Hi everyone,
I will have an interview with McK at end of this month. There is one question that puzzles me a lot and I cannot figure out a good answer.
Why didn't you apply for McKinsey directly?
Just to provide some contexts of my background: I started as analyst for a IT-consulting firm and later switched to a tier 2 consulting firm. I am sure that McK is going to ask this question during interview, so I want to make sure that I have a good answer for this question.
Thank you all.
I am pretty sure they won't be asking you this question. What they could ask, on the other hand, is "why do you want to switch to McKinsey now from your current firm?" For this, you can formulate any reasonable answer around your reasons for switching - e.g. work with greater variety of clients, higher impact projects, training, etc.
I would also say that for McKinsey specifically, the "FIT" part of the interview is very structured as part of the Personal Experience Interview (PEI). Therefore, you are less likely to get these types of "behavioural" questions than at BCG/Bain, and likely will just get one PEI Question (details of PEI have been discussed at length in previous Q&As).
Hi,
I believe you worry about a phantom here! This is really not what is on the mind of ANY interviewer at McKinsey! They want to know why they should hire you NOW, and will not be interested in why or why not you may have applied to McKinsey several years ago. My tip: please focus on the important parts of the fit interview! These have been discussed at length here in this Q&A section.
Cheers, Sidi
Hello!
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Best,
Clara
Question might be "why didn't you apply to McK directly... during school?" (vs. applying a few years down the road). You'd have to explain how your own ambitions and likes/dislikes have evolved over the years.
Hi, your question is absolutely unclear
Hi, can you clarify what you mean? How do you have an interview with McK if you didnt apply to them?
During this exercise, we will deep-dive in 4 of the most common Motivational questions asked in FIT interviews: Why Consulting? Why this particular company? (McKinsey, Bain, BCG, others) Why this particular location? *Particularly relevant to people re-locating or choosing an office not ... Open whole case
During this exercise, we will deep-dive in 3 of the most common Intro & CV questions asked in FIT interviews: 1. Walk me through your CV 2. Tell me about yourself 3. Tell me about the thing that makes you most proud on your CV *See Graph 1 – Note: "Intro & CV questions" are one of the 4 ty ... Open whole case
The Secret McKinsey PEI Cheat Sheet by Robert 
Integrated FIT Guide for MBB by Clara 
