McKinsey & Company Reviews

Pros

Incredibly smart and motivated people
Very values driven
Unrelenting focus on growth and learning
Support to "make your own McKinsey"

Cons

Up or out doesn't provide much flexibility
Travel can make the work life balance impossible
Hours can be very long

Advice to Senior Management

Demographic shift and expectations of the new upcoming classes may make alternate career paths a requirement for talent retention

Pros

You learn a lot; mentors help you pick your favourite projects. I felt that I made lot of contribution to the team.

Cons

Long hours, lots of travel

Pros

Great place for ambitious professionals. Very interesting projects, great people and tremendous opportunities for learning and career advancement. Great investment by McKinsey on people development

Cons

Balancing work and personal life is hard. Travel model is quite rigid with not much flexibility. Having said that partners are really good at allowing time off for personal reasons.
As you get more senior, politics get much more critical in your career advancement (partner election)

Pros

Very smart people, great culture,

Cons

Not great for people with a lot of experience

Advice to Senior Management

Please develop a program to groom experienced hires

Pros

-Benefits are nice
-Little to no micro management
-Intelligent colleagues
-A way to get "in" to the good ole boys club
-Staying at fine hotels when traveling

Cons

-If you are CSSA, you are considered a necessary evil. (years ago, free food Friday meant CSS eats first, and the leftovers went to CSSA). CSS = money generators / CSSA = support staff.
-Reviews are designed to take positives and turn them into negatives. Was specifically told to "find something wrong" for a peer review even when someone was performing beyond expectations.
-Centralized IT is a joke. Optimal service was given to CSS prior to centralization.
-Stagnant. Little opportunity for career development (IT specific).
-An air of superiority among certain coworkers
-Low employee morale among CSSA (always fearful of losing their job).
-Has at times let employees go just shy of retirement so they didn't have to pay the retirement package.

Advice to Senior Management

CSSA should be treated and valued like CSS. It makes for more satisfied employees who are willing to go the extra mile.

Pros

- great learning experience
- decent pay
- good to have on your CV
- great co-workers
- strong alumni network

Cons

- work/life balance is not good
- some leadership may be very incompetent (but there are also great leaders)
- you do not get to choose your project as much as they advertised it to you

Advice to Senior Management

- your employees are all smart. be sincere in your interaction. they can see through all your maneuvers. best to be frank and sincere.

Pros

- looks good on your resume
- a lot of smart people work in there
- get exposure to multiple industries

Cons

- a lot of work and travel
- you feel a lack of accomplishment by just making powerpoint decks
- toll on your family

Advice to Senior Management

Pay more attention to quality of life

Pros

Amazing development opportunities through client interactions, responsibilities and coaching

Cons

Sometimes hard to manage work-life balance

Pros

Advancement. Learning. Exposure to different settings early and often.

Cons

Work-life balance. Compensation against other industries that work just as hard and just as talented

Pros

Tremendous for learning
You work with incredibly capable people
Feedback is regular and direct
You get comfortable with having your thinking challenged
You build a network of relationships with colleagues worldwide
You get to work on really interesting business problems

Cons

It's less personal than it used to be as the firm is so big
It's not great for work-life balance