Best resources for McKinsey case interviews & PEI

Hi Justin,

PEI section.
Prepare the stories for each of the sections listed below. Make sure you use top-down approach, where you tell the result first. Be proactive and make sure your stories are worth listening, use body language and eye contact.
Record yourself in a web-cam and look through the recording to see how you can improve.

Please see below a non-exhaustive, but already quite comprehensive, list of potential questions

Entrepreneurial drive

1. What was a situation where you set a major goal and been able to achieve it?
2. Tell me about a time when you achieved a difficult goal
3. What has been your major accomplishment so far?
4. Tell me about a time that you did something innovative

Leadership

1. Give me three examples of a time that you lead a group.
2. What are some key lessons you have learned about motivating people? 

3. Tell me about a time you lead a team through a conflict
4. Tell me about a time you lead a team to achieve a difficult goal
5. Tell me about a time where you were leading a team and you needed to force someone to work when they didn't want to do it

Personal impact

1. Tell me about a time that you persuaded your boss to go along with an idea you had
2. Tell me about a time that you managed upwards
3. Tell me about a time that you changed someone's mind
4. Tell me about a difficult situation where you had to rely on your communication skills
5. Tell me about a time where you dealt with a conflict/crisis/difficult member in your team

Case Interview

Structure your preparation into 2 main blocks: theory and practice

Ist stage. Theory

• Wharton casebook 2010- you can check how all industries work there (airlines,

  retail etc)

• Case-in-point – you can check what frameworks exist, try to practice and learn

  them (product launch, M&A etc.)

• Check how former business consultant approaches different cases with best

  interviewers – listen to at least 3 cases of LOMS

• Check out MECE principle, top-down, bottom-up à pyramid principle (book

  Barbara’s Minto Pyramid) IInd stage.

Practice

• Create your own case schedule (solve at least 1 case per day) with partners in local groups, universities/preplounge (extreme case)

• Structure everything you do (how to go the shop, structure articles you read)

• Solve at least 1 case per each case type you found in case in point

• Learn how to analyze graphs (practice looking at graphs and asking so whats out of them)

• Brainstorming is a must = generate at least 10 ideas on an topic in 30 seconds

I am sure you will make it. You should remember that it is not about the talent, but a practice.

Link to a fulll guide: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DwUwqUu6OwRd1bCVTzRA-6dcvPL2_p91/view?usp=sharing

Pls text me if access is not granted automatically.

Kind regards,
Egor

Hello!

Indeed this is one of the risk of over-preparating, and it not only affects FIT but also the Business Case. People who over-prepare end up being rigid and not natural, and losing the "charm" and naturality that one should have in a conversation.

Think of the FIT part of the itnerview as if you were meeting your partner´s parents: you want to impress them, but also be nice, since you don´t want them to think of you as cocky or sharky. It´s the same thing!

Hope it helps!

Cheers,

Clara

Hi Justin,

I wrote a blog post here some time ago on that subject: https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-best-resources-to-prepare-for-McKinsey-case-interviews/answer/Robert-Steiner

For your convenience, please find it also copied here:

• "Case in Point" book by Marc Cosentino
• "Case Interview Secrets" book by Victor Cheng
• Victor Cheng youtube videos
• Case books from the well-know us universities which you can find here: https://masterthecase.com/case-interview-casebooks-top-mba/
• Of course - needless to say - PrepLounge
• "The Ultimate McKinsey PEI Prep" eBook which I put together to efficiently prepare my coaching candidates for McKinsey PEI questions, which you can find here: https://pei.consulting-case-interviews.com
• Recently I have added a blog with free expert advice on the McKinsey PEI where I am sharing some answers on the most common PEI questions that I receive from coaching candidates and which are worth sharing: https://pei.consulting-case-interviews.com/blog/
• Once you start feeling comfortable with solving cases in general, focus on being as structured as possible in every sentence you say and every answer you give ("ABS - always be structured"). This is especially important for McKinsey, as they are most picky when it comes to being structure in case interviews. For this, I wrote a distinct book with the most important frameworks and business concepts for case interviews (you can find it here: Case Interview Frameworks - http://cif.consulting-case-interviews.com/). This book not only gives you a short description and basic idea of the frameworks and concepts, but also a step-by-step guide on how to actually use and implement them (you would be surprised how many candidates don't have a clue about that!).

Edit: For McKinsey case interview practice, there is also a McKinsey case compilation available online (http://ebook.mckcasebook.com/).