McKinsey & Company Reviews

Pros

Great quality of people - hardworking and open
Good nature of project - much better than any other consulting firm
Great training ground to get quick answer, communicate with senior mgmt
Most people try to stick to firm values
Obligation to dissent
True problem solving skills

Cons

Hard lifestyle
At times, due to expansion, take projects that are very tactical and less impactful
Career progression is so much dependent on luck

Advice to Senior Management

Ensure that firm does not do too many low impact, tactical projects
Find a way for people to use different career trajectories

Pros

One of kind experience, great personal and professional development
More than prepares you for the professional world
Great people/network
Solid brand recognition

Cons

To succeed one must buy into strong culture
Rough lifestyle and depending on type of work you do, can be very stressful (more than just long hours, can be very stressful hours)

Advice to Senior Management

Nothing...just keep doing what you are doing
Those who buy into it will stay, those who dont will leave

Pros

Great people to work with, opportunity to delivery big impact to clients, great exposure to senior management

Cons

Work/life balance is hard to achieve

Pros

Most pure form of meritocracy
Tremendous learning curve
Wide range of opportunities
Wealth of resources
Great benefits package
Pretty good salary (though not for the hours)

Cons

Too intense
Really poor lifestyle, often driven by travel/work that isn't necessary
Clients often not capable of executing the strategies we give them, so less fulfilling

Advice to Senior Management

Treat people more like people and less like workhorses

Pros

Amazingly smart, capable co-workers
Intense focus on delivering results
Culture of cooperation and helping each other succeed
Opportunity to gain experience very quickly in many areas

Cons

Real focus of the firm is on building relationships with clients and selling more projects
Most projects are on very un-inspiring problems like setting prices or managing call centers
Generally don't feel like you're making the world a better place, and sometimes are finding profitable ways to make it worse

Advice to Senior Management

Drive for expansion and growth has led to taking on more and more projects, and developing relationships with more and more clients. This means less ability to pick and choose the opportunities where the firm can make an important contribution. Consider more focus, and less growth

Pros

Exposure to working on the most pressing concerns of the world's largest companies, brilliant colleagues, and a world class professional development program make McKinsey an interesting place to work. There is always opportunity to explore a topic that you are interested in, and intrapreneurship is encouraged.

Cons

Prepare to disappear for a few years, the hours are long. Work is fast paced and always urgent. Brilliant people can be nasty to each other as they strive to get work done on a tight deadline and to advance their careers.

Pros

Prestige - best in the consulting industry

Cons

Long hours and lots of travel!

Advice to Senior Management

The Asia offices (especially in Greater China Offices) after often too hierarchical.

Pros

Trajectory, Salary and professional development

Cons

Lifestyle, Travel, long work weeks

Advice to Senior Management

Focus on lifestyle

Pros

Amazing collaborative environment, exvcellent experience

Cons

Hours can be nothing less than brutal

Advice to Senior Management

Let up on the travel and do more to make a work life balance possible. When I was there there was no such thing..

Pros

Best practice when it comes training and professional development. Minimal politics at low levels of organization; most people at MCK are highly service-oriented and very easy to work with. Highly client-focused. In my experience, firm has a very high standard of ethics.

Cons

Firm has not "cracked the code" on how to build compelling career tracks for people not on the client-facing side or on a partner track (maybe they don't need to).
CSS seem to have less and less time for non-client activity (i.e. connectivity, building office community etc)
Off-shoring and automation has reduced number of office-based staff jobs, and made those jobs that remain less interesting... again, not sure what else could have been done, but the firm needs to address this problem.

Advice to Senior Management

Encourage or create more opportunities for non-CSS staff to build meaningful relationships with senior management