Dear All,
Thank you for always providing value in this form. My question is how do you prepare your stories for the follow-up questions during the PEI. Thanks.
You practice them with other people. This way you get to see what works, what doesn't, the sort of questions they have, what doesn't make sense for them and so on.
Then, you can practice them with consultants or coaches so you can improve their quality significantly.
I've also created a video course with my 6-step storytelling framework that has helped my candidates get distinctive feedback on the McKinsey PEI. You can find out more about it here:
Best,
Cristian
Dear A,
Depending on a story and a follow-up question your answers should be anyway very-well structured. But then it maight be difficult ot prepare for the follow-up questions without knowing them.
So you need to be a little spontanious and have a quick reaction.
I hope it helps,
Best,
André
Hi there,
Great question.
The best/ideal way is to just learn how to communicate effectively. What this means is, practice signposting, using structured thought, answering the question, being articulate + clear in thought, etc. Casing practice actually helps with the PEI.
The second thing to note is, pick experiences/stories that have depth. Pick a story that has many elements to it. In fact, this is beneficial not just for the PEI but for your other interviews (as ideally 3-4 stories should be able to cover the 10-12 themes of questions...such as leadership, challenge/difficulty, teamwork, etc.)
Remember, for PEI specifically, prepare a story for each of the McKinsey's dimensions (i.e. Leadership, Teamwork, and Entrepreneurial drive).
Finally, practice. Practice both telling your story and getting asked questions. Make sure you're prepared to dive into any area of the story you told and are able to react quickly to questions you were not expecting. Practice with family, friends, other PrepLoungers, and/or coaches!
Expert case by