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Is McKinsey's final round also interviewer led typically?

Final Round McKinsey Preparing for final round at McK
New answer on Dec 31, 2020
6 Answers
1.0 k Views
Anonymous A asked on Nov 20, 2020

Got my final round invite for three weeks from now, and want to get a sense of whether the final round cases will follow the same abrupt command and control pattern of round 1?

Overview of answers

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Ken
Expert
replied on Nov 20, 2020
Ex-McKinsey final round interviewer | Executive Coach

Generally it will be the same interviewer-led but your final round interviewer will expect you to take more case leadership. Occassionally, you may come across a case that is more abstract (e.g., how would you price a COVID-19 drug?) where you will be expected to drive the case but engaging your interviewer appropriately. Overall, the same problem solving skills are being tested and so I personally recommend continuing to refine what you have been practicing so far as well as working on your first round feedback.

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Antonello
Expert
Content Creator
replied on Dec 31, 2020
McKinsey | NASA | top 10 FT MBA professor for consulting interviews | 6+ years of coaching

Hi, I confirm in either 1st and 2nd round interviewer led cases are the most frequent type, but I would also focus my preparation on candidate led

best

Antonello

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Anonymous C replied on Nov 24, 2020

In the U.S this year, yes. But sometimes they can pop random questions in there, LOL.

My interviewer was following a script then just suddenly popped off some random questions on his mind. Just roll with it.

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Udayan
Expert
Content Creator
replied on Nov 21, 2020
Top rated Case & PEI coach/Multiple real offers/McKinsey EM in New York /6 years McKinsey recruiting experience

Yes interviewer led with both case and PEI but not not as rote as the first round. Partners are a lot more engaged in the conversation and they are also more interested in getting to know you better. Additionally the cases will not be as scripted and each partner will test different elements of the case. For example you might be required to go into great depth with the initial structure and that could take up the entirety of the case.

All the best,

Udayan

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Vlad
Expert
replied on Nov 20, 2020
McKinsey / Accenture Alum / Got all BIG3 offers / Harvard Business School

Hi,

It depends. Usually, the partners are too lazy to lead the case and most probably they'll be candidate-led

Best

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Gaurav
Expert
Content Creator
replied on Nov 20, 2020
Ex-Mckinsey|Certified Career Coach |Placed 500+ candidates at MBB & other consultancies

Hello,

As an ex-Mckinsey consultant and part of recruiting team, I would like to share with you my experience:

How do these interviews with the partners differ from the first round interviews?

Every partner discussion is different and the direction the conversation takes depends on role that you are interviewing for, feedback that the partner has got from earlier rounds and of course the Partner’s personality.

However, generally it is advisable to keep the following things in mind.

1) Are the cases delivered with the same style of precision and structure as the first round?

- A lot of times, the Partner round case discussions are less structured. Partners tend to give real life case from their experience or sometimes they can also pick a situation from the candidate’s CV, make a few changes and turn it into a case.

2) Is the Fit format consistent with the PEI, or do the partners take these conversations in different directions?

- Generally, Partners will hit fewer topics but will go much deeper. So they will ask you about something and then you should expect a lot of follow on questions. They really want to understand the full story

3) Generally, what portion of the hour-long session is dedicated to the case study?

- approx. 30-40 minutes

3) What personality traits are most important to demonstrate with the partners?

See the answer below.

Keep the following things in mind while preparing for the Partner interview:

Better synthesis – Your analytical mindset has already been tested in earlier rounds. Partners would like to test your client readiness. Partners pay more attention to how you draw your conclusions, communicate your conclusions, how you synthesis etc.

Comfort with less structured case discussion – Partners love to test your creativity, out of the box thinking. Multiple times in the discussion they can ask you your opinion on the data point/clarification that you had asked, to check your business acumen e.g. you asked, what is the growth rate of our client; partner responds what number would you want to assume? or open ended questions e.g. tell me more, is there anything else?

Consistent stories and deep dives – Partners would want to know your story. They want to see whether your decision to join McKinsey is consistent with your career story. Whether the achievements you have mentioned on the CV are consistent with your project stories. Partners will drill down into your experiences and achievements to the extreme. They want to understand how you react to challenges and how you think and communicate about your past work.

Feel free to get in touch with me in case of further clarification/advise on this topic.

All the best!

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