Hi all! I have received an invite to interview for the final round with McKinsey Digital. Does anyone have any insight on how the final round is different for McK Digital versus the generalist space? Any tips too? I interviewed with another MBB firm at the final round but did not get the offer, so I am a bit worried about whether I will be able to pass my upcoming final round. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
McKinsey Digital Final Round
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Hi there,
Regarding the types of cases you will receive, there is no difference! It might be a mix of domain-relevant and irrelevant cases.
As regards the rest of the process:
McKinsey is trying really hard to create an objective and standardized interview experience for all candidates, across offices, practices, and interviewers. As a result, you should expect exactly the same interviewing format as in the first round
- 25 minutes PEI
- 25 minutes case
- 5 minutes for your questions at the end of the interview
You will be evaluated on the same criteria, and metrics, with the same types of cases and questions.
Now, that's the theory. :-)
Quick reality check!
That being said, partners still often employ their own way of doing interviews based on their personal preferences, which means that sometimes the final round with them can be less predictable.
Some focus on the case, others focus solely on the fit part (and deviate from the traditional PEI to ask other personal fit questions), and some stick to the standard format. I had a candidate recently who had to go through two cases and one of them was made up on the spot, which made it very tricky.
In general, the more senior the partner, the more likely are they to deviate from the standard interview format because they a. can b. have their own way of doing things. :-)
So now you know the practice.
What does this mean for you and your preparation?
Nothing much.
Continue with your preparation, meaning
- Rehearse and finetune your PEI answers with a coach or peers who know what they are talking about
- Hone your case interview skills that are relevant for McKinsey (structuring, math, exhibit interpretation) with coaches and drills
- Prepare for some traditional fit questions (Why consulting, why McKinsey, etc.)
- Pay special attention to the areas where you received negative feedback in the first round. Second-round interviewers are aware and will dig deeper into these specific areas
During the interview
- Stay cognitively flexible
- Do not be surprised if the format deviates from what you expect
- Stay calm and collected no matter what happens
- Stay enthusiastic, and engaged and portray the impression that you are happy to be here (partners love that...)
If you managed to pass the first round, you should have it in you to pass the second round as well.
Fingers crossed and let me know if you need some help with McKinsey!
Feel free to read some of the articles I wrote here about the process:
- Case: https://www.preplounge.com/en/articles/mckinsey-interview
- PEI: https://www.preplounge.com/en/mckinsey-pei
Cheers,
Florian
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Congratulations on getting a final round interview!
Generally the interview will be almost exactly the same. It’ll follow the same format (case and PEI) and be conducted by a partner or sometimes an associate partner. The differences are:
- the cases will have a digital angle
- the partners will be from the digital office and so likely be curious about why you’re excited to do digital work, what your experience is and what your aspirations for joining the firm are.
- it’s sensible to ask some questions at the end about digital specific things (e.g., what type of digital work is the office doing and how do they expect it to change)
In terms of tips:
- Continue to feel comfortable casing and answering the PEI questions. You’ve demonstrated that you’re at the bar - which is why you’ve got a final round interview, so take comfort from that! Now you just need to repeat your performance.
- Have your story ready - why digital? What are you particularly excited about working on? What have you done to date in the digital space?
- Have some great questions ready to go!
Remember, this is not a technical interview so they won‘t be asking for any specific technical answers. Focus on nailing the case and PEI.
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Hi there,
1) Be ready to answer why consulting, why tech consulting, why mck Digital, and why you (resume walkthrough)
2) Have your other fit stories prepared
3) Make sure you can case effectively
4) Make sure you can case and discuss IT/Tech topics effectively
Make sure you're ready for a generalist case and a tech/IT case. Also be prepared to be asked quite detailed questions that test your expertise (brainstorming-like questions)
Some reading for your prep:
Case Reading: https://www.preplounge.com/en/articles/how-to-shift-your-mindset-to-ace-the-case
Fit Reading: https://www.preplounge.com/en/articles/tell-me-about-yourself-interview-question
Here are 3 tech/IT cases (Monitor related) I created to help:
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Hi! McKinsey Digital interview process is IDENTICAL to generalist interviewing. In fact, usually interviewers don't even know that the candidate is interviewing for McKinsey Digital. The interviews at McKinsey are not meamt to test your digital expertise (this is seen as given from your profile), but your PROBLEM SOLVING abilities.
Many of my mentees who joined McK Digital had no single question related to digital in their entire interview process!
Best of success!
Sidi
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Hello,
Congratulations on getting a final round interview!
As others here have pointed out, the interview process for McK Digital is extremely similar to generalist roles. The only differences might be that:
1) You may be slightly more likely to get a case that touches on digital - but this it not guaranteed, and you should prepare for all kinds of cases
2) You should be ready to answer why you are interested in McK Digital specifically
But generally, your preparation for the interview should look very similar as to what you'd be doing for a general role.
Best of luck!
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Hey there,
I have helped a few of my mentees get into Digital focused strategy consulting teams (boutique and MBB). Couple of key things that helped them:
(1) Practicing cases that have a digital-focused intervention to solve the problem. I have a repository of such cases that I use in my coaching program
(2) Demonstrating a strong motivation to get into digital practice and backing it up with strong awareness of digital topics such as Cloud, Agile methodology, IoT, Digital transformation, etc.
Thanks
Ashwin
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