Hi Daniel, especially for the entrepreneurship dimension, I do not consider a problem talking about 4-5 years old experiences. 

Best,
Antonello

There is no hard rule to this.

One of the objectives to this question is to understand the various challenges you have been through, the hardships you have faced, how much out-of-you-comfort zone you were, etc. etc.

There is an implied assumption here that the more recent the experience, then more it will be able to highlight your skills because as we grow older, our problems become bigger.

The 5-year old entrepreneurship story will probably have a lot more nuance and character than a much recent one from your regular job. Thats because a startup presents a bigger challenge and takes a lot more character to wade through.

On the other hand, recency in examples also indicates that you are still evolving and learning even today.

David, aim to keep it within the last 3 years.

Otherwise, it might raise questions as to whether you have recent relevant professional experience. 

For anyone else who is preparing for the PEI component, I've created a video course with my 6-step storytelling framework that has helped my candidates get distinctive feedback on the McKinsey PEI. You can find out more about it here:

• Video Course: Master the McKinsey PEI

Best,
Cristian

Hello,

I agree with Slawomir that there's definitely no official cutoff. The experiences you mention sound important and fundamental to your career trajectory, so I would feel free to bring them up in the interview. But I would also advise having a few extra back-up stories (maybe some more recent ones) just in case - you don't want to only be talking about experiences that happened several years ago.

Hello Daniel,

I agree with Antonello. I've never heard of any specific cut-off and one of the most important aspects is the relevance of the example. Yours sound reasonable to me. If they were from primary school that would be a different case though :)

As always, a lot depends on the interviewer so I would have a “backup” story that is more recent just in case but feel free to start with the most relevant one during your interview.

Good luck!

Slawomir

Hi there,

Sharing PEI stories from 3-4 years ago should be ok. Be careful because interviewers can ask for a lot of specific details for proofing (e.g., detailed conversations) so do not let the age of the story to blur tiny details that you may need during the interview.

Best,

Alberto

Hi David,

Both of those stories seem like excellent ones! There is certainly no points off for them being 4-5 years old. I would absolutely proceed with them!

There is no official cutoff, but there is definitely a strong preference for more recent stories. Especially if you have 4 years work experience, you cannot have many stories from college. I would have maybe 1 at most (the startup one sounds great) from college and then the rest from things you have done since then.

Best,

Udayan