Hi there and thanks for asking this important question.

The answer is really simple.  The interviewer will ask you a to tell about an experience you've had with one of those dimensions that you mentioned.  No tricks, no gimmics, no different aspects.

The interviewer will likely ask for tons of detail about the story.  (Why did you do that?  What were you thinking?  What kind of response were you expecting?  What did you learn?  Would you do it the same way again?).

I don't understand why people think they need more than 3 stories for McK.  I have no evidence that partners in the second round check to see if you told the same story in the first round and then count that against you for some reason.

Hope this helps!

Message me if you have more questions.

Allen

Hi Barbara,

The interviewer will focus on one dimension when they ask a PEI question. So if they ask you, say, a leadership story, they will ask for details for that particular dimension. It could happen though that as part of one dimension, a different one is touched (eg details on how you had to convince a particular person of your team to do something in a leadership story).

You definitely don’t need 15 stories ;). A good number of stories is 6 (2 per dimension). It is good if you have a backup for each story for the following reasons:

1. The interviewers may ask for the same dimension (it is not common but may happen). Presenting two different stories would then be better in case they discuss them
2. The interviewer may not like your initial part of the story and ask to switch to a different one. You can then switch to the other one you prepared
3. Some stories may fit better a particular question (eg tell me about a time when you had challenges as a leader vs tell me about a time when you had to manage a conflict in a team)

Best,

Francesco

Hi there,

I would say it's not an OR but rather an AND. You should expect both types of questions and be prepared to go quite deep into your story.

15 stories is ridiculous! Don't worry, you are better served having 6-8 killer stories that you really know well rather than 15 stories you can barely keep track of!

I had just one story for each interviewer and no questions were asked while I told the stories. I actually got a feedback later that my stories were really good. 

So if you have solid stories, just 3 will be more than enough

Each PEI interview will focus on a single PEI dimension. The broad question you will be asked for each of the three PEI dimensions are on the McKinsey website (https://www.mckinsey.com/careers/interviewing) where the interviewer will ask questions to deepen their understanding of your impact in the story. I would have 1-2 stories ready per dimension and just be very comfortable with the specificities of the story as well as being able to tell the story both in a monologue as well as a conversation where you will need to adapt the flow of the story based on how the interviewer wants to discuss it.

Good luck!