If you know how to adjust the story the right way, you can have the same story for multiple dimensions. 

It's a bit more risky, but if you don't have a lot of time left before the interview and you feel like you wouldn't be able to come up with equally strong stories, then it makes sense to go for it. 

I call these swiss army knife stories and typically recommend candidates to practice them across all the possible iterations so they're not taken by surprise during the interview. 

If you're preparing for the PEI now, you might also find this guide helpful:

Video Course: Master the McKinsey PEI

Best,
Cristian

Hi there,

Agree with Udayan.

Don't come up with stories that would fit multiple dimensions. The outcome is a big average that works okay for each dimension but does not “wow” any interviewers.

The PEI dimensions are scored and evaluated on relatively narrow criteria so you want to make sure you hit those exactly with the right stories and traits.

If you want to learn more, please read this article: Personal Experience Interview

All the best with the upcoming interviews! :-)

Cheers,

Florian

Hi there,

Q: Am wondering if this will be acceptable by the interviewer(s)

If you have the option, I would recommend choosing different stories for each dimension. Usually, a story works best for one particular dimension, so in general, picking different stories should help to match more clearly the dimensions asked.

Good luck!

Francesco

I would strongly recommend you draw from a diverse range of experiences for your pei stories and not just from one experience. 

Having just one story to fit all aspects is usually not the best practice.

Also, if you have the same start-point and end-point - then you are considering the whole episode to be the story - which is also not a recommended practice.

Ideally, your stories should belong to different timeframes/projects. And also, your stories should focus on a very small portion of the experience that allows you to be laser focused in expressing the relevant qualities that are tested in the particular dimension.

Happy to help you out in crafting the stories - let me know.

Hi there,

If you truly explain the same story with a different lens, it is a different story at the end of the day, just with similar context :)

Per my experience, this is perfectly acceptable in McKinsey interviews.

Best,

Alberto