McKinsey Additional Interview

Hi! This situation is more common at McKinsey than most people realize, and you’re right to dig deeper. Here's what this really means:

An additional case-only interview after final rounds usually signals disagreement among your final interviewers.

Specifically:

• One interviewer likely strongly supported you, potentially even pushed for a hire.
• Another had substantial reservations — not a complete no, but enough to withhold a definitive offer.

So what happens?
McKinsey’s process kicks in a very typical mechanism: a targeted tiebreaker interview, focused entirely on resolving that uncertainty. And if it’s case-only, the signal is clear:

This means your PEI performance was probably fine — not the issue. The question mark is about your problem-solving consistency, structure, or decision logic under pressure.

That might sound worrying, but here’s the silver lining:
You’re still in the game, which means at least one Partner is already advocating for you.
McKinsey would not waste time on a candidate with no internal sponsor.

So what should you do now?

1. Run a clean post-mortem.
Ask yourself:

• Did one of your final-round cases feel rushed or chaotic?
• Did you lose structure midway or get overwhelmed by data?
• Were you too rigid with a framework, or too unstructured and "creative"?
• Did you sound confident, or tentative?
• Were you slow to pivot when new information dropped?

The doubt is almost never about “getting the answer right” — it’s about whether your thinking process is repeatable and trustworthy in a high-stakes client room.

2. Ask for input.
It’s totally okay to reach out to recruiting (briefly and professionally) and ask:

“Is there any feedback you’re able to share that would help me prepare effectively for the upcoming case interview?”

They might not tell you, but occasionally, they’ll hint at the concern (e.g. “structuring” or “prioritization”).

3. Prepare for a precision test.
This next interviewer already knows you’re on the edge. Their mission is not to assess you broadly.
They are looking for:
→ “Can this candidate demonstrate bulletproof logic, poise, and structure - consistently?”

Expect the case to cut deeper, faster. Expect more probing. Expect fewer second chances.

This situation means you’re already very close.
McKinsey only invests this effort when a real hiring debate is on the table.
But the next round is your last shot, and they’ll likely be looking to confirm or kill the doubt, not “explore” further.

So treat this like a spotlight moment. Lock in your structure, clarify your logic, and show them you’re someone they can bet the team’s success on.

Good luck! :)

Sidi

___________________

Dr. Sidi S. Koné

If you get invited to any "one more thing" interview - you can assume that your decision was on the edge and they need clarity through one more data point.

Bottomline - it is now your battle to win by coming up on top. 

Case-only or PEI-only - depends on the situation and it is purely McKinsey's decision. Don't think too much into it.

If you would like, we can talk over an intro call about such additional interviews and how to prepare for them - feel free to send me a direct message with more details.

Hi there,

An extra case interview usually means the firm wants one more data point to confirm consistency in casing or to compare you with a close pool of candidates. Best you can do is treat it like a clean slate and go in focused. You clearly did enough right to get here, so keep that momentum. Good luck!

Typically this means that you are an edge case - so they think you could be a good fit for the role but there are 1-2 issues that came up where this is some concern about your skills.

The best way to tackle this is to prepare for the different elements of the case very well and give it your best shot. If they did not think you could make it they would have just rejected you so in my opinion this is a good thing - they want you and are willing to give you one more shot to prove your skills to them.

Best,

Udayan