PEI

Hi Joachim, 

that’s completely fine! As an experienced hire, McKinsey expects most of your PEI stories to come from your professional life. The key is depth of impact, not variety of contexts. As long as your stories clearly show ownership, influence, resilience, and learning, they’ll work perfectly.

If you happen to have a strong non-work example that adds color or shows a different side of you (for instance, sports, volunteering, or creative projects), you can use it for one story. But it’s not required. Many experienced candidates use only workplace examples and do very well because what matters most is that each story feels authentic and has clear actions and outcomes.

Best of luck!

Hey Joachim, it’s totally ok to focus mostly on work stories, especially if they clearly show the PEI qualities. Strong professional examples are often more relevant than hobbies or student experiences at your stage. You can sprinkle in a personal story if you have a short, memorable one, but it’s not required. Make sure your work stories clearly highlight connection, leadership, drive, and growth. You can always refine them to be concise and impactful. best, Alessa :)

Hi Joachim,

That’s totally fine. For experienced hire roles, professional examples that show impact, leadership, and problem-solving are more than enough. You don’t need to force stories from hobbies or student life if your work examples are strong and clearly demonstrate the PEI dimensions.

Hi Joachim,

No — it’s perfectly fine if all your PEI stories come from work, especially as an experienced hire. McKinsey interviewers mainly care about depth, reflection, and impact — not the setting.

That said, you can still diversify tone and context within work examples:

• Pick different teams, challenges, and roles to show range.
• For “Connection” or “Growth,” it’s fine to use mentoring or learning moments at work — they don’t need to be personal-life stories
• Avoid reusing the same project for multiple dimensions; each story should highlight a distinct situation and behavior

If you have strong, well-structured professional examples that demonstrate leadership, resilience, collaboration, and learning, that’s what matters most.

Happy to help you prep – feel free to reach out!
 

Best,

Evelina

Great question Joachim! 

No, having only work stories won’t hurt your application. 

But having only shallow work stories will!

At McKinsey, especially as an experienced hire, you’re expected to bring real depth... not just resume bullets. The bar isn’t “Did you work?”, it’s:

• Did you think clearly under pressure?
• Did you influence people who didn’t want to be influenced?
• Did you enable others to rise, not just deliver on your own?
• Did you push through something that nearly broke you?

If your work stories truly show those traits - great. You don’t need personal stories.

But here’s where it gets tricky:

Many experienced candidates bring work stories that are:

• Too abstract (“We rolled out a strategy…”)
• Too team-centric (“We decided to…”)
• Too polished (“Everything worked smoothly…”)
• Or overly hierarchical (“My boss approved it…” — and you just followed)

Those stories fail. Not because they’re work stories, but because they don’t reveal you.

So ask yourself:

• Am I showing how I thought, not just what the team did?
• Is there emotional tension - pressure, conflict, self-doubt?
• Am I exposing decision logic and root cause reasoning?
• Did I actually lead/influence/drive something? Or was I executing?

If yes - great. You don’t need “personal” stories.
If not - go back and mine deeper. Sometimes your “non-sexy” work moments are actually the richest, because that’s where the real decision-making lived.

Finally, don’t forget the real McKinsey question behind it all:
“Would I want this person on my team, solving tough problems with me, under fire?”
If your work stories answer that, you’re good. If they don’t, then that’s the risk, not the lack of variety.

Hope this helps!
Sidi

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Dr. Sidi S. Koné