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    McKinsey & Company Business Analyst Interview Questions

    Updated Jul 16, 2017
    339 Interview Reviews

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    Helpful (1)  

    Business Analyst Interview

    Anonymous Interview Candidate in New York, NY
    No Offer
    Positive Experience
    Difficult Interview

    Application

    I applied through college or university. I interviewed at McKinsey & Company (New York, NY).

    Interview

    2 rounds of interviews. I applied as a senior in college so the first round of interviews was at the local McKinsey office in Boston. As I put the NYC office as my top preference, the second and final round of interviews was at the office there.

    The first round of interviews took place with mid-seniority staff, such as project managers. The second round was mostly with partners. I had 2 interviews for the first round and 3 interviews for the second.

    Each interview consists of a couple of behavioral questions, followed by one or two cases. In some cases, they will show you data with an iPad and ask you to draw conclusions from it. More generally you'll be given an open-ended case and be expected to structure it and ask poignant questions to arrive at a solution. While preparing for cases I used several case books, most importantly Case Interview Secrets by Victor Cheng. I highly recommend reading this one - as beyond the standard case frameworks it will teach you how to structure arbitrary problems effectively so you'll be more adaptable.

    For the behavioral questions, the most important thing is to remember your key stories in detail. McKinsey likes to dig into your answer to:

    1) Make sure you're not giving a generic answer.
    2) Really get a good sense of what happened in the situation to understand how your skill set came into play.

    Do not feel the need to over-rehearse your answer, it won't come off natural. Instead just make a few mental bullet points in your head about what skills the story highlights about you.

    Overall I had a great interview experience. I found the people at McKinsey to be really friendly. I was not offered the position because at the time of my graduation I had little business experience. One of the partners was kind enough to reach out by phone (rather than a drier, generic e-mail) to inform me and give me advice. He gave great feedback that I took into consideration as I moved forward in my career.

    Interview Questions

    • Discuss a time that you had a disagreement with someone. Why was there a disagreement and how did you persuade the person in disagreement with you to understand your perspective?   Answer Question

    Other Interview Reviews for McKinsey & Company

    1. Helpful (16)  

      Business Analyst Interview

      Anonymous Interview Candidate
      No Offer
      Neutral Experience
      Difficult Interview

      Application

      I applied online. The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at McKinsey & Company.

      Interview

      Unlike the method described at the workshop in the McKinsey offices, my interview for the Tokyo office was a 20 minute phone interview which included my introduction, questions about why consulting and why McKinsey, as well as a brief "case" (see below). The interview was conducted by an HR person.

      Interview Questions

      • What should Japan do to increase revenue for the Olympics?   1 Answer

    2. Helpful (2)  

      Business Analyst Interview

      Anonymous Interview Candidate
      Declined Offer
      Positive Experience
      Difficult Interview

      Application

      I applied through college or university. The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at McKinsey & Company.

      Interview

      The company has a great company culture, provides its employees with good benefits, and offers a flexible work schedule. Safety is a huge priority. Great place to raise a family.

      Interview Questions

      3. Join the McKinsey & Company team
      See Our Latest Jobs

    3. Helpful (73)  

      Business Analyst Interview

      Anonymous Employee
      Accepted Offer
      Positive Experience
      Difficult Interview

      Application

      I applied online. I interviewed at McKinsey & Company.

      Interview

      It was thoroughly professional, and a model for all other interview processes. It was split into case studies and competency-based personal experience interviews. At every step, candidates were made to feel comfortable, and success criteria were clearly shared. They really did everything they could to help you be successful, rather than trying to catch you out or trick you.

      Interview Questions

      • Tell me about a time when you showed leadership in the face of difficult circumstances.   1 Answer

    4. Helpful (5)  

      Business Analyst Interview

      Anonymous Employee in San Francisco, CA
      Accepted Offer
      Positive Experience
      Difficult Interview

      Application

      I applied through an employee referral. The process took 4+ weeks. I interviewed at McKinsey & Company (San Francisco, CA) in January 2017.

      Interview

      Very thorough, well-structured, and professional. The process took approximately 3 weeks and I had a phone screen -> two first round interviews -> three final round interviews. PEIs for final round interviews are differently structured than they are for the first rounds, so keep that in mind — during final rounds, they are targeting for a specific trait whereas first round PEIs target a wide gamut of traits that McKinsey seeks for.

      Interview Questions

      • Tell me about a time when you set a stretch goal and achieved it   Answer Question

    5. Helpful (6)  

      Business Analyst Interview

      Anonymous Employee in New York, NY
      Accepted Offer
      Neutral Experience
      Difficult Interview

      Application

      I applied through college or university. I interviewed at McKinsey & Company (New York, NY).

      Interview

      3 rounds of 2 case interviews with almost no anticipation for scheduling. All of this after passing the exam. The key of this process for them is that you don't have time to prepare for the interview once they've screened you and scored your exam.

      Interview Questions

      • I was asked to describe in detail my biggest carreer fail   1 Answer

    6. Helpful (2)  

      Business Analyst Interview

      Anonymous Employee in Boston, MA
      Accepted Offer
      Neutral Experience
      Difficult Interview

      Application

      I applied through college or university. The process took 3 weeks. I interviewed at McKinsey & Company (Boston, MA).

      Interview

      submitted my resume through school, interviewed first round ~1 week later and interviewed final round ~1 week later. Was pretty intimidated throughout the whole process, but succeeded in the first round despite feedback that I could've done a lot better in certain aspects of the interview. I found out day of my final round interview that I got the offer (within 4 hours).

      Interview Questions

      • Tell me about a time you were in a team and achieved something and what were the obstacles along the way.   Answer Question

    7.  

      Business Analyst Interview

      Anonymous Interview Candidate
      No Offer
      Neutral Experience
      Difficult Interview

      Application

      I applied through college or university. I interviewed at McKinsey & Company in November 2016.

      Interview

      Applied through campus recruiting. Got 2 interviews on campus. Was not invited to an on site interview. Both interviews had case questions and fit questions. The fit questions were odd and a bit invasive. Both parts of each interview clearly had a bit of a stress-test component.

      Interview Questions

      • Tell me about a time you overcame a great personal struggle.   Answer Question

    8. Helpful (4)  

      Business Analyst Interview

      Anonymous Interview Candidate
      No Offer
      Negative Experience
      Difficult Interview

      Application

      I applied through college or university. The process took 1+ week. I interviewed at McKinsey & Company.

      Interview

      First round interview took place in Boston Office, which was a bit intimidating and logistically difficult. Signed up for two time preferences and was assigned a totally different time frame. Two 45 minute interview: 15 personal experience, 25 case, 5 Q&A. Both interviewers asked the same personal experience question and expected different experiences to be discussed in depth. Cases were interviewer led with a significant amount of quant. Both interviewers were very friendly and talked passionately about their experience with McKinsey.

      Interview Questions

    9. Helpful (3)  

      Business Analyst Interview

      Anonymous Interview Candidate in Boston, MA
      No Offer
      Negative Experience
      Average Interview

      Application

      I applied through college or university. I interviewed at McKinsey & Company (Boston, MA).

      Interview

      Overall, my experience with McKinsey started very positively and turned to negative after the first round interview.

      BEFORE: I found McKinsey to be extremely supportive leading up to first round interviews, having several webinars on how to prepare for their interviews & cases and even pairing us with a McKinsey consultant to help us prepare, such as by doing a practice case with us.

      DURING: The interviews themselves were overall fine as well; I had 2 back-to-back 50 min interviews with a behavioral part and case part. My first interviewer was on his phone at times but was generally friendly (albeit a bit arrogant). My second interviewer was very friendly and attentive. Neither case was particularly difficult -- standard McKinsey cases.

      AFTER: The negative experience came from their terrible communication after the interviews. Candidates were told both verbally and over a message sent out on Monday that we'd hear about next steps by Tuesday end-of-day. I heard nothing until Thursday night, after sending a couple responseless follow ups to both my interviewers and the recruiter for my school. I was finally told that "some offices were delayed in getting their selections in," despite that friends applying to the same offices had heard back on Monday & Tuesday. I found this entire situation to be exceedingly unprofessional.

      Interview Questions

      • Standard McKinsey interview: PEI questions + interviewer-led structure with charts to interpret.   Answer Question
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