McKinsey final round interview wait time.

Question

Hi I interviewed with McKinsey Consulting superday yesterday (Thursday). The last partner told me I would hear back today or tomorrow. But as of 6:00pm eastern time I have not received any word. I had 4 interviews back to back with no break, and honestly my mind was shot. I did well on the PEI, and fairly well on all the cases except for one. It was unfortunately with a partner. I had 1 engagement manager, 2 associate partners, and 1 partner. Is my wait time relatively bad news? everyone I know who has been hired was called within a few hours. Just anxious!

Answer 1

Hi there,

First of all, congratulations on getting through both McKinsey rounds!

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:

First of all, I would highly advice you to relax and not think about your McKinsey interviews the whole day.
Secondly, there are a lot of reasons why you have not yet heard back that have nothing to do with your performance or the final outcome such as
- Your (very) senior interviewers haven't found a free slot to discuss your interview performance
- HR hasn't found a free slot to get back to you
Lastly, and contradictory to what Ian said, I consider it to be a false and hasty assumption that your chances of getting an offer are in any way lower simply because the waiting time is longer (see aspects above).

In case you want a more detailed discussion on what to do in your specific situation, please feel free to contact me directly.

I hope this helps,

Hagen

Answer 2

I would advise you to be patient . You should hear in a few days , if you don't hear after a week drop an email to HR on feedback. Either way as Ian highlights , McKinsey is not the last firm or consulting is not the only industry that can provide interesting opportunities

Thanks

Ashwin

Answer 3

Hi there,

You are "fine".

It amazes me interviewers continue to do this. I actually think it's more common for them to miss this promise than make it.

Give it another week or two. Things happen.

Of course, your odds are lower now, but you're not officially knocked out until they tell you.

Regardless, continue preparing for your other interviews and applying to other firms - McKinsey is not the end-all-be-all.

Answer 4

Hi there,

No, the long wait time doesn't necessarily mean bad news. I actually waited for a week before they called me.

Sometimes it just takes a while for everybody to get on a call, review your performance and take a decision. So try not to worry to much in the meantime. It's out of your hands at the moment.

Best,

Cristian

Answer 5

Hi there,

There could be several reasons why they are delaying the call even in case of an offer. For example:

Partners got busy and cannot align
HR got busy and did not manage to call

If you don’t hear within 1 week it is totally fine to follow up.

Good luck!

Francesco

Answer 6

Hello!

I totally understand, I did bite all my nails waiting for the McK call.

Don´t assume the worst for the fact that they haven´t called yet, since it was only yesterday and there are a million of client things that could have got in the way of the interviewers meeting and debriefing - actually, I think it´s very wishful thinking that they said they´d come back in a day.

Best of luck!

Cheers,

Clara

Answer 7

Hi there,

The same has been happening with almost all of my McKinsey coachees lately - most of which received offers in the end.

Seems like McKinsey are having some process bottlenecks this year, notably across different locations.

Hence, this is neither good nor bad news and you simply have to wait…

Best of luck! Keeping my fingers crossed!