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/).

Dear Justin!

First of all, I recommend you reading the McKinsey case book, which can help you better understand the whole interview mechanics and what happens behind the stage.

For PEI questions you can use a specific structure, which consists of 5 components:

1. Situation (background)

2. Problem (Complication)

3. Your approach (how did you manage this problem)

4. Results (Outcomes of your approach)

5. Your learnings (what you take from this situation)

If you can apply this framework to every of your PEI stories and communicate in a top-down way, you would definitely leave a great impression. For more details, feel free to approach me.

Good luck,

André

(edited)