Do Mckinsey final round interviews have FIT components (as well as case + PEI)?

Hi,

What's the difference between the FIT and PEI?

Partners on the final round will ask the general PEI questions as well as whatever they like. Remember - they are partners and thus they are super experienced in asking the right and challenging questions.  However, having multiple stories for each PEI questions will help you to adapt them quickly to any situation.

Best

Hello,

I've recently had my final interviews with McKinsey. My hypothesis is that you should definitely prepare for fit questions while it also depends on your background and feedback from early rounds.

In my case, both of my final-round interviewers asked "Why consulting" and then straight passed to the case with no PEI in between. However, it is important to note I have an unconventional background and they truly want to understand your motivation by asking several follow-up questions.  

As an ex-Mckinsey consultant and part of recruiting team, here is my perspective:

How do these interviews with the partners differ from the first round interviews?

Every partner discussion is different and the direction the conversation takes depends on role that you are interviewing for, feedback that the partner has got from earlier rounds and of course the Partner’s personality.

However, generally it is advisable to keep the following things in mind.

1) Are the cases delivered with the same style of precision and structure as the first round?

- A lot of times, the Partner round case discussions are less structured. Partners tend to give real life case from their experience or sometimes they can also pick a situation from the candidate’s CV, make a few changes and turn it into a case.

2) Is the Fit format consistent with the PEI, or do the partners take these conversations in different directions?

- Generally, Partners will hit fewer topics but will go much deeper. So they will ask you about something and then you should expect a lot of follow on questions. They really want to understand the full story

3) Generally, what portion of the hour-long session is dedicated to the case study?

- approx. 30-40 minutes

3) What personality traits are most important to demonstrate with the partners?

See the answer below.

Keep the following things in mind while preparing for the Partner interview:

Better synthesis – Your analytical mindset has already been tested in earlier rounds. Partners would like to test your client readiness. Partners pay more attention to how you draw your conclusions, communicate your conclusions, how you synthesis etc.

Comfort with less structured case discussion – Partners love to test your creativity, out of the box thinking. Multiple times in the discussion they can ask you your opinion on the data point/clarification that you had asked, to check your business acumen e.g. you asked, what is the growth rate of our client; partner responds what number would you want to assume? or open ended questions e.g. tell me more, is there anything else?

Consistent stories and deep dives – Partners would want to know your story. They want to see whether your decision to join McKinsey is consistent with your career story. Whether the achievements you have mentioned on the CV are consistent with your project stories. Partners will drill down into your experiences and achievements to the extreme. They want to understand how you react to challenges and how you think and communicate about your past work.

Feel free to get in touch with me in case of further clarification/advise on this topic.

All the best!

GB

Had 3 McKinsey final interivews. FIT was similiar to R1 - in-depth question on leaderhsip, enterpreneurial drive and impact. If you get a partner or Sr partner, they might just ask tell me "some story" and have no follow-ups, more junior partners might be more strict about following a standard mckinsey fit interiew structure (tell me about a time when you...). Bottom line - prepare like it's R1 fit question. 

Hello!

On top of the insights already shared in the post, next week will be pusblished in PrepLounge´s Shop material related. 

In concrete, the "Integrated FIT guide for MBB". It provides an end-to-end preparation for all three MBB interviews, tackling each firms particularities and combining key concepts review and a hands-on methodology. Following the book, the candidate will prepare his/her stories by practicing with over 50 real questions and leveraging special frameworks and worksheets that guide step-by-step, developed by the author and her experience as a Master in Management professor and coach. Finally,  as further guidance, the guide encompasses over 20 examples from real candidates.

Hope you find it useful!

Dear A,

Specifically, the main difference you will find in a final round with partners is that at that stage they spend more time on fit questions and your alignment with the company.

Best,

André

Yes they will. However, sometimes a bit less strict in following the cookie-cutter approach. Some partners deviate from the standard process (but still ask very pointed questions). Your approach on how to answer them should be the same as in the first round interviews.