Hi Rothut,

Ultimately, for functional expertise you need to demonstrate that you have the knowledge and experience on this subject matter (product development and procurement)

In addition to that, you need to demonstrate this with clear, organized, and concise communication.

To perform well you need to:

1. Build business acumen/subject matter expertise
2. Have strong frameworking + structured thinking/communication ability

Hi,

Thanks for asking this question. Some clarification points would be helpful for us to give a POV.

 Is this a ‘traditional’ role (e.g. functional meaning traditional functions like pricing, procurement etc) or is this a digital role (e.g. BCG X equivalent)? 

And I assume this partner is kind of like BCG ‘partner’ (non-equity), and not equity partner role?

(edited)

Hello,

The additional piece you would need for the Functional Expertise part is precisely in the name – it’s the expertise itself. For generalist positions, you are typically not assessed on your business knowledge and understanding of various industries. By contrast, for expert roles you will need to demonstrate a thorough understanding of your field of expertise – in your case, product development.

Most candidates for such positions would have acquired some functional expertise from their previous job, so in that sense you may not have to prepare in the same way if you’ve worked in procurement already. However, it is still always helpful to read up – I think Andi’s suggestions for reading up on the scope of the service line, as well as firm and industry expertise is spot on in that field.

Hi there!

The functional expertise / technical interview at McKinsey is specific for those who apply on the expert track. 

Basically, you'll need to demonstrate that you have specific functional knowledge in that field.

With previous candidates, they either had a Q&A on the topic to test their knowledge OR they had an actual business situation that was functionally drivena and they had to comment on OR they had to provide stories of them showing their expertise in the past. 

Regardless, I'd recommend you also reach out directly to the recruiter and ask for more details on the format of the interview. 

This will allow you to be more targeted with the prep. 

Best,
Cristian

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