Product Manager interview at McKinsey

Digital McKinsey McKinsey McKinsey & Company McKinsey 2nd Round Product Manager
New answer on Feb 03, 2023
3 Answers
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Anonymous A asked on Feb 02, 2023

Hey everyone! I’ve applied for the Product Manager role. I've already passed HR and the first interview round (PEI and TEI - 2 interviews) Does anybody know how can I prepare for the second round? What kind of questions can I expect in TEI? In the first round, I only had one technical question about the technical choices I made and I regret them. PM is not strictly a technical role so I don’t know what to expect from it. The most important for me is how to prepare for a case interview. I will have only one case interview and I was told it would be a case related to the role. Does it mean that it would be related to work as a product manager like problems with product performance, launching a new product, product discovery? I will be very grateful for any tips!

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Cristian
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replied on Feb 02, 2023
#1 rated MBB & McKinsey Coach

Hi there, 

Congrats on approaching the second round! You're already within the 10% of candidates and that's a great achievement. 

Regarding what to expect - in short, more of the same. To be extra sure, feel free to ask HR for details. They have no interest in keeping anything secret from you, so they should help you have a clear understanding over what to expect from the interview. 

Aside from this, a few things to keep in mind for last round interview:

  1. Work on the feedback provided in the previous rounds. Most firms communicate the feedback from the previous rounds to the final interviewer. It's important then to show the final interviewer that you have a growth mindset and are reactive to feedback. This matters immensely. Make sure you are clear on your development areas and that you get the right support to polish them before the final interview.
  2. Expect less structure. Senior interviewers already have the confidence that you are a decent candidate, your skills having been already vetted by their younger colleagues. They are rather more interested in your as a person and your way of thinking. So they might present you with an unusual case, or one that is created on the spot or no case altogether. Expect anything.
  3. Focus on excellent communication. Senior interviewers care a lot about how clearly you communicate and how you manage to forge a connection with the interviewer. It's important to be top-down and concise as much as possible with your answers, while allowing the conversation to flow in a natural way.
  4. Put yourself in their shoes. The one question senior interviewers are asking themselves throughout the interview is what will happen when they'll put you in front of a client they've groomed for years? Make sure that even based on this first impression you seem somebody who can be trusted and who can work with any client regardless of how difficult they might be.

As a last note, if you want to increase the likelihood of success, consider hiring a coach to assess your readiness for the final interview. 

Best,

Cristian

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Florian
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replied on Feb 02, 2023
Highest-rated McKinsey coach (ratings, offers, sessions) | 500+ offers | Author of The 1% & Consulting Career Secrets

Hi there,

Congrats on passing the first round.

As regards the second round, I would expect a combination of three things
 

  1. PEI
  2. TEI
  3. Case

However, HR should give you an exact breakdown of your evaluation so that you know what to expect and prepare accordingly.

For the PEI, please refer to this article: https://www.preplounge.com/mckinsey-pei

For the TEI, you already know what to expect. There are a couple of videos and articles if you google it as well. You can use the storylining as I describe it for the PEI in the article for the TEI as well.

For the case, it might be that it is in your domain, however, McKinsey cases are designed in a way to evaluate how you think and approach problems, not what you know!

You can have a look at this article here that I wrote that discusses the case in more detail: https://preplounge.com/mckinsey-interview

Cheers,

Florian

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Hagen
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replied on Feb 03, 2023
#1 Bain coach | >95% success rate | interviewer for 8+ years | mentor and coach for 7+ years

Hi there,

First of all, congratulations on passing the first interview round with McKinsey!

I would be happy to share my thoughts on it:

  • For the second interview round, you can expect a similar structure to the first round. Still, in order to be absolutely sure about what formats you will face, I would advise you to reach out to your recruiter for specific details.
  • Regarding the case study, it is likely related to your future role as a product manager, yet please keep in mind that it is less about what you know about these areas of expertise and more about how you think and act. In order to prepare thoroughly, I would advise you to start with the great resources on PrepLounge (e.g., https://www.preplounge.com/en/case-interview-basics).

If you would like a more detailed discussion on how to best prepare for your second round interviews, please don't hesitate to contact me directly.

Best,

Hagen

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Cristian gave the best answer

Cristian

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