McKinsey rejection after final round - but told to reapply in 6 months time. What does this even mean?

Question

Hi All,

I am completely devastated to receive the news that after a 5 month recruitment process, I did not receive the offer with McKinsey. Instead, they told me I was very close to getting the offer and am a “strong candidate” so they would like me to reapply in 6 months time. I haven’t received any further details on exactly what this means and why I am being held to such a timescale if I have already demonstrated my ability.

My feedback after the first round was mainly positive with some minor areas of improvement such as selecting the shortest approach on the quant section and being more structured when giving insights on data. I worked on these areas before my final round and feel I performed a lot better.
However, I received a call from one of my final round partners and he told me they weren’t able to give me an offer at this time. He said this was due to only one area of improvement for me, which is related to judgement and insights from graphs. The feedback was quite vague. He said it probably won’t take me 6 months to work on this, and I was strong in all the other parts of the interview (PEI, structuring and maths) but that’s what the decision is. The partner did not seem to know anything more about the 6 month reapply recommendation, and told me to discuss with HR. The call lasted less than 3 minutes in total and I felt he was uncomfortable sharing the news.

I am really disappointed with the news and in reality, I cannot afford to put my career on hold and wait for 6 months to maybe get the McKinsey offer. I’ve already spent 6 months applying to consulting firms and feel like this is the same as getting a full rejection.
Any advice on what I should do and what my options are would be greatly appreciated.
Many thanks!

Answer 1

As with most things in life it’s often about luck and timing. Unfortunately the response you’ve gotten is quite typical for a final round rejection where I wouldn’t read into it. Having made many final round rejection calls, it’s also a convenient way for the interviewer to frame the message more positively. I completely understand the time commitment and dedication that has been required in your preparation but i would believe that it’s also something that will accumulate. I often encourage candidates to apply many of the (new) consulting skills they’ve learnt in their current jobs which is a great way to continue practicing (E.g., structuring problems, communicating in a top-down way, etc). Assuming you are happy with your current role, I would continue and reflect on whether you want to give it another stab including the other MBBs.

There is a successful McKinsey partner I know well who applied to McKinsey four times before he finally got his offer… back to my earlier point, it’s about luck and timing, especially if you’re able to make it through to final round.

Answer 2

Hi there,

sorry to hear about your rejection, i can imagine the disappointment.

McKinsey is great, but the world is bigger than that :-)

What I would recommend to do:

1. Reach to HR and ask for more detail feedback to understand well what to improve

2. Close gap (e.g. graph reading), make sure you are really strong in that, mock one case with coach, to confirm you can perform well under stress

3. Apply for other consulting firms, including tier 2, where you can likely secure job

4. Orient yourself what other jobs beyond consulting can provide the characteristics you look (e.g. challenge, fast pace, etc.) as there are many non-consulting jobs offering similar experience, particularly firms having management programs

Good luck,

Lucie

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Answer 3

Hey there,

While I can’t comment on how this process fits with the other elements of your life, I can tell you that this is good news as far as McKinsey goes.

Normally, you’d be banned from reapplying for 18-24 months. The fact that they want you to reapply after 6 months is great and only offered to very few “rejects”.

If this happened recently, forget about it for 4 months… When you get close to the 6 months mark, your best bet is to prepare with a coach and former McKinsey interviewer to bring it home next time!

Partner round is somewhat unpredictable and depends on more factors than first round, most of which are in your control. A seasoned coach will be able to help you a great deal here!

Keep it up and best of luck!

Answer 4

Sorry to hear. I wont repeat what other coaches have said but will re-iterate that you must move on and be successful elsewhere. McK is not the end all and there are plenty of amazing companies out there!

Rejection is part of the game and almost everyone faces it. Every rejection gets you closer to where you should really be.

All the best.

Answer 5

Hi there,

It means you can re-apply in 6 months….

You are right that you cannot put your career on hold (ever!) for a single company. And you were right to continue applying to other firms.

You need to move on (forward). Your life/career is not McKinsey or nothing. .00001% of the population does not work for McKinsey, and they are just fine!

Continue applying and interviewing with other firms. Take the best offer and don't look back. You can always apply to McKinsey in the future when the time is right.

Answer 6

Hi there,

Sorry to hear! I can imagine how frustrated you must feel.

I'd do three things:

1. Apply to other consulting firms. Since you are a strong candidate for McKinsey, you'll likely secure a few other offers in the meantime you can pick whichever you like. Then start the actual job and accumulate experience.

2. Get some expert feedback / coach on how to best address the feedback points you received from your McKinsey interview. This way you'll make sure you're bulletproof for the upcoming interviews.

3. In 6-12 months reapply for McKinsey. By now you will have some experience on the job with the other company, less stress because you're already working and you will have already improved on whatever made you fail initially.

Best,

Cristian

Answer 7

Hi there,

Sorry to hear about the rejection.

I would consider the following options:

Apply to other consulting companies. This includes BCG and Bain but also Tier 2. You can relatively easily move from a Tier 2 to MBB after some experience there. You can apply when available to McKinsey later on
Work for 2-3 years (ideally in a strategy job), do an MBA, apply to McKinsey for the Associate position (assuming you are a new grad now). This is the standard path if option 1 doesn’t work
If you know already what you would like to do after McKinsey: network with people in the sectors interesting to you and try to get there skipping the consulting step – with the right connections it could be feasible even for niche industries such as PE or VC.

You can find more on networking for options 1 and 3 here:

▶ How to Network to get Referrals

Overall, you need to look at a long-term plan.

I understand this rejection seems a huge thing to you now, and yes, it could have been an advantage for your career short-term if you would have made it.

But in 10 years no one will care if you joined McKinsey now, in 6 months or in 2 years. And even if you don’t manage to join at all, there are very likely many other ways to get where you want to go without the MBB brand. Maybe not as fast. But if you play long-term it doesn't really matter much anyway.

Best,

Francesco

Answer 8

Hello!

Sorry to hear about the rejection, but it´s not the worst news. The fact that they want you to keep in touch in as little as 6 months is quite unique.

I don´t think you should put your life on hold at all for this. Keep planning and acting as normal, as you would do after the rejection, and only after some months see if you feel like re-applying (if you have the energy, if it still fits your plans and ambitions, etc.)

Hope it helps!

Cheers,

Clara

Answer 9

Don't put your career on hold. Take up whatever other next best offer you have and crush it there. Then, if you're still interested in McKinsey in 6 months or a year or whenever, reapply then. Apply to BCG/Bain and other T2/boutiques as well (if you still want to work in consulting) or to companies in your field of interest.

P.S. One part of casing is luck. The 6 month reapplication invite likely means you are good at case (and fit) interviews and have the potential to get an offer at this time at a different firm/interview (s). If you haven't already applied to BCG/Bain or other T2/boutiques, apply now if you still have the energy/will to go through more interviews. You're much more likely to get an offer with interviews with multiple firms.

Answer 10

Hi!!! I´m currently facing the same exact situation. Only difference is that I have just finished my internship at McKinsey with an FSP role. I have a 6 month ban but the recruiter says I can restart the process in october beggining with final round interviews. What did you finally do? Do you think we could talk? Please, I really don´t know what to do.