Mckinsey interview with HR (experienced hire)

Experienced Hire McKinsey
New answer on Sep 03, 2020
4 Answers
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Anonymous A asked on Oct 19, 2018

Hello,

Anyone could advise me on what kind of questions would be asked within my 2nd interview? Recently in interview process as experienced hire and passed the first interview with EM for both PEI and Case. The next round will include 2 interviews (1 hour with HR and 1hour with another consultant). Anyone here could help share their experience and thoughts on how to prepare?

Many thanks!!!

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Vlad
Expert
replied on Oct 20, 2018
McKinsey / Accenture Alum / Got all BIG3 offers / Harvard Business School

i,

In the final round, I would expect a bit more structured and demanding approach to the fit part. The partners in the last round are more experienced and they will challenge every single detail of your story. So make sure that you have a couple of backup stories. Thus:

1) Make sure that you've prepared everything: A story about yourself, motivational questions and the main FIT stories. Also, don't forget about your questions to the interviewer - you'd rather have an interesting conversation and score some point instead of a simple Q&A session

2) Then go through each story and think of the additional questions the interviewer may ask. It’s important since additional questions will take up to 50% of the interview. Try to remember the main details and facts and make sure that you know how to explain the key concepts quickly. Test your stories with your friends, ideally consultants, and ask for their feedback. There can be multiple groups of additional questions:

  • The interviewer may be interested in details about the context
  • He may want to check whether this was your effort or more sort of a team effort.
  • “Have you faced any difficulties while implementing your solution?”- Typically an interviewer would like you to tell him how you’ve overcome those difficulties.
  • Your interviewer will check how real your story is. You should be ready to provide even more granular actions, key milestones and a breakdown of potential effects.

3) Now work on 3-6 backup stories. During your interviews, you can then use these stories or adapt these stories to the additional questions your interviewer asks you.

You may be interested, why you need to prepare several stories for each question? At the end of the day, it's not that easy to come up with all of these stories. I've answered here: Repeating Fit Interview Stories

As for the cases - Partners and Directors have their own favorite cases and may even want you to lead the case. The key difference:

  1. You ask clarifying questions in the beginning and make a structure
  2. You lead the case through the structure you've prepared a) asking questions and trying to identify the root-cause of the problem in the branch of your structure b) making a transition to the next branch c) proactively calculating the data and making data-driven conclusion from the data they give you d) Making a conclusion when they ask you to finish a case

It may seem to you that these 2 types of cases are different, however, the interviewer-led type is just a simplified version of the interviewee-led case. My advice is to always prepare in the interviewee-led format so that you could solve both easily.

Best

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Guennael
Expert
replied on Oct 19, 2018
Ex-MBB, Experienced Hire; I will teach you not only the how, but also the why of case interviews

Are we talking about the 2nd & final round? I will assume so. Back to your question, what to expect?

- First, remember the Partners own the companies, and may therefore not feel obliged to follow HR's guidance

- Second, also remember the Partners' job mostly centers around sales & relationship building

- As such, you should expect the unexpected a little bit. Some interviewers may not even give you a case, or a very short one. A significant number of these interviews will even devolved into a free flow discussion

- No matter the format, expect to be judged and analyzed thoroughly. Ultimately, they will bring you in only if the partner feels comfortable you can be placed in front of the client without creating a crisis. Can you build relationships, can you speak on a variety of topics, are you personable & interesting, will you say things that reflect bad on the firm?

- Beyond this, you still need to prepare just like you had for the first round: make sure your case skills are still sharp, review the standard fit questions...

Good luck!

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Anonymous replied on Sep 03, 2020

Dear A,

If youe are talking about the 2nd and final round, then please keep in mind that last round with a partner (the owner of the comany) will be more structured, he/she will be paid more attention on your FIT part and your personal intergration to the company. So be very well prepared for that, as well as with a case. For sure it will be more advanced level, and probably related to your area of expertise.

If you need any further help or advice, feel free to reach out.

Best,
André

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Clara
Expert
Content Creator
replied on May 31, 2020
McKinsey | Awarded professor at Master in Management @ IE | MBA at MIT |+180 students coached | Integrated FIT Guide aut

Hello!

On top of the insights already shared in the post, the "Integrated FIT guide for MBB" has been recently published in PrepLounge´s shop (https://www.preplounge.com/en/shop/tests-2/integrated-fit-guide-for-mbb-34)

It provides an end-to-end preparation for all three MBB interviews, tackling each firms particularities and combining key concepts review and a hands-on methodology. Following the book, the candidate will prepare his/her stories by practicing with over 50 real questions and leveraging special frameworks and worksheets that guide step-by-step, developed by the author and her experience as a Master in Management professor and coach. Finally, as further guidance, the guide encompasses over 20 examples from real candidates.

Feel free to PM me for disccount codes, since we still have some left from the launch!

Hope you find it useful!

Best,

Clara

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Vlad gave the best answer

Vlad

McKinsey / Accenture Alum / Got all BIG3 offers / Harvard Business School
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