PEI - What if I don't have a story to tell?

Hi, Max

Good to hear from you again, it seems you are advancing through the process.

Look, let me start with the rationale of PEI and then a couple of examples and tips.

The idea of the PEI is that everyone should be able to tell a story that somehow connects to the topic being discussed, regardless of age and professional experience. That means you, being in the beginning of the career, are not expected to tell a moving story of know you created a company that generated a thousand jobs, you know? However, you should be able to articulate either a personal or an academic story so to demonstrate the skills and experiences for topic that they want to assess (the fact that you are here asking for advice shows that you have some of those skills). I have already helped many young candidates that had thought that they did not have any compelling stories due to their reduced experience, but guess what, they all discovered that actually had something interesting to tell for every topic discussed. Sometimes one story can bring more than one topic and you should be able to highlight each one accordingly.

To be more specific, I will provide you with a few examples as food for thought. For entrepreneurial drive, one could have organized an event or trip for friends, family or university colleagues, needing to negotiate fees and deadlines with suppliers; or could have organized a study group for consulting in one’s university, or could have orchestrated a charity effort, or one could have coordinated a sports competition, etc. I’m sure at some point you had to “push the boundaries”, to do something that you were not needed but you wanted to, you know? That is the spirit for it.

Finally, please consider a couple of tips:

1.      Make a list of the stories that you sense have something special, although you do not know what yet.

2.      For each story on the list, try to tell it with the lenses of every different topic (leadership, entrepreneurship, failure…). To do that, you will have to try to remember all the details that you might be missing now. You can talk to a friend or family that was involved in the story to capture his/her opinion. It might bring you new perspectives and details. Once you have it, put it down in bullet points.

3.      At the end select the best 1-2 stories for each topic. You might see the same story fitting into more than one topic, and it is fine. The important thing is not to have multiple stories, but to have a few powerful ones.

4.      If you have time, tell one or two stories to someone that has never heard of it and ask for feedback (ask, Is it clear? Is it interesting? Did you get curious to know more about it? And so on). An outsider perspective is very useful for this.

5.      During the PEI, once asked to tell a story, if needed, ask for time – 30 seconds max – to organize your ideas and think of how which story you will bring and with what details.

I hope that helps and I wish you the best of luck!

That can happen. 

I typically work with candidates on understanding the main story arc they need to go for per dimension so that even though you might be taken by surprise by the question (and none of your prepared examples work) you can think of a new example and apply the same story arc to it. 

This methodology you can also find here, in this course I recently launched:

Video Course: Master the McKinsey PEI

Another thing, of course, is to just take a minute and think of a new situation. You're not expected to always answer on the spot, even for the PEI.

Best,

Cristian

You may not have a story that 100% fits the question. But you should have a story that you can adjust to underline some of the qualities being sought after in the question (and a few more that you want to include as part of your “pitch”). 

Questions tend to be quite specific, but it is perfectly fine if the answer is not a perfect fit. What would be a problem would be not having a story at all, even if just loosely related.

Hi Max,

To be fully honest: If you don't have a story for a PEI question, you fail this part of the interview, which also means you fail the application as a whole. Not an ideal strategy!

Many people I talk to in sessions initially think that way, however, with a bit of probing they all can tell great stories.

I am 100% convinced that you have the necessary experiences required to create great PEI stories. You do not need to land rockets on the moon to ace this part of the interview. 

Rather, you need to demonstrate certain actions and behaviors (which imply certain skills) in everyday situations you came across.

I have written a detailed article here: https://www.preplounge.com/en/mckinsey-pei

If you want to see more concrete examples for each dimensions, please reach out!

Cheers,

Florian

Hi Max,

First of all, congratulations on the progress in the application process with McKinsey thus far!

I would be happy to share my thoughts on your question:

• First of all, the lack of any contribution to one of the dimensions will certainly lead to an abandonment of the application process for McKinsey. Therefore, I would highly advise you against pursuing this strategy.
• Moreover, I am sure that with a little research, possibly together with friends or colleagues you have spent some time with in the past, you will find situations where you have demonstrated the different skills.

You can find more on this topic here: How to succeed in the final interview round.

If you would like a more detailed discussion on how to best prepare for your upcoming McKinsey case interviews and PEIs, please don't hesitate to contact me directly.

Best,

Hagen