McKinsey PEI vs non-McKinsey's FIT

Hi there,

McKinsey is unique in the sense you almost always get one PEI question on one of the 3 dimensions in each interview (Inclusive Leadership, Entrepreneurial Drive, Personal Impact). 

You may get other questions such as “Tell me about yourself”, however that doesn’t always happen and is not part of the PEI assessment.

Compared to other firms, at McKinsey they also expect more details on the story and the interviewers tend to ask for more information and followup questions, so that a single question may well last 10-15 minutes, including the followup questions and your explanations.

There have been some changes recently with the leadership dimension. Before it was simply called “Leadership”, but was then changed to “Inclusive Leadership”, meaning you have to talk about a diverse group of people.

You can find more details at the link below:

https://www.preplounge.com/en/consulting-forum/mckinsey-pei-difference-drive-and-personal-impact-918

In the other firms you may get:

1. Same questions as McKinsey (usually with fewer followup questions and details required)
2. Only questions on “traditional fit”. For example:
   • Tell me about yourself
   • Why consulting
   • Why us
3. A mix of 1 and 2
4. No fit at all (this happened to a few candidates I helped for Bain recently)

Hope this helps,

Francesco

Hey there,

Very good question. It has definitely been around for a while (+10 years but could be much longer).

In recent years it has only evolved ever so slightly. For instance, they changed the Leadership dimension to Inclusive Leadership with slight changes in metrics used to evaluate the story.

If you want to get an in-depth and up-to-date perspective on the PEI, have a look at the article I wrote for PrepLounge: https://www.preplounge.com/en/mckinsey-pei

Cheers,

Florian

Hi there,

Francesco said it best.

I do just want to emphasize that there really is a two-birds-one-stone approach to fit here that you should employ.

The questions that McK asks and that other consulting firms ask are very similar. As in, non-McK companies also ask about leadership experience, challenges, learnings, teamwork, persuasion, initiative, etc. McK just groups them!

Of course Mck has a specific framework, dives deeper into your answers, etc. etc.

BUT, you can prepare the same stories in the same way. There is a lot of overlap here, and as long as you identify the key themes/types of questions and have answers that cover them, you've already fought half the battle across all companies!

Then, take the above and practice specifically for Mck.

Hello,

The format and questions have definitely evolved over time as McKinsey is constantly seeking to improve the interview process. The approach is only different in that the questions are grouped into these specific P,E, and I categories, but other than that the questions themselves are very similar to other firms' behavioral interviews, so the preparation is essentially the same.