How to Verify Unpaid Internship for Hireright? - McKinsey

Question

How should I go about verifying my unpaid internship for the McKinsey employment verification? I just recently graduated from Undergrad and don't have many professional experiences, but this is one of them and was on my resume. I don't have an offer letter from the experience, but I can request at least 2 references/letters from my old manager and another supervisor from the company. Will this be enough?

Since it can't be verified through traditional payroll/HR channels, how will Hireright/my recruiter respond to this? Should I be concerned?

Answer 1

From my experience, you're fine as long as you can provide some sort of written confirmation — ideally a short letter from someone who supervised you, with their name, title, contact info, and dates you worked together.

Hireright can be a bit rigid — they often look for payroll or HR-backed proof, which obviously doesn’t exist for unpaid internships.

If Hireright pushes back (which they might), I’d recommend:

Asking them exactly what kind of documentation they’d accept
Then providing just that — no more, no less
Loop in your recruiter if needed, but only after you've made a good-faith effort

Wouldn’t worry too much — this comes up often, and as long as you’re transparent and responsive, it usually gets sorted but might take some time.