McKinsey Middle East First Round Interview!

Hi there,

Yes, they may interview in January as well. Whether it is enough time or not depends on:

1. Your current level of case preparation
2. The material you will use to prepare
3. How many hours you can dedicate per day

Many candidates need 100h+ to land an MBB offer when they start from zero.

I would recommend the following steps to maximize the likelihood to land an offer:

1. Define a calendar for your preparation. Identify how many hours you have before that and allocate a time slot for preparation in your calendar for each day, working on the points below.
2. Read Case In Point or Case Interview Secrets for a general understanding of what a consulting interview is. Don’t focus on the structures proposed in the books, as they are not good enough nowadays.
3. Start reading good MBA Consulting Handbooks – you can find several for free online (Insead is a good one to start). Read the cases and try to apply your structure to solve them. Whenever you see there is something missing, upgrade your structure with the new insides. Try to read at least a new case per day – in this way you will absorb better the information with constant learning.
4. After the first 5-10 cases in books/handbooks and basic theory, start to practice live. PrepLounge can be helpful to connect with other candidates for that. There is a relevant part of the interview score that is based on your communication, which you cannot practice at all if you read cases only. Keep track of your mistakes and see if you repeat them. If so, try to identify the source of the mistake (feedback of experienced partners would be particularly useful for this). Be sure to focus on both behavioural/PEI and the case part. The case part should also cover market sizing, mental math and graph analysis.
5. If relevant for your target office: prepare for the Imbellus. You can find the guide I created for it at the following link. You won't need any additional material after it: https://www.preplounge.com/en/shop/tests-2/mckinsey-imbellus-game-secrets-48
6. Before the interviews, be sure to prepare your questions for the interviewer –great way to show you prepared in advance and to connect with the interviewer for a good final impression.

If you want to spend few hours only instead of 100+ and cover everything mentioned above, I developed a program precisely for that. You can click on the following link to learn more:

https://u.preplounge.com/63phuq

After this program, you will know exactly what to expect in your interview, what to work on, and how to focus on the real differentiator to land a McKinsey offer.

Please feel free to PM me for any questions.

Best,

Francesco

Hi Anonymous,

Yes, the interview can take place in January.

I would recommend you counting on this combination of circumstances because:

• you have more than 1 month time for preparations;
• if it really takes place in January, you will be fully prepared not only in case solving but also mentally;
• if it does not take place in January, you will have the advantage of getting even more time for preparations.

Do you need any further help?

GB

Hi there,

Congratulations!

Yes, this should be in mid-late January.

2 months should be enough, as long as you focus and dedicate yourself to this. There's a lot to do, so get started now! Also, just assume you'll need to be ready by early Jan...doesn't hurt to be more prepared.

Hi,

There is no set timeline. Each office will decide the interview dates based on availability of the interviewers. Even if they come up with a certain date, you can always reschedule. Pls take your time to prepare

Best

Hi,

I'm currently in the interview cycle for McKinsey Middle East (final round in a few weeks). A friend of mine who was supposed to interview with me in November for first round in KSA got his interview pushed to the third week of January, so they are definitely interviewing in January.

Hi, it usually requires up to 3 weeks for an answer. However, do not hesitate to contact HR without worrying about bothering them: they are there to help

Best,
Antonello

I have two important points to add:

1. Interviews are hard. Whether it's at the beginning or end of the month, it's not a lot of time. So get moving!
2. You can often push back your interview date. Candidates are typically loath to do this since moving quickly could demonstrate confidence and ability. However, it actually demonstrates maturity and self-awareness if you ask to push off to February, etc. so that you have time to prepare

Hope this helps!

Allen