Glassdoor is your free inside look at McKinsey & Company interview questions and advice. All 529 interview reviews posted anonymously by McKinsey & Company employees and interview candidates.
McKinsey & Company Interview Questions & Reviews
Getting the Interview 529 Interviews
Interview Experience 466 Ratings
Associate at McKinsey & Company
No Offer – Interviewed in New York, NY Nov 2012 – Reviewed May 21, 2013 New
Interview Details – Recruited from campus, and made it to the final round. Didn't really have much of a chemistry with the partner, which is what I think went against me.
Interview Question – Describe a challenging situation in a team environment - it seemed like the partner was after something specific. Didn't really give him the "right" answer. Answer Question
Helpful Interview?
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Consultant at McKinsey & Company
Accepted Offer – Reviewed May 18, 2013 New
Interview Details – I submitted the application for the 2013 summer Insight Program for Advanced Degree Holders at April 21st 2013, and I heard back from them at May 6th 2013. I wasn't selected to be in the Insight Program because the limited seats (40), but I offered an interview opportunity for a position starting at 2014. They told me they will contact me in the end of July to schedule an interview in late August.
Helpful Interview?
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Business Analyst at McKinsey & Company
Accepted Offer – Interviewed in Mar 2011 – Reviewed May 6, 2013
Interview Details – Great process; people from the company try to help you prepare
Interview Question – 3 cases for final round Answer Question
Helpful Interview?
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No
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Associate at McKinsey & Company
No Offer – Reviewed Apr 25, 2013
Interview Details – Applied online first for the insight program, did not pass the phone screen for the insight program. Did the first around interview in New York office, written problem solving test first followed by two rounds group discussion.
Interview Question – the time for problem solving test is limiting, better to find a way to practice more Answer Question
Helpful Interview?
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Executive Assistant - Floater Position at McKinsey & Company
No Offer – Interviewed in Palo Alto, CA Apr 2013 – Reviewed Apr 16, 2013
Interview Details – I was invited to first round testing at McKinsey via my recruiter. The test was a series of times grammar, reading comp and spelling tests and three hypotheticals. The netx day I found out that I was being called back for 2nd round and would meet with an HR manager, two EAs and the senior-most HR Manager. The interviews were grueling in that you were expected to review the details of your resume over and over again albeit from a slightly different perspective based on the interviewer.
Interview Questions
- "When will you know its time to leave McKinsey?" View Answer
- "What would you do if your exec was on a plane to Germany to give a highly confidential presentation and you realize that he forgot to take the presentation with him?" Answer Question
Helpful Interview?
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Associate at McKinsey & Company
No Offer – Interviewed in New York, NY Jan 2013 – Reviewed Apr 17, 2013
Interview Details – Interviewed in New york. Was recommended internally. Had 3 rounds of interviews after 2 phone interviews. Strong learning experience. variety of typical mckinsey style cases. stumped on industry related questions from my background as those were unexpected. overall 7/9 interviews went extremely well however that wasnt good enough. Strong learning experience
Interview Question – what would you say to the CFO for a large american bank Answer Question
Helpful Interview?
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Research Analyst at McKinsey & Company
No Offer – Interviewed in Waltham, MA Feb 2013 – Reviewed Apr 16, 2013
Interview Details –
Applied online at the McKinsey site for the NAKC generalist research analyst. Received email asking to set up a phone interview with HR. Quick 15 mins reviewing my resume, asking salary requirements; HR made sure that I knew that this is NOT a consulting role and asking me to go to my nearest McKinsey office to take the McKinsey PST. PST is tough but you are given a study guide and there are 3 practice tests on the McKinsey site to help you prepare.
After passing the PST you are invited to a first round interview that consists of interviewing with 3 researchers of various levels. Very structured process...1. deep dive into your resume 2. specific question asked regarding some experience/leadership/ambiguous situation and you have to walk through STAR method style. Details are KEY!. followed by a short typical strategy consulting case.
After passing round 1, invited to round 2 (final round)....similar to round 1 except with managerial level people.
Process dragged a bit but was kept in the loop so communication was great during the process. You will face roughly 6 cases and 6 resume deep-dives.
Overall a pretty thorough process and seems similar to the consulting side except the bar maybe a bit lower but it is still high.
Negatives: Location very unlike other McK offices. Feels like you are an 'after-thought.
Positives: if you want to move to the consulting side bad enough, you can do it through research if you excel and put in the hours. Free drinks/snacks. Young and diverse office though the feel is definitely different than a McKinsey consulting location (people and atmosphere wise).
Interview Question – Know your resume, experiences, how to do arithmetic/math with paper/pencil under pressure. The cases from a strategy point of view are not too tough. Answer Question
Helpful Interview?
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Business Analyst at McKinsey & Company
No Offer – Interviewed in San Francisco, CA – Reviewed Apr 15, 2013
Interview Details – Campus hiring. Resume submission and then was called for the first round of interviews to their office in SF. There is a test and then two one on one interviews.
Interview Question – Their style of judging your leadership skills is different. Answer Question
Helpful Interview?
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Associate at McKinsey & Company
Accepted Offer – Interviewed in New York, NY Jan 2010 – Reviewed Apr 5, 2013
Interview Details – Interview came over two days. Three interviews on the first day and two on the second. Each interview was thirty minutes of fit and a thirty minute case. The cases are manageable if you prepare. The fit interview is all about figuring out what your story is: why you want to do consulting and why mckinsey.
Interview Question – The cases are typical business cases that you can find examples of online. View Answer
Negotiation Details – No negotiation
Helpful Interview?
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CSI Market Research Junior Specialist at McKinsey & Company
No Offer – Interviewed in Chicago, IL Mar 2013 – Reviewed Apr 8, 2013
Interview Details –
Let me preface this by saying that I am not leaving this review simply out of spite for not receiving an offer. I understand that McKinsey is notoriously difficult to interview at. However, I have issue with the process itself and the blatant lack of professionalism exhibited by my interviewer.
First, I applied for the position in January and received my first contact several weeks later. This is not uncommon for any hiring process so I thought nothing of it--especially for an organization that receives a deluge of resumes regularly. On contact, I scheduled an initial screener that took place the following week. Almost immediately following the phone call I was told that they'd like to speak with me more and run me through a case study interview--but first they'd like to have me talk with a "coach" prior to the interview. My HR contact (who was different from the first one that contacted me) was unable to get a coach to speak with me for two weeks. Upon speaking with the coach, they provided some good advice and wished me luck.
Now, it was not the coach's prerogative to schedule the ACTUAL case study interview, but my HR contact. I did not hear back from them for a week. I, myself, had to contact them to see what the hold up was. After several more days waiting to hear back, she contacted me to say that she could not find anyone right now. Finally, an additional two weeks later, I had a phone call scheduled and performed my case interview.
Again, this went well and I heard back soon after that I would be interviewing in person at the Chicago office. This contact was made from yet another HR person. Now I had talked to 3 HR people. More time passed with nothing scheduled. After ANOTHER 2 weeks I was told that no one in the Chicago office had time to interview me and a tele-interview would be performed. Setting that up took YET ANOTHER WEEK or so. Keep in mind that I started this process in January and it is now March.
Finally the day of my interview and problem solving test. Obviously I was a little nervous considering the implications I heard surrounding passing/failing the PST. When I arrived in the office, my interview was first. They put me in a room with the teleconference computer. It took nearly 15 minutes before they could get it to work properly and I had to fix it myself. So, already 15 minutes have been lost to IT issues. Then came the interviewer. I understand that McKinsey is a busy company, but that does not excuse poor professionalism. My interviewer regularly checked the clock during my interview both while she was talking and while I was talking. As if that wasn't enough, she brought her phone in the room too and would check that while I was giving responses to her questions. The icing on the cake came when I was doing another case and SHE ANSWERED HER PHONE AND TOOK A CALL! I was floored that she'd interrupt my interview for a phone call. This is what the prestigious McKinsey has for employees?
Needless to say I was already irked before heading to take my PST (which is a lesson in unrealistic difficulty itself).
Please McKinsey--improve your internal processes!
Interview Question – The case studies are meant to be challenging. There really isn't a single question that was difficult, they all are to a degree. Answer Question
Helpful Interview?
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