PEI Stories - Entrepreneurial Drive - McKinsey

entrepreneurial drive McKinsey PEI
Neue Antwort am 27. Dez. 2020
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Anonym A fragte am 26. Dez. 2020

Hello there,

Merry Chirstmas to all,

I am currently preparing for McKinsey (and the other 2 MBBs), and I am struggling a litte bit figuring out what can be considered as Entrepreneurial Drive. I have read all the answers on that matter on the Q&A, and drafted a few elements. I wanted to check if the story I am telling could qualify for this dimension :

- During my last year of studies, I wanted to save money to offer a memorable trip to my family (for my graduation and summer vacation). So, as many students in my school do, I thought about proposing private tutoring. But I wanted to do it on a bigger scale and without using the usual companies.

- The major difficulties were: having a comparable reach to the specialist companies / platforms that other students use + not being a native speaker of the country, people could be dubious + extremely busy otherwise with my research work, my exams, and my preparation to strategy consulting interviews

- So I put flyers all over my city (also around the nearest schools), posted all over the social media, and offered deals for my first students (and if they refer me to their friends). I also offered packages to my first students to help them also with other topics

- Result: I managed to get a really decent salary and significant savings, and offered my family the most memorable trip to come see me in my country of residence

==> Does this qualify as a PEI story for entrepreneurial drive ? or, as many students offer tutoring services, it is not that impactful?

Many thanks,

Have a lovely weekend and a happy a new year

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Clara
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antwortete am 27. Dez. 2020
McKinsey | Awarded professor at Master in Management @ IE | MBA at MIT |+180 students coached | Integrated FIT Guide aut

Hello!

Merry Xmas to you too :)

There is material there to make a good and solid Entrepreneurial Drive story, but it depends very very much on how you tell it (more precisely, stakeholder management, data leveraged for decision making, impact quantification, key learnings, etc.)

In order to better prep for behavioural stories like that, the "Integrated FIT guide for MBB" has been recently published in PrepLounge´s shop (https://www.preplounge.com/en/shop/tests-2/integrated-fit-guide-for-mbb-34)

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.

Furthermore, you can find 3 free cases in the PrepL case regarding FIT preparation:

Feel free to PM me for disccount codes for the Integrated FIT Guide, since we still have some left from the launch!

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Anonym A am 27. Dez. 2020

Thank you Clara, I will for sure buy this guide. Does the impact have to be quantifiable? Because if I take the only example I actually have, the impact could not be quantified ... Many thanks

Adi
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Content Creator
antwortete am 27. Dez. 2020
Accenture, Deloitte | Precision Case Prep | Experienced Interviewer & Career Coach | 15 years professional experience

Hey,

I think if you use storytelling techniques you can make your example engaging & impactful. When using personal examples in interviews, good storytelling is key. In terms of value, think about how what you did helped:

  • Create more $ and/or
  • Reduce $ and/or
  • Improve wellbeing of people (happiness, engagement etc)

There are good courses on storytelling on Udemy or free ones on Youtube. Check out this thread too: https://www.preplounge.com/en/consulting-forum/how-to-start-an-answer-of-telling-a-story-about-past-projects-8188

But broadly, am sure when you dig deeper into your school/uni/work life you can find some examples where you demonstrated Entrepreneurial skills - this doesnt always have to be starting a new business but an opportunity you spotted & executed that others missed which created value (as per above). This could be a small but impactful thing. Use storytelling to make this powerful.

Good luck

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Udayan
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antwortete am 26. Dez. 2020
Top rated McKinsey Case & PEI coach/Multiple real offers/McKinsey EM in New York /6 years McKinsey recruiting experience

As a rule avoid any personal stories for PEI - these are very difficult to grade for the interviewer and also not relevant. What they are most interested in is knowing how you behave in a professional setting (or in a non acadmic setting at university - so clubs, sports, research labs etc)

Entrepreneurial Drive questions aim to learn about how adept you are at overcoming obstacles while practicing sound judgment. They are especially looking at situations where you solved a complex problem and were driven to do so of your own volition.

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Anonym A am 26. Dez. 2020

ok thank you... during my studies, I didn't really get involved in many clubs, I am having trouble finding an impactful story. Otherwise, I have been a consultant since 3 years now. Maybe I will try to have a story from my apprenticeship in a company, where I took the initiative to develop a presentation support with a standard marketing speech for our product. The only issue here is that I already mentioned that on my resume with the verb "contributed", so I am afraid it will be like I am taking credit from something I didn't do. Many thanks, bests

(editiert)

Udayan am 26. Dez. 2020

That sounds MUCH better. Change the wording to be about your exact work and not a supporting role. It has to be about how your helped achieve something

Gaurav
Experte
Content Creator
antwortete am 27. Dez. 2020
Ex-Mckinsey|Certified Career Coach |Placed 500+ candidates at MBB & other consultancies

Hi there and Merry Christmas,

It's a very good story in itself, but I have a feeling they would like to hear about a more professional experience, i.e. while working on a project, in a company, during your internship etc.

Good luck for the interview!

GB

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Anonym A am 27. Dez. 2020

Thank you Gaurav. Is taking the initiative to structure a new approach for the pre-sales / marketing team during my apprenticeship a good example? I feel like we need to exagerate a little bit our impact and our initiative scope in order to have an impactful story... The reality is that I have been a strategy consultant at a Tier 2 company for 3 years now, and I cannot recall an Entrepreneurial Drive experience within consulting. The experience I mention took place before consulting, during my research work within a startup. Back then, the company didn't have a structured way to approach customers (no standard speech, presentation, etc.). I was supposed to mainly work on my research topic and some financial reporting, and I proposed to structure that new approach. Does this qualify for an Entrepreneurial Drive Story? Many thanks again

(editiert)

Gaurav am 27. Dez. 2020

Yes, it sounds more like it. Make sure your decision had a positive impact on the function of the company. Exaggerating is not a bad thing, at the end, everything is just a matter of perspective. GB

Ian
Experte
Content Creator
antwortete am 27. Dez. 2020
MBB | 100% personal interview success rate (8/8) and 95% candidate success rate | Personalized interview prep

Hi there,

I'd have agree with Udayan here.

That being said, if you really can't think of another story, you may be able to spin this up a bit more (but does need to be changed from its current state).

Really, you should ideally think of story where you took initiative on your own project, used creative thinking to launch something new, etc. etc.

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Anonym A am 27. Dez. 2020

Thank you Ian. I will try to turn the story mentioned to Udayan into something like that.

Anonym antwortete am 27. Dez. 2020

Hi,

This could potentially be used and it has some key elements like planning, marketing, result. However, I would suggest a story that has longer term purpose beyond taking your family for a trip.

Best,
Iman

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Clara

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McKinsey | Awarded professor at Master in Management @ IE | MBA at MIT |+180 students coached | Integrated FIT Guide aut
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