Mckinsey and Oliver Wyman Interview

Question

Hello everyone,

Mckinsey - I have applied for the JA position and they have taken my previous Imbellus test result into consideration (I had applied for some other position in the last 12 months which is why they took the last test result into consideration). The outcome will come by 18th FEB. They have mentioned in the email that “If the proposed timelines do not work for you, or if you are involved in other recruitment processes, please get in touch with us to see what flexibility we can offer”. Interviews will be in March.

I have a senior partner referral for Mckinsey but my Imbellus test went really bad last year. Ecosystem game - 7 species survived. Plant defense game - Plant got killed in less than 10 moves. I did not have much time in the Plant defense game which is why I panicked and performed really badly. They have not clearly said no and told me that Solve game is only one part of many which they take into consideration. So hopes are still high. I am directly in touch with recruiting manager.

Oliver Wyman - I have a screening call scheduled on Tuesday (1st FEB) with the recruiter and I am sure I will get the interview. I believe interviews will be held in FEB. Mckinsey interviews will be in March.

My preference is Mckinsey for obvious reasons :)

I do not want to be in a position where I need to give an answer regarding whether I will take the offer or not to OW without interviewing with Mckinsey.

Questions:

1 - Should I tell the Mckinsey recruitment team that I will have OW interviews in FEB and if they can share the outcome with me early and if I am proceeding with the interviews what flexibility they can offer? Is this the right thing to do? How do recruiters look at this?

2 - If yes, how should I frame the email as I do not want to look like a person who is boasting?

Answer 1

Hi there,

Q: Should I tell the Mckinsey recruitment team that I will have OW interviews in FEB and if they can share the outcome with me early and if I am proceeding with the interviews what flexibility they can offer? Is this the right thing to do? How do recruiters look at this? If yes, how should I frame the email as I do not want to look like a person who is boasting?

I don’t see the need to speed up things with McKinsey yet in your case (you don’t even know when the case interview with OW will be) and would personally not do so.

At the moment you don’t really have leverage. The only situation where you can accelerate things with a founded reason is if you have an offer, not an interview.

In your current situation, you could:

Ask OW to postpone the interview from February to later on, or
Act once you get the OW offer, if needed

If you get the OW offer first, you have 2 options:

Ask for more time to think and reach out to McKinsey then. At that stage, you will have leverage to accelerate things
Sign with OW and cancel if you get the McKinsey offer. Not ideal, but could be the only alternative if you don’t manage to postpone the deadline

Best,

Francesco

Answer 2

Hello!

The situation couldn´t be more normal, happens every day, and HR is more than used to it.

Tell them only if:

- They ask you

- You start having a date conflict

Hope it helps!

Cheers,

Clara

Answer 3

Hi there,

Just be direct. Email them and tell them your situation. Basically state that you obviously want to have your Mck process ended by the time you'll have to give out an answer to OW, so you want to inform them on what's going on so that you two can plan accordingly the interview process.

Answer 4

Hi there,

I would send an email to McK telling them you are expecting interviews with other companies in Feb and were hoping to accelerate the McK interview process if at all possible.

Please don't lie and say you have an interview when you don't! Also, no need to state specifically which company/ies.