nowadays.
3. Start reading good MBA Consulting Handbooks – you can find several for free online (INSEAD is a good one to start). Read the cases and try to apply your structure to solve them. Whenever you see there is something missing, upgrade your structure with the new insights. Try to read a new case per day – in this way you will absorb better the information with constant learning.
4. After the first 5-10 cases in books/handbooks and basic theory, start to practice live. PrepLounge can be helpful to connect with other candidates for that. There is a relevant part of the interview score that is based on your communication, which you cannot practice at all if you read cases only. 
5. Keep track of your mistakes and see which ones you are repeating. If so, try to identify the source of the mistake (feedback from experienced partners would be particularly useful for this). Be sure to focus on both the behavioral part and the case part during the mocks. For McKinsey, you will have to prepare the PEI stories on the 3 usual dimensions. The case part should also cover market sizing (yes, in some offices they may ask estimation questions also at McKinsey, contrary to what is sometimes mentioned online), math and graph analysis.
6. Before the interviews, be sure to prepare your questions for the interviewer  – a great way to show you prepared in advance and to connect with the interviewer for a good final impression. Ideally, get information on who they are and study their profile to have good questions to ask.

If you want to spend a few hours only instead of 100+ and cover everything mentioned above, I developed a program precisely for that. 

I can also share with you real McKinsey questions asked in your target office (I have a db with 1.400+ questions asked in 60+ offices you won't find anywhere else - you can check on my profile if I cover your particular office).

You can check the program at the following link to learn more:

https://www.preplounge.com/en/case-coach/profile/2433#coaching-package

If you have any questions please feel free to PM me.

Best,

Francesco

Florian and Francisco already have suggested a wealth of material that I'm sure will keep you busy.  

Personally, my advice would be to also spend time understanding WHY you are being asked certain questions in the PEI and Case.  For example, what is the interviewer really looking for when they ask you about an example of “inclusive leadership”, how is that relevant to your fit of being successful at McKinsey?  

Good luck!

Hi there, 

Congrats! It depends a lot on your current level of preparation. I would suggest the following:

1. If you're just beginning - the Bootcamp (Resources > Bootcamp) on PrepLounge is a good place to start. There's lots of info for beginners on how cases work, what are the common frameworks, etc. Also, flip through a few books like Case In Point and Case Interview Secrets. Lastly, watch videos on youtube on other people doing cases (reach out directly and I can provide you with links). Read a few cases cases on PrepLounge to understand what is the typical structure of a case. Invest about 15-20 hours doing this then start doing cases with other people.
2. If you know how cases work and what is expected from you. Keep on doing cases with other people and try to log as many sessions as possible. Try all types of cases. Aim to do 50-100 cases to reach a decent level of mastery. Get coaching sessions to benefit from expert feedback and an assessment of your readiness for the interview. 

Happy to help directly if you have any questions. It's a fun journey! 

Also, don't worry too much about the interview date. It can always be moved if you ask for it. The important thing is to reach a level of preparation that you are comfortable with and that has been validated by people with significantly more experience. Then there's nothing standing between you and that offer. 

Hi there, 

Congrats on passing the 1st step, the one with the slimmest chance to pass of all, only approx. 10% of candidates succeed! 

I am sure most of the coaches, can provide all you look for and get you ready for the interviews! Feel free to check out my approach and reviews, I will be happy to support you!

Lucie

Was this answer helpful?

Hey there,

How would I approach it?

1. Read the 2 articles I wrote on the McKinsey interviews to get started.

1. Case: https://www.preplounge.com/en/mckinsey-interview
2. PEI: https://www.preplounge.com/en/articles/mckinsey-pei

2. Conduct structure, chart, and math drills; work on your perceived areas of weakness and the areas you got negative feedback on during your previous application more so than on the other areas. Your goal should be to create a strong baseline performance across all question types and stand out in 1-2 specifically.

3. Practice with other experienced peers. Quality over quantity and I would recommend in total maybe 20 peer interviews

4. Read through McKinsey publications to get a feel for their language, phrases, communication, current hot topics, etc.

5. Draft your PEI stories as per the article linked above. Write 2 stories for each dimension and practice them out loud

6. If you want to speed the process up and know how a real McKinsey interview is done from start to finish with a clear process and all the tricks you need to know to perform at your best, let me know.

In total, I would invest between 100-150 hours over 12 weeks. That amounts to around 8-12 hours a week. Don't forget to include breaks to reset your mind.

If you are not working, you can decrease the prep time to 6-8 weeks.

All the best with your application!

Cheers,

Florian

Congrats!

Here are some tips:

For the case interview, 

• practice with peers and coaches as soon as possible. This will help you to focus on the right areas. You get feedback and understand how you come across during the case problem-solving.
• don't learn and force random frameworks on cases. Rather create your own like consultants usually do on the job or make sure they really fit.
• learn structuring your approach and communicate very well.

For the PEI interview,

• prepare 2 stories per dimension in detail.
• choose the right stories that demonstrate the skills the interviewer wants to see.
• allow the interviewer to understand your thought patterns. (e.g., Why did you act a certain way? Why did you think you could influence that stakeholder using this strategy?)