Value & Purpose Interview at McKinsey

Question

Hi everyone,

I'm currently preparing for my final interview day at McKinsey Germany. My recruiter sent me a preparation document, and while the main focus is on PEI and case prep, there's a small section referring to a potential closing interview with one of the partners, centered on discussing my personal values and McKinsey's values.

I've found very little information about this online and gather that it's not a common format across all offices. My current approach is to prepare a few short stories aligned with McKinsey's three core values.

That said, I feel these themes overlap quite a bit with what's already covered in the PEI. My question is: is it acceptable to draw from the same context as one of my PEI stories for the values discussion - naturally tailored to the specific value rather than simply copied over - or is the rule just as strict here that no story should be used twice?

Honestly, if I need three entirely new stories on top of the eight I've already prepared for the PEI, I'd be running out of strong, authentic examples.

Thanks in advance for any advice!

Answer 1

Hi,

To answer your question - feel free to stick to the stories you have already prepared well, no need for an overkill here!

Speaking from experience, back when I interviewed with the Firm, I only had three well thought-through stories for all my 7 interviews in total, so less can be more as well! :) (Repetition across rounds isn't a big deal!)

Are you perhaps interviewing for a specific practice or so? In that case, a final interview of this nature can happen. For example, I had interviewed specifically for the Marketing and Sales Practice of McKinsey, so back then I had two rounds of three interviews each and a final 7th interview with the Partner who was building the Marketing and Sales Practice, so naturally he wanted to meet me before making that final offer (was more of a meet & greet than a real PEI)!

Either way, good luck and fingers crossed!

Jimmy
(Context: I was 7 years with McKinsey, most recently as Associate Partner)

Answer 2

Hello,

It’s absolutely fine to reuse the same underlying experience or context across different questions, including for the values discussion

What matters is not having completely different stories every time but how well your story fits the question you’re being asked. If one experience can genuinely showcase multiple dimensions (leadership, impact, values, ...)you can absolutely leverage it more than once, as long as you adapt the angle and emphasis.

The same applies to PEI: you do NOT need entirely different stories for every question. You can definetly reuse a smaller set of experiences and tailor them effectively, rather than stretching to come up with too many weaker examples.

Quality, depth, and relevance always matter more than the sheer number of stories

Good luck!
Franco

Answer 3

Hey,

It's totally OK to draw from the same stories you are prepping for the PEI part and adapt them for a conversation on Values. And if you already have 8, going to 10 or 12 stories won't make you better prepared.

If you still want to prepare more, it's probably better to exercise on how to link those stories to different questions you can expect from the PEI/Values section. In my view, you will see that new stories are not truly needed, but you might discover that a slight twist is needed to create a compelling narrative to cover the "creating a great work environment" topic. For example, this might mean creating two versions of Story 1:

Story 1A (where, say, you highlight your entrepreneurship during a startup competition in college)
Story 1B (same background, but you highlight how you kept your team's morale high while doing that!)

Just an important reminder: PEI and Values-adjacent questions from McKinsey Partners and Senior Partners can be tough. They will use the same logical rigor that you can expect from a quantitative interview in a case.
E.g., "This candidate told me three stories about their love for project ownership, but will he be ready to work in a 3-week DD engagement where our team will mostly validate a management case that we can not realistically change and that we will never truly own?"

My tip: make sure that all your stories have a bullet-proof element of "I am a perfect fit for McKinsey". And if you are insecure, book a 15-min consultation to see if a coach can help :)

Good luck on your interview, you'll crush it!

PS: Just as a reference for the other candidates, this page shares McKinsey's purpose, mission, and values: https://www.mckinsey.com/about-us/overview/our-purpose-mission-and-values