McKinsey PEI - Story Review (Drive)

Question

Hello together,

what would you think of following story for E-Drive?

Setting: founded a Alumni network organisation for my (poorly) connected colleauges particularly of the business faculty

Faced three major challenges

1) Convincing the University (getting them at least on board even though they could not prohibit it)

2) Technical setup (finding co-founders, writing the statutes/legal code, creating a first rudimentary webpage)

3) Finding new members outside of our graduation class (established connections to well regarded University clubs who funnel further members into our club)

Target is to foster connection among highly motivated and driven students and establish regular meetups in key cities that we all went out to work after graduation.

I studied at a normal public school for my Bachelors (Europe) and only went to a target for my Masters. The main challenge I realized that the alumni base was really poorly connected and I wanted to change that.

Is that story a good fit or would you think it could be slightly too boring to bring?

Thanks

Answer 1

Hi there,

From what you have written I believe it could work, however, for the PEI what matters are the details of the story.

Be prepared to talk about this situation for 15-20 minutes. During that time, interviewers will go very deep and try to elicit the right type of content.

Pay attention to the following when telling your story:

For this dimension, the interviewer will ask you about a situation where you set a goal for yourself and achieved it against all odds. You need to demonstrate

ambition and dedication by pursuing several goals at the same time
an intrinsic desire and motivation to achieve this goal
how you overcame obstacles or faced headwinds along the way by coming up with creative and new ideas or approaches
how you follow the goals with energy and passion until you reached the desired outcome

For more on the PEI, check out this article: https://www.preplounge.com/en/articles/mckinsey-pei

Cheers,

Florian

Answer 2

Thanks for sharing your story.

As mentioned, it really boils down to the details of the story. From my experience, it is important to underline the stakes of the situation - why was establishing an alumni association so important? What was the specific impact?

Moreover, I would always try to include some form of challenge or hurdle that you had to overcome. From your description, it sounds like relatively smooth sailing: You had an idea, talked to the university and then established the association. Where did you face adversity? Who did you have to convince.

Lastly, every good PEI answer proactively mentions your own shortcomings: What did you learn from the situation? Where did you fall short? What would you do differently

All the best with your interview,

Mathias

Answer 3

it seems as a good base of the story. Now how to take it further.

➢ It is critical to explain what the real benefit, better say impact you have foresee by doing it (e.g. ability to connect, network and open new business opportunities)

➢ Set the context!

➢ Then explain HOW you solved it: what you have done differently than others (have done/would do) that led to the success. It is important that you transmit clearly the resolution came thanks to your exceptional work/planning/relationship/…. rather than result of coincidence, someone else work, etc.

➢ Make sure to explain what this resolution resulted in/meant, what impact your resolution had (e.g. we were able go ahead with our deal of 2M)

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Answer 4

Hi there,

I agree with the others here. This story sounds like it can work. However, it's really going to come down to how organized and detailed you are in executing the story itself.