In one round of 2 interviews, the interviewers the same behavior questions, should I use the same example?

Hey there,

It depends:

1. If the question is related to your motivation, you should have the same answer ready (e.g., why consulting, why firm x, guide me through your resume,…)

2. If the question deals with a specific character trait (e.g. for the PEI: https://www.preplounge.com/en/mckinsey-pei), have another story ready.

Cheers,

Florian

In principle, they are making their own independent judgements, not collecting additional information on that behaviour. 

But it may happen that they read the notes from your previous interview, so as a general rule it would be better if you had a different example.

However, sometimes you just have a great example, and the second option wouldn't be as good. Then go ahead and give the same example. 

The risk you have is that he already “heard” that example before and will ask for a new one. And that is why you should always have a second example ready!

Hi there,

If you have equally (or almost equally) good stories, then use a different one.

If you have a 2nd story but it's not very good (say, 50% as good) then use the same one!

Essentially, we want variety but not at the cost of quality!

Hi there,

This is indeed an interesting question which is probably relevant for quite a lot of users, so I am happy to provide my perspective on it:

• In case you are interviewing with McKinsey, you are required to use a different situation for the same dimension - and at best across dimensions.
• In case you are interviewing with a company different that McKinsey, it depends on whether you would have another equally strong situation for the same question or not. If not, I would advise you to go with the same situation since interviewers will most probably not compare situations (since there is no reason to do so) but make their assessment independently from each other.

In case you want a more detailed discussion on your answers to different behavioral questions, please feel free to contact me directly.

I hope this helps,

Hagen

Hi!

I would definitely change your story.

Good luck,

Anto

Hi there! It's quite strange indeed that you got asked the same question. Usually the interviewers aim to cover different areas. Still, I would tell a different story, to show that you have multiple examples that you can rely on. Which is why it's always best to have 2+ stories for each category of behavioral question.

I have heard from one of my coachee that they were asked by one of the interviewers to use different stories for the second interview in the round, but reuse the stories in the next round if required.