Which Should i start preparing for? & Recommendations needed

McKinsey
New answer on Jun 30, 2023
5 Answers
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Ahmad
Proficient
asked on Jan 04, 2020

Hello everyone,

I am graduating in a couple of months, and I planning for landing a position at McKinsey once I graduate. I am planning for this by applying to EDAD Program, a program by McKinsey for Arabic speaking students.

Any tips on which thing to start preparing for first? the PST and math skills? Case interview? anything else I'm missing?

Any recommendations on good resources for both of them would be highly appreciated!

Also, I have read countless tips for a good McKinsey resume, and I did a lot of edits and changes over time, but I need trusted websites or experts for reviewing my resume, any suggestions?

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Antonello
Expert
Content Creator
replied on Jan 05, 2020
McKinsey | NASA | top 10 FT MBA professor for consulting interviews | 6+ years of coaching

Hi Ahmad,
there are 4 aspects of the application process you have to focus on:

  • CV and cover letter: prepare impactful documents that highlight your achievements, skills, and motivation.
  • Test: you should understand if your office assesses candidates with PST, SHL or Imbellus, since every McK office can use one of these 3 standards.
  • Personal Experience Interview: fit and CV questions to assess your personal impact, leadership skills, and entrepreneurial spirit. You should prepare impactful stories about your experiences that cover these 3 main pillars.
  • Case Interview: typical business case to evaluate your structure in approaching problems, problem-solving skills, and business sense. This is the most time-demanding aspect to work on. I recommend reading Cosentino's Case in point to fix the theory. Then, what will be really important is practicing mock cases with other candidates here on Preplounge.

Hope it helps,
Antonello

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Anonymous replied on May 13, 2020

Dear Ahmad,

I would recommend you the following algorithm:

1. Identify the companies interesting for you. Many people are interested mainly in MBB, you can start defining the exact list of companies interesting for you for the internship

2. Check the requirements and application details.

3. Start your preparation with reading Case In Point by Cosentino for a general understanding of what a consulting interview is.

4. Start learning and practicing the cases. Some you can find in Case Library and practice it with your partner or experience coach.

5. Purchase and read Viktor Cheng Book (Amazon Kindle store) and listen to LOMS

Once you feel you are not improving anymore, I would recommend you to take an expert coach for structured feedback and polishing your own performance.

Hope this helps,

Best,

André

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Luca
Expert
Content Creator
replied on Jan 05, 2020
BCG |NASA | SDA Bocconi & Cattolica partner | GMAT expert 780/800 score | 200+ students coached

Hello Ahmad,

Joining a program like the EDAD one is a perfect way to build a network you can leverage on to apply for a position in McKinsey.
Regarding the preparations, be aware that McKinsey is now widely using the imbellus test. If you have strong quantitative skills and a technical background, you have just to get used to the format of these tests but I wouldn't spend so much time on that.
The elephant in the room is for sure the case preparation. I always suggest to start with the Cosentino's "Case in Point" and then to move to Cheng's "Case Interview secrets". Once that you become familiar with the cases, it's fundamental to do a lot of real cases with other candidates (you can find a lot of them here on Preplounge) or experts (that can give you the right suggetions to improve).

I would suggest to have the final version of your CV and Cover Letter ready for the EDAD Program, so that you can personally give it to the HR and consultants that will be there. Feel free to send me it for a quick review.

Best,
Luca

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Clara
Expert
Content Creator
replied on Jan 06, 2020
McKinsey | Awarded professor at Master in Management @ IE | MBA at MIT |+180 students coached | Integrated FIT Guide aut

Hello!

In order, I would proceed wth:

  1. Join the EDAD Program and start building a network.
  2. Prep your CV and cover letter: it´s your key to open the doors to interviews. If the are not at the right level, everything that follows falls appart.
  3. Prep for the initial Test: that could be PST, SHL or Imbellus, depending on the office. In any case, prep is going to be similar, focused on data analytics and numerical problem solving.
  4. FIT Interview: to assess your personal impact, leadership skills, and entrepreneurial capacity.
  5. Business case Interview: to asses evaluate your level of structure, problem-solving and business sense. Most prep material on the market is focused on this part, that you should practice as much as you can both with experts and other candidates.

Altough most people only see point 5, see that, without the other ones, you don´t even arrive there, so don´t understimate them.

Hope it helps!

Good luck,

Clara

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Ian
Expert
Content Creator
replied on Jun 30, 2023
#1 BCG coach | MBB | Tier 2 | Digital, Tech, Platinion | 100% personal success rate (8/8) | 95% candidate success rate

Honestly, all the above. Try to develp all casing fundamentals (priorities depend on you individually and what's needed)

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Antonello gave the best answer

Antonello

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McKinsey | NASA | top 10 FT MBA professor for consulting interviews | 6+ years of coaching
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