Mckinsey Round 1 Experienced Hire

Actively preparing for interviews with McKinsey Experienced Hire
New answer on Oct 03, 2020
5 Answers
1.4 k Views
Anonymous A asked on Sep 29, 2020

Hi,

I currently have 8 weeks to prepare for my Mckinsey R1 interview in the free time i have outside of work.

what are the most common case types and the most common industries to focus on when preparing for Mckinsey R1?

Overview of answers

Upvotes
  • Upvotes
  • Date ascending
  • Date descending
Best answer
Robert
Expert
Content Creator
replied on Sep 29, 2020
McKinsey offers w/o final round interviews - 100% risk-free - 10+ years MBB coaching experience - Multiple book author

Hi Anonymous,

For experienced hires it's usually more about your expertise and background.

Let's say you have a lot of experience in financial services industry, most likely you will be hired for an experienced role in this industry, will be interviewed by interviewers from that industry, and most likely they will discuss situations/cases from their background which is again financial services. Obviously there are exceptions from this rule, but tactically speaking I would review your area of expertise to be up-to-date with latest trends and developments, and to prepare for cases in that area.

Depending on your level of seniority, the interview process could be completely customized to you. Recently I was coaching 2 partners of a tier-2 consulting firm to switch to associate partner role at McKinsey. The interview process was organized as follows (for each of them individually):

  • 4 interviews focusing on motivation for joining McKinsey and in-depth discussion of their expertise/background
  • 4 interviews similar to case and personal fit (although obviously on partner-level the requirements and focus is a different one)
  • 4 relatively unstructured interviews mainly about personal fit, industry trends and issues as well as potential future engagements as well as their contribution to the firm in terms of revenue and intellectual growth

Depending on your specific situation case interview might not be the most important aspect to consider, so please make sure that you are heading into the right direction with your prep!

Hope this helps - if so, please be so kind to give it a thumbs-up with the green upvote button below!

Robert

Was this answer helpful?
Anonymous replied on Sep 30, 2020

Dear A,

Since you are experience hire, it highly depends on which role you are applying, so the process might be customized to you.

Best,
André

Was this answer helpful?
6
Ken
Expert
replied on Sep 30, 2020
Ex-McKinsey final round interviewer | Executive Coach

It depends on what role you are interviewing for but if it's for an Integrative/generalist Associate role then your interviews will be industry agnostic. Appreciate there are certain types of cases (e.g., profitability improvement, market entry, customer experience improvement, etc.) but I would first recommend focusing on trying to understand the underlying problem solving skills that the case interviews are tesing for. Broadly, these are structuring, numerical analysis and conceputal reasoning.

Was this answer helpful?
Anonymous on Sep 30, 2020

I believe it's an operational senior consultant role. Many thanks for the pointers

Ken on Oct 01, 2020

It sounds like either McKinsey Transformation or the Operations practice. The case you get asked would really depend on whether you are interviewed by a dedicated or generalist consultant. It depends on the size of the group but often times, recruiters are looking for interviewers last minute where someone who has no relation with the group you are interviewing for would be get assigned where they would ask a more generic case. Having said that, the basic problem solving skills that are being tested for are the same but with emphasis on the specific role you will be playing.

Ian
Expert
Content Creator
replied on Oct 03, 2020
#1 BCG coach | MBB | Tier 2 | Digital, Tech, Platinion | 100% personal success rate (8/8) | 95% candidate success rate

Most common case types:

  • Profitability
  • M&A
  • Growth
  • Market Entry
  • Investment decision
  • Operations / Business Improvement

Most common Industries: It depends on your office/country! Study the ones that represent the largest % of GDP, largest companies in the city/country, etc.

Was this answer helpful?
Anonymous A on Oct 04, 2020

London, United Kingdom office

Francesco
Expert
Content Creator
replied on Sep 30, 2020
#1 Coach for Sessions (4.000+) | 1.500+ 5-Star Reviews | Proven Success (➡ InterviewOffers.com) | Ex BCG | 10Y+ Coaching

Hi there,

It depends on the office and the seniority you join. It is impossible to give hints without knowing that.

  • Even for experienced hires with 10-15 years, there is not necessarily a relationship between the previous experience of a candidate and the case part. I helped a senior executive to join the O&G practice of McKinsey and he got zero case questions on O&G.
  • In terms of sectors, there is normally a relationship with previous questions asked in that office. That’s because case question sectors are usually related to the projects the interviewers worked on, which tend to be consistent in a specific office. Sometimes that’s true as well for the actual case types. For example, market sizing is uncommon at McKinsey in general, but not usual in Italy.
  • For experienced hires with 10-15 years, you may not even have a proper case in all the interviews, but just cover motivational questions.

Developing good case solving skills is even more important than knowing the possible sectors and case types. Having said that, I have 500+ real questions asked in MBB, please feel free to PM for more information.

Best,

Francesco

Was this answer helpful?
Anonymous A on Oct 04, 2020

So I shouldn't look to practise Market Sizing cases?

Francesco on Oct 04, 2020

Hi there, I would still practice, uncommon doesn’t mean it cannot be asked. As mentioned the frequency is also related to the location. Best

Robert gave the best answer

Robert

Content Creator
McKinsey offers w/o final round interviews - 100% risk-free - 10+ years MBB coaching experience - Multiple book author
504
Meetings
3,960
Q&A Upvotes
62
Awards
4.9
171 Reviews
How likely are you to recommend us to a friend or fellow student?
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
0 = Not likely
10 = Very likely