All questions tagged McKinsey PEI - Consulting Q&A - PrepLounge.com

Dear A,

For every PEI story, I would recommend you to use a specific structure, which consists of 5 components:

1. Situation (background)

2. Problem (Complication)

3. Your approach (how did you manage this problem)

4. Results (Outcomes of your approach)

5. Your learnings (what you take from this situation)

If you can apply this framework to every of your PEI stories and communicate in a top-down way, you would definitely leave a great impression. For more details, feel free to approach me.

Below you can also find some examples of the questions that would help you to differ the dimensions of PEI: Leadership

• Tell me about a time you led others.

• Tell me about a time when you were on a team that had a conflict that was keeping it from achieving its objective.

• How do you motivate people?

Personal Impact

• Tell me about a time you had to convince someone to change their mind on something important to them.

• Tell me about a difficult situation where you had to rely on your communication skills.

• What do you want to be remembered for and how are you achieving it?

Entrepreneurial Drive

• Did you ever have a goal that you weren’t able to achieve? What did you do?

• Tell me about a time that you dealt with a tough problem.

• Tell me about a failure.

Best,

André

Hi Anonymous,

30 minutes is indeed unusual for a final round at McKinsey. As mentioned by Ian, I would prepare on all the areas; it could also be that the case timeline will be longer and you will go for the traditional 45 min with fit and case (I know cases where HR said the interview had no case – and the candidate got a case in it! Partners, in particular, don’t have major obligations to follow defined rules).

The structure of the final round is the same as the first one (fit + case+ your questions); however, there is far more emphasis on communication and fit.

Specifically, the main difference you will find in a final round with partners is that at that stage they:

1. spend more time on fit questions and your alignment with the company
2. check more closely your communication (eg how you react to challenging questions)
3. may not have a “proper” structured case to present – during my final at BCG I had one interview which was made by two market sizing questions and a brainteaser, without any business case. That's because at the final they know you can structure and crack a case (you passed 1 or 2 rounds already) and are more interested in your logic, personality and fit with the company

So in order to prepare I would concentrate on:

• Review in details your fit stories – they will matter more than in the first round. In some finals I had almost exclusively behavioral questions
• Work on your communication (reaction under pressure, how to gain time when you do not have a structure ready, connect with the interviewer, etc). This is something you can test almost exclusively in p2p mocks with peers/experts.
• Prepare on cases as you did for the first round. More market sizing practice could be useful to think outside the box if you get unusual questions.

In terms of the PEI would be great if you could indicate the specific questions you find challenging to answer and your hypotheses on the possible stories, this will help to provide some tips in a more structured way.

Best,

Francesco

Hi Sandra,

great question, that’s actually something many candidates confuse. I have provided a description of the different areas below, together with what to focus on:

1) Personal Impact is mainly based on persuading someone about doing/not doing something. Questions include:

1. Tell me about a time that you persuaded your boss to go along with an idea you had.
2. Tell me about a difficult situation where you had to rely on your communication skills. 


Here you want to emphasize your influence on someone else, usually in disagreement with you.

2) Entrepreneurial Drive is about starting and implementing something overcoming major difficulties. Examples include:

1. What was a situation where you set a major goal and been able to achieve it?
2. What has been your major accomplishment so far?

Here you want to emphasize the achievement you reached and the process that led you there.

3) Just to complete the analysis: Leadership is about leading a whole team in challenging situation and team management skills. Questions include:

1. Give me an example of a time when you lead a group. 

2. What are some key lessons you have learned about motivating people? 


Here you want to emphasize how you overcome a difficult situation leading a team (not necessarily as the official leader).

Many candidates tend actually to confuse leadership and personal impact. In both you deal with people, but while in the first you are leading a team, in the second you are actually influencing someone else (not necessarily a team). In the first case you then end with a team result, in the second with your own specific result.

Hope this helps,

Francesco

Hi!

It should have all the things that you've mentions:

1. 1 sentence summary what's the story is about
2. 2-3 sentences of context
3. What was exactly the problem
4. HOW you solved it - 3-5 actions that you've taken
5. IMPACT - should be ideally measurable and impressive

Best

The golden rule when you talk about yourself is to be sincere and follow your gut. You would not be at that stage if you were not a smart person with the right CV, so don’t be afraid to pick “the wrong” story. There is not “right” or “wrong”. Talk about something that made you feel proud because you really think you changed the course of the events that mattered to YOU at that point in time, Nobody will ask you why you did not change the course of human history... When I asked these types of questions during recruiting what I wanted to understand was the real character, the intensity of the feelings, the passion, regardless of how truly impactful the story was.

I hope it helps...

Hi Anonymous,

this question is very similar to “Why should I hire you”. I would structure the answer as follows:

• Step 1: Be ready for an immediate reply. You cannot show you have to think for this question. If you don’t know immediately why they should hire you / what you can bring, you cannot expect they will consider you positively. This not only means you should prepare in advance, but also that you should break the ice immediately. Something like the following would work “That’s a great question. I think you should hire me/have me in the program for a couple of reasons, related to [MENTION THREE SKILLS]”
• Step 2: Start presenting the first skill. “A first element I believe I can bring is the ability not only to work in a team, but also to bring a team to reach its goal”
• Step 3: Provide a clear example of the skill. “As you can see from my CV, I have played in competitive football in the last years; more specifically [EXAMPLE SHOWING LEADERSHIP]. “
• Step 4: Remark why that could be useful for the company. “I know consultants work constantly in teams and the team performance is what matters to achieve the final result. If you hire me/have me in the program, I believe I can contribute in the team to that, as I showed in my past sport experience”
• Step 5: Repeat Step 2-4 for other two skills

As examples of good skills, everything related to leadership, drive, impact would work well for McKinsey. At the link below you can find an explanation of the meaning and differences for each of them:

https://www.preplounge.com/en/consulting-forum/mckinsey-pei-difference-drive-and-personal-impact-918#a1780

Best,
Francesco

Hi Anonymous,

• Choosing a "random" line of your CV: This is not unusual for experienced hires, and interviewers usually have a good gut feeling about which line of your CV could have carried which challenges for one specific PEI dimension (leadership, personal impact, entrepreneurial drive) - so the choice of lines is not really that random, but based on the interviewer's assumption about which PEI dimension you could talk about. However, if there was no challenge e.g. in terms of leadership in a "random" line of your CV, just state this and offer the interviewer an alternative. There is no point from interviewer's perspective trying to squeeze out something from a candidate which simply isn't there.
• Demonstrating 2-3 of the PEI qualities: Is it possible that this was a misunderstanding, and was more referring to demonstrating 2-3 challenges in that one story and explaining how you overcame those?

Hope this helps - if so, please give it a thumbs-up with the upvote button below!

Robert

There are several great questions questions in this post. Let’s start with establishing what interviewers are given before the interview, what overlaps exists between interviews and what interviewers discuss after the interviews are completed.

Before the interview, interviewers:

• Receive your resume and any notes from the resume screeners
• Receive any feedback from recruiters from on/off campus interactions (e.g., firm presentations, case preparation sessions)
• Choose a case from the active case library that unique from the other interviewers they are paired with for the day to avoid “case overlap”
• Are rarely assigned a “fit interview” question, but rather choose their own. They may, however, be assigned a “fit interview area” (e.g., leadership, drive/achieving, etc..) to probe

Overlaps that may exist

• Background walk through
• Why consulting
• Why MBB
• Fit question

After the interview, interviewers:

• Make the “case for” and make the “case against” (different interviewers do each)
• Discuss each portion of the candidate’s interview. So, stories told multiple times will get a reaction like, “Yeah, she told me that story too. It was interesting but…”
• Come to a consensus agreement whether to extend an offer to the candidate.

So, to answer your specific questions:

“Also, are the interviews coordinated amongst the interviewers such that after all interviews they circle back with each other to get a complete picture of fit that covers all the dimensions of fit?”
Yes, there is an in-person meeting with all interviewers to discuss the candidate and compare interviewer notes.

Alternatively, will I ever get two interviewers asking about a leadership example?
Yes, it’s definitely possible.

If yes, is it advisable to repeat the story or do I need another story?
Do NOT repeat the same exact story. If you have a way of telling the same story with an entirely different spin, then that’s fine. But, it needs to have a 180-degree spin on it.

NOTE: The degree of discussion and comparision after the interviewers is probably 5x more during final rounds versus first rounds.

I know this is the new twist to the leadership question for McKinsey this year around diversity and inclusion which is causing some uncertainty. I've discussed this with many candidates where I don't think you need to seek for special examples but focus on trying and pull out the inclusive elements from your existing leadership examples. For example, encouraging less active members in your team to contribute, picking up on how taking a 'conventional' approach to doing something would marginalise specific groups of people (e.g., gender, socioeconomic, racial), standing up against the non-inclusive status quo, etc.

Hi Anonymous,

I am afraid that specific examples won't help you that much, since you need to base your own examples on your own background obviously.

Therefore I will rather focus on key elements to cover in a leadership story (leadership is the one focusing on interpersonal conficts in a team..):

• Proactively taking on a leadership role in a given situation
• Building an effective team with a common goal/vision
• Focusing on interpersonal conflicts, not subject-matter related challenges

Examples of conflicting team situations:

• Conflicts affecting the whole team (e.g. after a setback within a project how you find again a common way to proceed and motivate the team, leading a voluntary team and effectively distributing tasks which can potentially lead to conflicts in the team, ...)
• Bilateral conflicts between 2 specific persons within the team (e.g. between you and a team member, or between two other team members which you needed to resolve)

Specifically for the McKinsey PEI, PrepLounge recently published a guide which is basically an excerpt of my "Ultimate McKinsey PEI Prep" ebook: https://www.preplounge.com/en/shop/guides-8/the-secret-mckinsey-pei-cheat-sheet-42. If required we can also try to find a slot for a coaching session to discuss your specific examples and how to set up your examples in such a way that they are perfectly fitting to McKinsey's PEI requirements.

Hope this helps - if so, please be so kind to give it a thumbs-up with the green upvote button below!

Robert

Your framework is a good one but I would add a few things.

1. Make sure you are conversational: Don’t be rote in your response. Make sure that when telling your story, you are really “telling a story” that makes the interviewer feel like they can visualize what was really going on.
2. Use unique stories: Remember that the interviewer is likely interviewing 7-8 candidates that day and maybe 14-16 candidates over 2 days. You need to make your story memorable. Many candidates may have a leadership story about how they led a team to achieve a goal at a previous job or how they led a volunteer effort. However, a more memorable leadership story could be starting a Horse Riding Club at a University or organizing a day-long ventriloquist festival.
3. Try to add humor where possible: Interviewers love candidates that break the monotony of interviewing with entertaining stories and humor can go a long way. A senior partner once came into a decision meeting and said he barely got to the case interview because he asked the candidate about his hobby of being a stand-up comedian. For a large portion of the 45 minutes, the candidate shared some of his stand-up material. He got an offer.

It’s also important to know what the interviewer assessing during the McKinsey PEI portion of the interview. There are 3 components:

• Confidence / presence: Asserts self-confidence outside areas of expertise in the face of change; would be comfortable putting the candidate in front of senior-level clients
• Listening: Accurately understands meaning of what is said or implied and responds by adapting own content and style to reflect understanding
• Influencing: Accurately anticipates or reacts to the need for various influencing tactics and deploys them appropriately

Hi!

It is very important "how" you tell the story. Even the best story will not work if you're presentation is not to the point. Being able to communicate effectively is key for a consultant and that is also what they want to see.

I think you can use the story (if you can't think of anything else). You should tweak it a bit and highlight the key points a bit more.

Key things to remember:

> Structure your story (1) Situation (What is the context) (2) Complication (What was the conflict?) (3) Solution (How did you resolve the conflict?) In your story 2 and 3 is not clear enough.

> Be specific but keep it simple. It is a fine line between being too generic and adding too many unnecessary details. Your mention lots of details in your stories that are not always helpful for proving your point.

> Not longer than 2min. It is important to be to the point and bring across your key messages in 2min or less. So practice your presentation.

Good luck! I am sure if you go over it again and practice, you will have an excellent story to tell :-)

Best, E

Hi there!

Based on your short description of the context, both examples are fine. However, the real question is: in which of those contexts did you encounter interpersonally challenging situations in a team setting, to explain your detailed "Actions" and "Decision-making rationale" (according to the PARADE framework) in those situation. The context as such is actually secondary.

Additional comment: As a rule of thumb, the more current your example is, the better - all other factory being equal, chose the more recent example.

(Why? Firstly, as an interviewer, I am interested in your current skillset and abilities. Therefore, I am not really so much interested in your actions and decision-making rationale several years ago as opposed to several weeks or months ago. And hopefully, you developed yourself further over the last couple of years, so that your actions and decision-making rationale were different today, given the possibility that you would be in the same situation again.)

Hope that helps!

Robert

Hi,

an absolute timing is not particularly indicative (can vary according to many factors..), I would say 2/3 weeks full time ideally (does not include calling people from the firm and interviewing them).

My advice is not to take this as "second priority" or rush through it: it is your occasion to sell yourself and appear as a pleasant human being. Make sure you have nough time to make sure that your selling points shine through the interview

1) Master your why consulting and why xx firm via

- Hearing from people at your target office

- Reflect upon your REAL reasons to join the firm and what you CAN ADD thanks to your skills/talents

- Let them understand you have done your homework, talked to relevant people in your target offices, know the reality of doing the job and what you are getting into

2) Prepare for the other fit questions (behavioural, leadership etc....) having your matrix of "stories" vs. possible questions which have to be relevant and follow a logic framework (e.g. the STAR framework - Situation Task Action Results) - once agian please insert your selling points wherever you can

If you have been trough the US MBA application process you can find some similiarities: it is kind of an introspective journey :)

Hope this helps.

Paul

Hi Anonymous,

Glad to see that you are preparing seriously for the McKinsey PEI - it's really an underestimated part of the whole McK recruiting process and an excellent opportunity to really stand out from the crowd of other applicants (the PEI counts for roughly 50% of your whole evaluation).

Key areas to address for each dimension:

• Leadership: Leading a team (formal or – even better – informal leadership role) in which you encountered interpersonal (!) challenges and focussing on how you overcome them
• Personal Impact: Convincing one specific other person (not multiple persons at once, no team included in this dimension) about a topic, so that he finally changes his opinion - focussing on how you strategically manage the process of convincing somebody

• Entrepreneurial Drive: Achieving a goal which is clearly outside your regular role and responsibilities - focussing on the key challenges and how you overcome them with a structured approach.

You can find many free PEI specific blog posts on my own McKinsey PEI blog: https://pei.consulting-case-interviews.com/blog/.

For in-depth prep, I recommend The Ultimate McKinsey PEI Prep ebook at https://pei.consulting-case-interviews.com (what else can I say?) which covers everything from finding the right examples to tactical fine-tuning.

Furthermore, you can also find a blog post here about how to prepare for the McKinsey PEI in more detail: https://www.quora.com/How-can-I-prepare-for-McKinsey-PEI-questions/answer/Robert-Steiner

For more detailed discussion on this subject, please feel free to contact me for a coaching session to help you preparing your PEI.

Hope that helps - if so, please give it a thumbs-up with the green upvote button below!

Robert

Hi Anonymous,

Grundsätzlich spricht nichts dagegen, Beispiele aus dem akademischen Umfeld zu verwenden.

Wie immer kommt es aber auf die Details drauf an - es muss ein Beispiel sein, was eindeutig über die normale Erwartungshaltung und Verantwortlichkeit hinausgeht, und in dem Du mehrere schwierige Herausfordernungen systematisch überwunden hast.
(Soweit mal das allerwesentlichste - im Detail gibt es natürlich noch viel mehr zu beachten)

Für das McKinsey PEI gibt es auf PrepLounge auch einen eigenen kurzen Guide als Auszug von meinem Ultimate McKinsey PEI Prep ebook. Neben einer detaillierten Anleitung zur Strukturierung der Beispiele sind darin auch die Kern-Themen für jede Dimension enthalten: https://www.preplounge.com/en/shop/tests-2/the-secret-mckinsey-pei-cheat-sheet-42

Robert

Hi there,

The cases per se are not more difficult. However, competition is stronger. This means there is less margin for error if you want to move forward.

PEI is definitely something you will be tested on.

In general, the structure of the rounds is the same (fit + case+ your questions); however in finals there is usually more emphasis on communication and fit.

Specifically, the main differences you may find in a final round with partners is that at that stage they:

1. Spend more time on fit questions and your alignment with the company
2. Check more closely your communication (eg how you react to challenging questions)
3. May not have a “proper” structured case to present – during one of my MBB finals I had one interview which was made by two market sizing questions and a brainteaser, without any business case. That's because during the final they know you can structure and crack a case (you passed 1 or 2 rounds already) and are more interested in your logic, personality and fit with the company

So in order to prepare I would concentrate on the following:

• Review in detail your fit stories – they will matter more than in the first round. In some finals I had almost exclusively behavioral questions
• Work on your communication (reaction under pressure, how to gain time when you do not have a structure ready, connect with the interviewer, etc). This is something you can do almost exclusively in interviews with peers.
• Prepare cases as you did for the first round. If you got feedback on a specific area, focus more on that part.

Best,

Francesco

Hi Justin,

PEI section.
Prepare the stories for each of the sections listed below. Make sure you use top-down approach, where you tell the result first. Be proactive and make sure your stories are worth listening, use body language and eye contact.
Record yourself in a web-cam and look through the recording to see how you can improve.

Please see below a non-exhaustive, but already quite comprehensive, list of potential questions

Entrepreneurial drive

1. What was a situation where you set a major goal and been able to achieve it?
2. Tell me about a time when you achieved a difficult goal
3. What has been your major accomplishment so far?
4. Tell me about a time that you did something innovative

Leadership

1. Give me three examples of a time that you lead a group.
2. What are some key lessons you have learned about motivating people? 

3. Tell me about a time you lead a team through a conflict
4. Tell me about a time you lead a team to achieve a difficult goal
5. Tell me about a time where you were leading a team and you needed to force someone to work when they didn't want to do it

Personal impact

1. Tell me about a time that you persuaded your boss to go along with an idea you had
2. Tell me about a time that you managed upwards
3. Tell me about a time that you changed someone's mind
4. Tell me about a difficult situation where you had to rely on your communication skills
5. Tell me about a time where you dealt with a conflict/crisis/difficult member in your team

Case Interview

Structure your preparation into 2 main blocks: theory and practice

Ist stage. Theory

• Wharton casebook 2010- you can check how all industries work there (airlines,

  retail etc)

• Case-in-point – you can check what frameworks exist, try to practice and learn

  them (product launch, M&A etc.)

• Check how former business consultant approaches different cases with best

  interviewers – listen to at least 3 cases of LOMS

• Check out MECE principle, top-down, bottom-up à pyramid principle (book

  Barbara’s Minto Pyramid) IInd stage.

Practice

• Create your own case schedule (solve at least 1 case per day) with partners in local groups, universities/preplounge (extreme case)

• Structure everything you do (how to go the shop, structure articles you read)

• Solve at least 1 case per each case type you found in case in point

• Learn how to analyze graphs (practice looking at graphs and asking so whats out of them)

• Brainstorming is a must = generate at least 10 ideas on an topic in 30 seconds

I am sure you will make it. You should remember that it is not about the talent, but a practice.

Link to a fulll guide: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DwUwqUu6OwRd1bCVTzRA-6dcvPL2_p91/view?usp=sharing

Pls text me if access is not granted automatically.

Kind regards,
Egor

Hi,

The length is related to your story and additional questions your interviewer may ask.

The story about yourself should be 13-15 sentences.

For the PEI story I recommend the following:

• In Situation, you should briefly provide the context, usually in 1 or 2 sentences
• Task usually includes 2 or 3 sentences describing the problem and your objective.
• Then you provide a list of specific actions you took to achieve the goal. It should take 1 or 2 sentences per action (Usually 3-4 actions). Note that the interviewer can stop you any minute and ask for more details.
• The results part should have 1 or 2 sentences describing the outcomes. This part is finalizing your story - make sure it can impress the interviewer and stay in the memory.

It is important that the Interviewers will drill down into your story to understand the dynamics, your reactions and decisions and most of all the rationale behind them. They will follow up with other questions as you tell your story to make sure they understand it in enough detail. I recommend preparing for these additional questions in advance.

At the end of the interview, you will also have an opportunity to ask your questions to the interviewer. This should include 3-4 questions. Most of the candidates disregard this part in preparation, while it is a great chance to demonstrate the intellectual capacity and build some relationship with the interviewer.

The main objective is to have a good conversation and highlight your intellectual capacity and curiosity. Thus:

It is ok to ask:

• Questions that cause positive emotions and highlight consulting pros (e.g. Mck people)
• Questions on the topics you are excited about (e.g. data science)
• Non-business questions (e.g. team retreats)

It's not ok to ask:

• Questions that can cause negative emotions (e.g. work hours)
• Information you should learn before the interview (e.g. typical career path)
• Questions that may show that you are unfamiliar with consulting work (Like are you specialized in strategy or operations?)

Be prepared and good luck!

Best,

Vlad

Hi,
yes, I recommend to practice to both types of fit questions, by crafting impactful stories that cover the 3 main dimensions which McK use to value your performance: personal impact, leadership, and entrepreneurial drive.

Best,
Antonello