McKinsey Personal Experience Part

Hi there!

The good news is that it is much easier than lots of candidates assume. Most of the times, it will be very clear from the beginning what the interviewer is looking for. Or in other words: you should know immediately whether it will be Leadership, Personal Impact or Entrepreneurial Drive.

The most basic questions your interviewer can ask in your McKinsey PEI:

• Was there any situation in which you had to lead and navigate a team through a difficult situation? (Leadership)
• Please tell me about a situation when you needed to change someone’s mind. (Personal Impact)
• Please tell me about a time when you achieved a difficult goal which was of high importance to you. (Entrepreneurial Drive)

The full and original blog post you can find here: https://pei.consulting-case-interviews.com/blog/typical-mckinsey-pei-questions/

In addition, there is another answer in the forum listing more typical PEI questions:

Entrepreneurial drive

• What was a situation where you set a major goal and been able to achieve it?
• Tell me about a time when you achieved a difficult goal
• What has been your major accomplishment so far?
• Tell me about a time that you did something innovative

Leadership

• Give me three examples of a time that you lead a group.
• What are some key lessons you have learned about motivating people? 

• Tell me about a time you lead a team through a conflict
• Tell me about a time you lead a team to achieve a difficult goal
• Tell me about a time where you were leading a team and you needed to force someone to work when they didn't want to do it

Personal impact

• Tell me about a time that you persuaded your boss to go along with an idea you had
• Tell me about a time that you managed upwards
• Tell me about a time that you changed someone's mind
• Tell me about a difficult situation where you had to rely on your communication skills
• Tell me about a time where you dealt with a conflict/crisis/difficult member in your team

​Hope that helps for a start!

Robert

Hello!

On top of the insights already shared in the post, next week will be pusblished in PrepLounge´s Shop material related.

In concrete, the "Integrated FIT guide for MBB". 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.

Here I leave you the link > https://www.preplounge.com/en/shop/tests-2/integrated-fit-guide-for-mbb-34

Feel free to PM me for disccount codes!

Hope you find it useful!

Best,

Clara

Dear A,

I'm sure, Robert explained it nicely. What I can add is that for proper communication of your personal stories you can use this structure:

1. Situation (background)

2. Problem (Complication)

3. Your approach (how did you manage this problem)

4. Results (Outcomes of your approach)

5. Your learnings (what you take from this situation)

If you can apply this framework to every of your PEI stories and communicate in a top-down way, you would definitely leave great impression. For more details, feel free to approach me.

Good luck,

André

Hi there,

Mostly each interviewer spends around 15 min for behavioral part meaning that maybe you will hear a couple of those questions.

However, it is more about how well you are prepared for that kind of questions. For example, if you are talking about your leadership story, I would suggest you to first think about the dimensions of leadership. For example, those can be some of them: empathy, taking responsibility proactively, stepping up but also stepping back and letting others grow, focusing on value etc etc... It is great to think all of your stories in a way that how you are addressing those dimensions. Then your stories will be impact stories. In this method, you can sell yourself without sounding that you are selling. Most of the times, it is not about what story you are talking about but it is more about how you are talking about. Hope it helps.

Cheers
Serhat