What should I expect for PEI with McKinsey Dubai?

dubai McKinsey McKinsey Dubai McKinsey PEI
New answer on Aug 17, 2021
5 Answers
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Anonymous A asked on Oct 27, 2020

i recently attended a pre-first round webinar for McKinsey Dubai hosted by a McKinsey consultant. However, within the webinar, he mentioned that for the PEI section, the interviewer is more likely to choose a random line on my CV and then ask me to speak about it for 15-20 minutes, and while speaking I will have to demonstrate 2-3 of the PEI qualities within the story.

This is very different from the online sources and guidance from other webinars and the recruiter. In terms of preparation - should I focus on generating 2-3 good stories which may/may not be on my CV per PEI quality? Or should I make sure I have a 20 minute story for every CV point.

Would very much appreciate any of the guidance or tips from this community, as I am currently quite stressed and confused.

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Robert
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replied on Oct 27, 2020
McKinsey offers w/o final round interviews - 100% risk-free - 10+ years MBB coaching experience - Multiple book author

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

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Anonymous A on Oct 27, 2020

Thank you for this Robert, this is helpful. I am interviewing for the entry level BA role, so I am guessing it will take the more traditional format of one PEI quality in a direct question?

Clara
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replied on Oct 29, 2020
McKinsey | Awarded professor at Master in Management @ IE | MBA at MIT |+180 students coached | Integrated FIT Guide aut

Hello!

Honestly, that sounds very very weird to me (and I used to make this coaching calls with potential candidates when I was in McKinsey, so I know what I am talking about).

Precisely the good thing about McKinsey´s FIT part is that is the most structured one:

  • Intro and CV questions (as ice breakers)
  • Motivational questions
  • Behavioural questions (tell me about a time in which...)

Hence, I would go with the classical overall prep -also described in McK´s page-.

If you want to deep dive on this, the "Integrated FIT guide for MBB" has been recently published in PrepLounge´s shop (https://www.preplounge.com/en/shop/tests-2/integrated-fit-guide-for-mbb-34)

It provides an end-to-end preparation for all three MBB interviews, tackling each firms particularities and combining key concepts review and a hands-on methodology. Following the book, the candidate will prepare his/her stories by practicing with over 50 real questions and leveraging special frameworks and worksheets that guide step-by-step, developed by the author and her experience as a Master in Management professor and coach. Finally, as further guidance, the guide encompasses over 20 examples from real candidates.

Furthermore, you can find 2 free cases in the PrepL case regarding FIT preparation:

Feel free to PM me for disccount codes for the Integrated FIT Guide, since we still have some left from the launch!

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Ken
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updated an answer on Oct 27, 2020
Ex-McKinsey final round interviewer | Executive Coach

[I'm going to give a slight 'harsh' answer because I want it to be helpful in you actually getting an offer from McKinsey!]

I would say both where there should be meaningful overlap with the exception of 'what is not on our CV' where I would have max 1-2 examples. As a candidate (for any job!), you should always feel comfortable talking about every line on your CV with a 30 second story and a 3-5 min story, considering that is what you have selected as your most impressive experience and achievements to-date. I feel your stress and confusion but I would also suggest that the root cause is the fact that you are trying to prepare purely based on what is most likely to be asked as opposed to preparing how you can best 'sell' yourself to the interviewer. I'm not sure there's a strict rule on 2-3 PEI dimensions are required per story as there aren't many dimensions to start with but it is an important skill to have later in your career where you will encounter much less structured and less predictable interviews :)

I'm a fan of the structured and somewhat predictable McKinsey approach but as a strong candidate, I would expect a little bit of flexibility. As a final round interviewer, I always looked for candidates with good intrinsics who can think on their feet and communicate that in a structured and engaing manner. Below is a real personal story of mine at McKinsey to make the point!

[This was me on the first week of my first client project as a summer BA, where I bumped into the CEO of my Fortune 500 client at the entrance where he was waiting for his driver. He had spotted that I worked for McKinsey and asked what I though of his company and what were some of the challenges the McKinsey team was facing during the project...]

(edited)

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Anonymous B replied on Oct 27, 2020

My experience there is the opposite of what he has told you. That was 2 years ago though.

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Florian
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replied on Aug 17, 2021
Highest-rated McKinsey coach (ratings, offers, sessions) | 500+ offers | Author of The 1% & Consulting Career Secrets
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Robert

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