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McKinsey Operations

McKinsey
Recent activity on Mar 27, 2018
2 Answers
3.3 k Views
Anonymous A asked on Mar 27, 2018

Dear all,

I have been contacted by recruiting firm for a position within McKinsey Operations division. I read a bit about this division on McKinsey website but I have still some questions, maybe someone could help me :)

- What is the exact difference between starting in Operations division and starting as a junior consultant in McKinsey?

- I have a junior profile (only 2 years of working experience including internship), coming from top university. Should I start the recruitment process of this division or do you recommend me to apply to traditional junior consultant role?

thank you very much in advance !

I want to be notified about updates regarding this question via email

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Vlad
Expert
 replied on Mar 27, 2018
McKinsey / Accenture Alum / Got all BIG3 offers / Harvard Business School

Hi,

There are the following differences with a generalist:

  1. Additional trainings
  2. Separate staffing - You are part of a global practice so you will have opportunities in other countries. You will have a different staffing coordinator who has to approve all your projects. In general, it gives you more opportunities since you can also be staffed on generalist projects in your home office in the downtime. On a downside - you'll travel more
  3. Different project types - you can participate in ops projects, however, the industries will be varying, from manufacturing to service ops.
  4. Career opportunities - the path is similar to the generalist.

re 2nd question:

  1. Most of the interviews will be the same
  2. You may have 1-2 interviews with additional ops cases. I would look at process basics (Cycle time, Little's Law, Variability, Buffers and parallel processes) and cost-cutting cases

Best

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B
Expert
 replied on Mar 27, 2018
NOT AVAILABLE

Hey,

First, the major difference is just in the nature of projects consultants do - operations just focus on those topics, generalists do a bit of everything (at least in their early tenure). Besides, due to the level of specialty, operations people might be asked to travel more than average.

Second, it really depends on what your preferences are. On top of it, in case you’re indifferent I would go for the Ops one as your chances to get an interview should be higher as you’re already contacted by them (don’t assume they will give you also an interview for generalist just due to such contact except if stated otherwise)

Best

Bruno

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