Rejected by McKinsey after Solve even if I am sure my performance was great

Hi there,

Sorry to hear about the rejection. In terms of your question:

Q: Does this mean my CV was not good enough for them? If so, why did they not reject me at the screening stage? 

It seems it was a CV rather than a game issue. 

A possible reason is that they changed the process in your office/for your school and are doing the CV screening after the game performance. I know this happened with a few business schools in the past.

Unfortunately there is not much you can do for this particular application, but you can still define a strategy for the next ones. Possible steps are:

• Check if the CV can be improved
• Network to find a referral for other companies and apply there
• In case McKinsey is your favourite option: apply again there once the ban is over

Good luck!

Francesco

Hello,

I am sorry to hear about your situation - it must be frustrating to get a rejection after your hard work. It is quite likely that the rejection had something to do with your CV, and could also be based on perceived fit and anything in particular the office/role you applied for was looking for. Did you apply via a referral, and did you come through a target school? Those are two additional factors that can impact your application.

Hi there,

Very sorry to hear!

I am not sure if you are the same person I was talking to privately with a similar issue (ans also the same question was asked here in the forum 3 weeks ago) but I want to answer this also publicly to give people that are googling these topics a chance as well to get an insight into the process.

My hypothesis is (since your resume is very strong for the position and comparable to people who are currently interviewing in the US and your game went very well) that they might prioritize candidates who hold US citizenship for US offices this summer with a general downturn in the economy and uncertain outlook.

Cheers,

Florian

Hi there,

I'm really sorry to hear this as you clearly put in a lot of effort here.

Unfortunately, just doing well on the game is not enough. They assess your application holistically and in contrast to all the other applications. So, they assess your overall experience (work, education, etc.), your resume strength (how strong it is/looks), and your networking/referrals. And office difficulty/demand.

Remember, no matter how good you are the odds are never 100% (even 70% is awesome). Please don't go “I didn't get McKinsey so I'm giving up”. apply to 30+ firms! Hustle for every role!

I faced similar situation before, had referral, got invite for the game, thought I did decently well but got rejected. 

Wondering whether McKinsey changed their process so that everyone gets invited for the game, and the game and CV are assessed together?

Also which office is this, mine was London

Hi there, 

sorry to hear about the rejection. As other says, it is not just the online assessment itself, but also your CV, cover letter and relative result vs. other candidates. if you want to learn more what didnt go as expected, I would recommend to reach out to the recruiting team asking for more detailed feedback. They should be able to give it to you. 

All the best, 

Lucie

Was this answer helpful? 

Very likely that it was related to your CV. Are you currently at a target school?