How to prepare for a "PEI style" behavioral questions?

Question

I am currently interviewing for a corporate strategy role, and was told that the fit interview part will focus on one question (e.g. state a challenging team situation, and how you addressed it).

It seems that this interview style is quite similar to McKinsey's “PEI interview”, where interviewers focus on a few questions and dive deep into each one.

Previously, when I interviewed with Bain and BCG, the interview questions did not go “deep” at all. Therefore, this is a new format for me. I would like to seek your suggestions and tips on how to better prepare for these types of PEI style fit questions.

Any preparation tips, general guidance, and principles of a good answer would be much appreciated. Thanks!

Answer 1

Hi there,

First of all, be ready for anything. They may go off script:

For McKinsey PEI, honestly, take the work you've already done with Bain + BCG and flesh them out further. You need to go into much more detail at every step of the way.

The key here is being structured and organized (and, of course, touching on the key areas they're looking for).

Personal Stories

Step 1 - Categorize the main stories

There are 5-10 "themes" you need to prepare for. i.e. Leadership, teamwork, challenge, etc. (note: These all fit into the 3 McKinsey PEI themes) Figure out this list and make sure your stories cover this range (PM me and I can provide you with a template for this list)

Step 2 - Create FLEXIBLE stories that cover a range of categories

You need to create 4-6 stories that each cover a range of topics. They need to be powerful stories that can be adjusted and adapted based on the question asked.

One of my "core" or "killer" stories was usable for Initiative, Achievement, Leadership, Challenge, Change of direction, AND Persuasion.

Write down these stories along STAR or similar format...use bullet points

Step 3 - Organize these stories so you know which ones can be used for what and PRACTICE

Make sure you cover the whole gamut. Then, practice getting asked a question and thinking of which stories apply. I can assure you, no-one is coming up with full stories in a few seconds. Rather, they have practiced how to adapt an existing story to the question asked.

Answer 2

Hi there!

Wow, this is a big question.

Yes - BCG and Bain don't go as deep into the stories as McK. But generally developing the stories for McK enables you to use them for other firms as well at different levels of granularity.

In order to prepare them, start from the video examples they post online. This will give you an understanding of the granularity at which you should go.

When I work with candidates I provide them with actual recordings of the stories candidates of mine have used to pass their interviews. The most important thing is to have an understanding of what great looks like and from there it's easier to find your own way.

Best,
Cristian

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Answer 3

Hi,

Thanks a lot for your question. Indeed, McKinsey has the deepest way of conducting PEI questions:

- it's 50% of the interview

- it's 50% of the rating

- the interviewer can ask you to go to very high level of details (eg “what did you think at this exact moment”).

As a specialist on these type of questions (I teach that at HEC and I was an interviewer at McKinsey), my advices would be the following:

1. Tell stories that were challenging, no stories where everything went well

2. Structure your answer to tick the subcomponent of each quality that is tested (eg : Leadership = Empathy + Teamwork + Leading others)

3. Write 2 examples per dimensions, the interviewers can ask you to change your example, so you need backup

4. Test your examples with your friends or McKinsey former interviewers.

5. Prepare yourself to use your examples for different type of questions

6. Remember as much as possible details

7. Focus on what you thought at that time and what you did, the interviewer wants to know how you brain works

If you need a free 15min intro call with me do no hesitate,

Hope this helps,

Alexandre

Answer 4

Hey,

Basically, be prepared to tell your story in greater detail if asked to elaborate on a certain point, e.g. what were the names of the participants, the exact words you or they used getting getting a point across, the actual motivation you had taking a certain course of action etc.

Ideally, if you prepare three types of FIT stories:
1. Mini FIT: a short overview or a sales pitch of your achievements (20-30 seconds per story);
2. Standard PEI - around 2 minutes per story;
3. Expanded FIT - a 4-5 mines per story for a deep dive into your experiences with the exact names, reasoning, thoughts, as described above.

Hope this helps,
Nick

Answer 5

Hi there,

Some suggestions on how to prepare a McKinsey-style fit interview:

Prepare 2-3 good stories for each dimension (only team work in your case)
Make sure your stories are relatively recent (no more than 2-3 years old) to remember as much details as possible
Before the interview, practice how to share your stories using a situation-complication-resolution framing (starting with context, explaining the challenge and detailing how you solve it)
During the interview, start high level giving 1-2 minutes overview of the situation and the big steps you took to solve it

From there you can ask your interviewer if he/she wants more context or would like to focus on a specific part. Then share your story as you practice before (situation-complication-resolution)

Happy to help you with this. Just send me a message.

Alberto

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Check out my latest case based on a real MBB interview: Sierra Springs

Answer 6

Hi there,

McKinsey's PEI is indeed the gold standard here to really go deep and assess real personal experiences and qualities vs. made up high level stories. Happy to jump on a quick call and give you a rundown on the typical question technique. Else find my PEI guide here: https://www.preplounge.com/de/shop/fit-guide/pei-fit-guide

Warm regards

Frederic