Research Analyst McKinsey

Question

Hey,

So next week I will have final round interviews for the position of Research Analyst for a specific region/geographical market at McKinsey. (Don't want to give out exact region for anonymity reasons.)

The interview process so far has been conducted through a recruiting firm, with McKinsey only stepping for the very last interview rounds. Therefore, coming into the last interview I still have a very limited view about what I actually would do in the position. The only information I have is that including in the job listing which states I will conduct research and work with incoming "requests" from consulting teams.

Is there anyone here who has worked as a Research Analyst for McKinsey, or for some other reason has a good grasp of the job? I would love to hear some information about the actual concrete work that is done.

Furthermore, if anyone has any concrete tips on how to prepare for specifically Research Analyst interviews, that would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

Hi there,

Sure, I can give you an overview since I've worked with plenty research analysts over the years at McKinsey.

Let's take the following random example. I am a consultant serving Coca-Cola. My workstream is looking at increasing revenue through small sized stores. I want to conduct an analysis to understand better how many stores of this size are in the US (let's assume that's where the project is), where are they, what is their average size and geographic distribution / accumultation, what is their likely revenue from beverages, whether they work already with other partners, etc.

As a consultant, I will soon realize that I have none of the data. So that's the point where I will reach out to the research teams - either the country one (i.e., US), or the specific analysts from the consumer good practice. They will assign somebody and will offer me initially some off-the-shelf materials, then problem-solve together with me on what is the sort of data that I need for the analysis. Great research analysts help the consultants figure out more efficient ways of testing their hypotheses, as well as informing them about data sources they weren't aware of.

Eventually, the research analyst provides the data. Some even help analyses themselves. Very few I worked with even created the ppt pages, so it was literally plug-and-play as a consultant.

Hope this clarifies your questions!

Best,
Cristian

Answer 2

Hello!

I have worked with many research analysist from McK during my time there.

First, you have those sitting in the local offices (mostly focused on that local market, for instance, there were 3 pple in Madrid) and central teams that are organized by topics.

They mostly help with research data that feeds directly into projects, normally in a on-demand base with questions from the teams.

Hope it helps!

Cheers,

Clara