Junior Associate vs Associate at McKinsey

Junior associate is a level lower than associate, it is between associate and Business analyist.

Tipycally it is the level you enter after PHD or if you are an industry hire.

It is much more difficult to compare this role with the expert track because they are significantly different.

Hope this help,

Matteo

Hi,

First of all being a junior associate has both pros and cons.

Pros:

• If you have never worked in consulting this is a good starting point since you can get more experience before starting to manage projects and have more time to improve if you fail something
• The quarterly evaluation process is less tough than for an associate
• You automatically get promoted to ASC in 1 year

Cons:

• Lower salary and bonus
• +1 year longer career path

Re your second question - not really. Expert track has it's own path, salary, etc

Good luck!

Hi there,

To your question:

Q: Can anyone explain to me the difference between a Junior Associate & an Associate role at McKinsey?

Expectations are pretty similar. As Junior Associate you would have more support in your initial projects until you prove you can lead a workstream totally independent.

Q: Also, in the Expert track, for an experienced hire, I believe he/she would join as a Junior Specialist. Is that equivalent to a Junior Associate role in the Generalist track?

It is. Career speed and salaries are the same. Only differences are in career paths. As expert, you choose between being fully expert or Expert EM at some point and if you on the second, you can only reach to Expert Partner (specialist cannot become Senior Partners)

Best,

Alberto