How to navigate from McK to Bain / BCG Interviews?

Question

Hey,

I already had my McK interviews and made it to the final round.

McK was always very strong on “be as creative as possible, go very much in depth with your framework, creativeness is more important to us than being always 100% structured”.

I naturally tend to develop very deep frameworks with a lot of tailored insights to the case.

However, I have the feeling that I have to be much quicker with my framework presentation at Bain and BCG.

How do I navigate that? It feels very hard for me to cut out parts which I think do add value and differentiate me as candidate

Answer 1

Hi there,

This is a great question and it's a good sign that you're aware of this distinction.

On a very high level, McKinsey is looking for deep and broad structures, that are creative and insightful which are adjusted for the context of the client. Grossly, the average presentation time should be 5-6 minutes for the structure alone.

Other firms, including BCG and Bain, are looking for more hypothesis driven structures. They appreciate you more making the most of the hints provided in the prompt and then adjusting the depth of your structure to investigate specifically the areas of high probability in helping you reach a recommendation. The average presentation time here can be shorter, 3-4 minutes.

Needless to say, these durations are just as a high-level anchor and should not be followed to the letter. At the end of the day, the duration of the structure should reflect what is necessary for the case.

Now, how to navigate the transition from McK structures to BCG/Bain ones:

1. See the BCG/Bain structure as a tool, while the McK one as a map. You should build the BCG/Bain structure as a tool that you'll be using to validate the hypothesis that you already have in mind or to quickly formulate one. By comparison, the McK framework is an overall map of the subject matter, showing comprehensively everything that is relevant for the topic, even if some topics might not be critical for validating the hypothesis.

2. Listen closely to the prompt and then aim to formulate a hypothesis. Then create the structure around that hypothesis. In McK cases you know you will be provided with separate, often unrelated questions by the interviewer. With BCG/Bain structures you know that you'll be driving the case from start to finish. As a consequence, squeeze as much out of the prompt as possible, aim to formulate a hypothesis, then start asking a couple of clarifying questions to further increase the confidence level of your hypothesis. Then set to work to develop the actual structure.

3. Adjust for depth. In most situations, you could have high-level similar buckets in a McK and BCG/Bain interpretation of the case. What will make the difference is how deep you decide to go in each area. Basically, for BCG/Bain cases, you'll aim to go deep and investigate especially the areas that will be critical in helping you validate the hypothesis. For McK cases, you will rather aim for a balanced structure in terms of depth, where you investigate all areas equally.

I hope this provides you with a sense of direction in making this transition. It's not the easiest change to make, but I'm sure you'll figure it out. Feel free to reach out directly if I can help clarify any of the aspects above.

Best,

Cristian

Answer 2

Yes, McKinsey likes deep structures and candidates can go even 4-5 mins in laying down the communication on the structure.

At BCG and Bain is more important to lay down the logical order of the things you want to discuss. Ideally, a structure should be similar to the agenda of a good “answer-first” presentation.

That said, the goal is to have relevant and business meaningful structures. So, focus on adding value to your hypothesis, instead of thinking about just the depth of your structure.

Answer 3

Hi there!

It is fantastic that you are thinking about this and the differences. Below are a few pointers I would focus on

Framework: You should aim for 1.5 - 2 mins for the framework and practice getting to the level of depth you can. 2 layers is usually good enough and sometimes maybe the revenue / cost tree need a third layer. But you would not need to go beyond that. Communicate it crisp and vertically
Driving the case: Mckinsey interviews tend to be more question driven and you need to answer the question and the interviewer might take you to the next part. With Bain/ BCG, you need to drive the case a bit more and tell the interviewer what you want to explore next and why.
So what: As you are completing any bits of analysis through the various exhibits, do not forget to mention the “so what” and how that relates to the overall answer from each chart and bit of analysis.

Good luck and feel free to reach out if you would like to discuss further :)