I AM SCHEDULED FOR A COFFE CHAT, PLEASE WHAT KIND OF QUESTIONS DO I EXPECT?

Hi there,

Events and standard applications are two separate channels, so it could well be you are rejected for events and invited for interviews when you apply.

Events sometimes have very limited capacity, so although it seems strange that may be even more selective than invitations for interviews.

Having said that, if you have some friends in consulting definitely ask their opinion on your CV to see if there are any improvements.

Best,

Francesco

Hi there,

Q: Needless to say, applying now was a bad idea, so I'm waiting at least a week into the new year. But what about this coffee chat thing? Should I wait for that also? My thinking is that it's different because slots may be taken fully.

If they invited you to the coffee chat now and you are interested to reserve a slot, I can’t see problems replying now. You may indeed avoid the risk that the event runs out of slots in this way. Worst case, you might have to call the office once they reopen in January and follow up on the application if you don’t hear from them.

Good luck!

Francesco

Hi there,

Well done on setting the coffee chat – that’s a great achievement already.

I would recommend the following:

• Prepare good questions (see below some examples)
• Move from the questions to a conversation, trying to connect on a personal level with the partner. It is too long to describe how to do so in a post, but if you are interested How to win friends and influence people by Dale Carnegie has all the basics
• Ask a closing questions to test if he would be willing to refer you. You cannot ask directly of course as it would be too pushy.

The key things I would recommend to prepare in advance are the following:

• Read about McKinsey and the consulting industry. Try to understand recent developments – this will ensure you can ask relevant questions and stand out
• Learn as much as possible on the partner. In this way, you will be able to connect more easily.
• Be prepared on company-related fit questions. You won’t be formally interviewed, but you want to leave a positive impression. At the bare minimum, you should:
  • have a clear idea of why you want to become a consultant
  • why you want to join McKinsey
  • what you can bring to that company and
  • have a clear, 5-lines pitch of who you are as introduction
  • how did you improve in the last 2 years since the rejection
• Prepare your questions to ask. Relevant questions are a great way to show your interest in the company and get additional points. In the first reply at the following post, you can find some information on the ideal type of questions to ask: https://www.preplounge.com/en/consulting-forum/open-house-at-bcg-311

Best,

Francesco

Hi Kay,

relevant questions are a great way to show your interest in the company. Ideally, your questions should respect the following criteria:

• Should not be related to something you could easily find online.
• Should not be related to the firm per se (eg how is XYZ in Bain), but to the experience of the consultant (How did you find XYZ in your experience as a consultant? Which challenges did it bring to you?). Ideally, you want the other person to feel important and/or share a positive experience. This is the easiest way to leave a final positive impression.
• Should help you to understand the core values of the company; this will help to understand if that company is a good fit for you and evaluate your options in case you have multiple offers (if you don't have fit with the company, your growth there will be a lot more difficult).

In the first reply in the following thread, you can find some more information and some examples of questions:

https://www.preplounge.com/en/consulting-forum/open-house-at-bcg-311

Best,

Francesco

Hi Rachel,

I would structure the chat as I would do for questions at the end in the interview. Specifically, I would recommend to prepare questions that:

• Should not be related to something you could easily find online.
• Should not be related to the firm per se (eg how is XYZ in Bain), but to the experience of the consultant (How did you find XYZ in your experience as a consultant? Which challenges did it bring to you?). This will help to connect more easily with the analysts
• Should help you to understand the core values of the company; this will help to understand if that company is a good fit for you and evaluate your options in case you have multiple offers (if you don't have fit with the company, your growth there will be a lot more difficult).

If you follow the previous points you cannot really do mistakes and will get relevant information to make a decision in case of multiple offers.

Best,

Francesco