Hi there,

In the grand scheme of things, no. They all have the same criteria for screening and targeting applicants.

There are differences in the interviewing process. I have covered them in more detail here:

https://www.preplounge.com/en/consulting-forum/mckinsey-vs-bcgbains-framework-styles-10020

The observations you made during the screening stage could stem from a couple of factors (current demand/supply, time of the year, randomness,…).

Cheers,

Florian

Hi there,

I will answer by breaking it down into 2x different questions, that were sort of implicit in your post:

Are they looking for different people? Not really!

People that succeed in one MBB could very well succeed at another MBB. There are differences but they are very minor and not worth mentioning.

Are they using different criteria in the assessment? Absolutely!

All MBB have different ideas about what are good indicators to predict future success. For example, Bain like people that get things done and deliver results, which is baked into the case interview philosophy. McKinsey also wants people to get s*** done but they don't test of it explicitly in the case interview and use other criteria instead.

Hence, the touch and feel of the interviews is very different but they're all looking for the same kind of people (more or less…).

Hope this helps a bit. Best of luck!

Moritz

Hi there,

The short answer is yes.

The longer answer is don't worry about what these differences are. They change, they're fluid, they're different across countries, offices, years, recruiters, etc.

For context, I worked with lawyers, dentists, violinists, entrepreneurs, etc.

Every firm has slightly different criteria and looks for different “cultural” traits. Bain in my opinion is the one that is the stricter regarding this. Can't say what exactly differentiates Mckinsey here, though.