Get Active in Our Amazing Community of Over 448,000 Peers!

Schedule mock interviews on the Meeting Board, join the latest community discussions in our Consulting Q&A and find like-minded Case Partners to connect and practice with!

Best Practices for Interview with McKinsey Digital

BCG McKinsey
New answer on Nov 02, 2019
3 Answers
1.4 k Views
Anonymous A asked on Nov 01, 2019

Hi Team,

i will start with my 1st interview with McKinsey Digital for expert (equivalent to EM) role next week.

Does anyone of you have insights related or best practices in terms of Do's/Dont'ts?

I'm currently do the prep with more focus on requested expertises and experiences...many thanks!

Overview of answers

Upvotes
  • Upvotes
  • Date ascending
  • Date descending
Best answer
Antonello
Expert
Content Creator
replied on Nov 02, 2019
McKinsey | NASA | top 10 FT MBA professor for consulting interviews | 6+ years of coaching

Hi,
it will be important to show expertise in Digital trends and Digital transformation of large companies, but you will be also assessed with classical business cases of generalists.

Best,
Antonello

Was this answer helpful?
Liang on Nov 13, 2019

All right, so if I understand it right...I still need to get ready regarding the traditional cases in terms of MECE, math etc.

Antonello on Nov 13, 2019

Hi Liang, correct. Case structures will be the same of the other applicants

Francesco
Expert
Content Creator
updated an answer on Nov 02, 2019
#1 Coach for Sessions (4.000+) | 1.500+ 5-Star Reviews | Proven Success (➡ InterviewOffers.com) | Ex BCG | 10Y+ Coaching

Hi Anonymous,

I recently helped a candidate for an experienced hire digital role in MBB. You can expect:

  • Questions related to your knowledge/problem solving in digital projects. This will likely be part of the fit questions at the beginning
  • Business cases related to digital
  • Business cases related to other sectors

I would recommend to prepare in the standard way for PEI and cases, trying to (i) have good stories related to your experience in digital and (ii) cover cases related to the digital sector in your preparation.

As usual, for EM roles you should expect more questions related to leadership and client interaction compared to a new graduate application.

In case you need more information please feel free to PM me.

Best,
Francesco

(edited)

Was this answer helpful?
Liang on Nov 13, 2019

Sure, Francesco. I'm just wondering what is PEI? What's typical digital project by Mck? and What

Liang on Nov 13, 2019

also understanding the differences between EM/Digital Expert @ Mckinsey and Manager @ Deloitte Consulting (where I come from) might be very helpful ;-)

Francesco on Nov 15, 2019

Hi Liang, the PEI is the Personal Experience Interview, or behavioural part at McKinsey. It includes questions on leadership, drive and impact – you can find more at the following link: https://www.preplounge.com/en/consulting-forum/mckinsey-pei-difference-drive-and-personal-impact-918. In a typical McK digital project, you will cover topics such as IT strategy, agile, cloud and digital transformation. In terms of the difference with Deloitte, not sure if your focus is digital only there, that may be the major difference; also, at the link below you can find a comparison between big 4 and MBB: https://www.preplounge.com/en/consulting-forum/what-is-your-opinion-on-entering-big-four-firms-as-a-consultant-1198 . Hope this helps

Vlad
Expert
replied on Nov 02, 2019
McKinsey / Accenture Alum / Got all BIG3 offers / Harvard Business School

Hi,

There will be a mix of regular and IT cases. For the regular cases on preplounge will be most helpful. For the IT cases, I recommend reading the articles of the consulting companies about these topics on their websites (Hundreds of them if you google by key words "agile", "Digital", at McKinsey, BCG or Accenture)

Feel free to reach out if you need help with digital case prep.

I have not seen any digital cases online. But here is a list of potential topics you need to know. It is a full list and looks scary but they test a lot of these concepts depending on the particular role:

  • Basics (computational thinking, sorting, data structures) - they never ask directly but understanding will help with the other topics)
  • Database design (Centralized vs decentralized, sharding, factors influencing the number of replicas - the volume of data, future scale, growth, data structure, desired speed, etc)
  • Technology stacks (front, back,api, database, etc)
  • Cloud (cloud vs own servers pro and cons, uptime % SLAs, load balancing, etc)
  • Server storage - major cost buckets - remember about additional replicas and cooling electricity costs
  • Security (encryption basics, public keys, password change policy, cloud security and encryption on your computer)
  • Agile and development (Agile principles, Environments: Developing, testing, production, Native apps / web apps / hybrid apps, etc)
  • M&A and IT (Will it be one system or two systems? Is it "Adopt and go" approach or we take the best of both systems and create a new one? Integrate now, innovate later? Or Innovate now, when you have time?)
  • IT strategy and Digital transformation (Similar to M&A)
  • IoT (Mainly the use of IoT in operations - Process steps completion, measuring temperature, maintenance measurements, other measurements, predicative algorithms, etc)

Good luck!

Was this answer helpful?
Liang on Nov 13, 2019

Thanks, Vlad! For sure, I plan now to finish the home work of reading relevant insights from top consulting firms. On the other side, I'm still not that clear about the Mck digital

Liang on Nov 13, 2019

...special approach? Differences between classical and digital cases?

How likely are you to recommend us to a friend or fellow student?
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
0 = Not likely
10 = Very likely