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Anonymous A

on Feb 11, 2019

Global

The most unusal cases you have experienced?

I have my interview with Mckisney and I have heard that they throw some really out of the box situations? So if anyone has experienced any such situation.

Thank you!

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Vlad

Coach

on Feb 11, 2019

McKinsey / Accenture Alum / Got all BIG3 offers / Harvard Business School

Hi,

These cases are rare is that the casebooks (that are in general not a good source of cases). But actually, these cases are very common at McKinsey

To provide a bit of structure, there are several types of non-profit cases:

Factors influencing the price (What are the factors influencing the price of oil? Factors influencing the price of real estate?)
Macroeconomic cases (How will you improve life expectancy in a particular city? How will you decrease the unemployment?)
Public sector non-profits (Increasing the revenues of a museum; increasing the revenues from tourism in a city)
Redesigning the processes (How will you develop a new anti-monopoly regulation?)
Non-profit investments (A billionaire is building a new school. What are the factors to look at?)

It is critical to define the objective for these cases to set a proper structure. Two types of questions you should ask:

Could you please clarify the model / business model? E.g. if a billionaire is building a new school, is it a school for talented kids, rich kids or mass segment? Is it going to generate revenues?
What are the main criteria for success? Is it NPV, ROI, share talented kids entering the top Universities?

As you can see there are many types of cases and many frameworks that can be used. I usually give a big homework (10 cases) and then cover them within one session. Feel free to reach me if you need help.

Best!

Guennael

Coach

on Feb 11, 2019

Ex-MBB, Experienced Hire; I will teach you not only the how, but also the why of case interviews

It is spelled "McKinsey" :)

I haven't heard that, my experience is most companies are moving aways from these crazy scenarios. But if you really want ideas, google the following: "crazy google interview questions". Note that Google doesn't do this anymore btw

Cedric

on Feb 12, 2019

In my second round interviews I had a partner who's case was to estimate the total number of airplanes flying over a country at a given point in time.