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Mckinsey Round 1 interviews

McKinsey experienced professional
New answer on Sep 30, 2023
7 Answers
1.1 k Views
Anonymous A asked on Sep 08, 2020

Hi,

I'm currently preparing for 3 round 1 interviews at Mckinsey. I have a few questions:

  1. Do candidates have all 3 round 1 interviews on the same day?
  2. The 3rd round 1 interview is a "general knowledege conversational interview delving into background, technical skillset, consultant ‘toolkit’ and transferable skills". How do I prepare for this?
  3. What are the common Mckinsey PEI questions?

Many Thanks!

Overview of answers

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Alberto
Expert
Content Creator
replied on Sep 30, 2023
Ex-McKinsey Associate Partner | +15 years in consulting | +200 McKinsey 1st & 2nd round interviews

Hi there,

On your third question, McKinsey PEI stories should cover:

  • Entrepreneurship: focusing on how you delivered impact out of your comfort zone
  • Leadership: focusing on leading a team towards a challenging goal
  • Personal impact: focusing on persuading an individual or group with an opposing opinion
  • Courageous change: focusing on dealing with ambiguity

Best,

Alberto

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Antonello
Expert
Content Creator
replied on Sep 09, 2020
McKinsey | NASA | top 10 FT MBA professor for consulting interviews | 6+ years of coaching

Hi,
1. usually yes, but in this period of online interviews it happens to be assessed in 2/3 different days
2. 3. it's the standard fit part of the interview and involves questions related to your experience to assess your personal impact, leadership, and entrepreneurship. I have specific sessions to prepare impactful stories about your background and to structure strong answers for the 3 most common questions (why you? why consulting? why McK?). Feel free to text me if curious to know how I usually work with candidates

Best,
Antonello

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Clara
Expert
Content Creator
replied on Sep 09, 2020
McKinsey | Awarded professor at Master in Management @ IE | MBA at MIT |+180 students coached | Integrated FIT Guide aut

Hello!

Integrated FIT guide for MBBOn top of the insights already shared in the post, this is related to point 3: What are the common Mckinsey PEI questions?"

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), and it precisely has the common PEI QUESTIONS.

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.

Furthermore, you can find 2 free cases in the PrepL case regarding FIT preparation:

Intro and CV questions > https://www.preplounge.com/en/management-consulting-cases/fit-interview/intermediate/introduction-and-cv-questions-fit-interview-preparation-200

Motivational questions > https://www.preplounge.com/en/management-consulting-cases/fit-interview/intermediate/motivational-questions-fit-interview-preparation-201

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

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Ian
Expert
Content Creator
replied on Sep 08, 2020
#1 BCG coach | MBB | Tier 2 | Digital, Tech, Platinion | 100% personal success rate (8/8) | 95% candidate success rate

First off, congratulations on getting the interview invitation and good luck!

1. Yes, be prepared for back-to-back interviews

2. This if fit/behavioral. You need to have "Resume Walthrough", "Why Consulting", and "Why McKinsey ready". Furthermore, you need to have stories prepared

3.

Leadership:

  • Tell me about a time you led a team
  • Tell me about a time when you had a conflict and had to resolve it
  • How do you lead and motivate people?

Personal Impact

  • Tell me about a time you had to persuade someone of something
  • Tell me about a time where you had to rely on your communication skills
  • What do you want to be remembered for and how are you achieving it?

Entreprenuerial mindset

  • Tell me about a time you had to change direction
  • Tell me about a recent failure you have had
  • Tell me about a time when you took initiative

----------------------------------------------------------------

For your key fit questions:

Resume walkthrough

  • Needs to be chronological
  • Only keep important details that make you look good (i.e. I worked across 7 industries and rose up the ranks twice in the course of that role)
  • Keep a theme of "why consulting"
    • I.e. at each step you need to show that you both got exposure to aspects of consulting AND thrived + enjoyed them
  • Finish with: And that's why I'm here today looking for consulting with your company

Why Consulting

  • You need to summarize what you did before along the theme of consulting aspects you liked and consulting aspects that were missing
  • You then combine those two - i.e. I know I like + am good at x, y, and z which is required for consulting, and I really am excited to get a, b, and c
  • You finish with a "mini" why x company

Why x company

  • Start with a "mini" why consulting
  • Then have 2-3 reasons why x company is your target
  • Every "reason" needs to incorporate 1) That you know they value x 2) That you not only value x but have exhibited it and done it in the past
  • Be very very mindful of what they want you to want

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Vlad
Expert
replied on Sep 08, 2020
McKinsey / Accenture Alum / Got all BIG3 offers / Harvard Business School

Hi,

1. Not necessarily, but in 70% of the cases

2. Absolutely all interviews will have fit questions.

The interviewer usually asks 3 sets of questions:

  1. “Tell me about yourself” or “Walk me through your resume”- this is how Consultants usually begin the interview. It's an opportunity for them to learn about you and to pick some interesting facts. Don’t lose this opportunity since the 1st impression is usually the strongest.
  2. “Why consulting?”, “Why McKinsey” or “Why BCG” questions are used to assess your motivation to be a consultant in general and to work in that particular firm. They will check how you have done your homework and what you’ve learned about them. They also want to make sure that you have a clear intention to work in consulting. "Why consulting" is a question about you and your career path. "Why McKinsey" is more about a particular company and even a particular local office.
  3. Next, the interviewer will also ask you to provide examples from your background to assess your fit:
  • Leadership
  • Personal impact
  • Entrepreneurial drive

At the end of the interview, you will also have an opportunity to ask your questions to the interviewer. Most of the candidates disregard this part in the preparation, while it is a great chance to demonstrate the intellectual capacity and build some relationship with the interviewer.

Best

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Anonymous replied on Sep 08, 2020

Dear A,

1. Usually yes

2. Basically it's about your previous experience, and skills you get there

3. Regarding PEI McKinsey questions, below you can find some examples of the questions that would help you to differ the dimensions of PEI:

Leadership

  • Tell me about a time you led others.

  • Tell me about a time when you were on a team that had a conflict that was keeping it from achieving its objective.

  • How do you motivate people?

Personal Impact

  • Tell me about a time you had to convince someone to change their mind on something important to them.

  • Tell me about a difficult situation where you had to rely on your communication skills.

  • What do you want to be remembered for and how are you achieving it?

Entrepreneurial Drive

  • Did you ever have a goal that you weren’t able to achieve? What did you do?

  • Tell me about a time that you dealt with a tough problem.

  • Tell me about a failure.

Best,

André

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Anonymous replied on Sep 08, 2020

Hi there!

First of all, congratulations for getting invited!

Regarding your questions, please see my answers below:

1. Based on my experience, yes, they do. All round 1 interviews take place on the same day.

2. Here, I would make sure that what you describe from your experiences, highlights these aspects. It is really important to showcase these skills in your previous experience, e.g. how you handle stressful situations, name an instance where you impacted a situation etc.

3. For your final questions, I would direct you: here https://www.mckinsey.com/careers/interviewing

Essentially, they would like to hear 4 different instances (one per area) where you showcased these attributes. Please keep in mind, when you are preparing, that they might ask for more than one example in each area. So make sure you are flexible and ready.

Happy to discuss any other questions with you!

Best,

Nikos

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