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    McKinsey & Company Business Analyst Interview Questions

    Updated May 24, 2017
    328 Interview Reviews

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    Helpful (12)  

    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?   Answer Question

    Other Interview Reviews for McKinsey & Company

    1. Helpful (1)  

      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

    2. Helpful (71)  

      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

    3. Helpful (4)  

      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

      4. Is this helpful? The community relies on everyone sharing – Add Anonymous Interview Review

    4. Helpful (4)  

      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

    5. 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

    6. 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

    7. 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

    8.  

      Business Analyst Interview

      Anonymous Employee
      Accepted Offer
      Positive Experience
      Difficult Interview

      Application

      I applied through college or university. The process took 6 weeks. I interviewed at McKinsey & Company.

      Interview

      Invite sent to top of my class for evening presentation about the firm. Followed by numerous discussions about my career aspirations with people from all tenures. Then a test (similar to GMAT math, but with not enough time to complete, no calculator, and penalized for wrong answers). Then 2 rounds of interviews.

      Interview Questions

      Negotiation

      No negotiation.

    9. Helpful (3)  

      Business Analyst Interview

      Anonymous Interview Candidate in Dallas, TX
      No Offer
      Positive Experience
      Difficult Interview

      Application

      I applied through college or university. I interviewed at McKinsey & Company (Dallas, TX).

      Interview

      Applied through my school's website. The first round of interviews was at the school with a current BA and an Associate Consultant in separate interviews. Each interview lasted one hour and was formatted the same, a case portion and a personal experience portion. The cases were not too considerably hard. Make sure you practice your consulting math and make sure your style aligns with what McKinsey is looking for.
      I was invited to the next round in Dallas, Texas, which is the office I wrote as my preference. They paid for everything and set me up in a very nice hotel within walking distance of the office. Their office was brand new and everyone there was very welcoming. This was the final round and consisted of four separate interviews each an hour long. They were formatted similarly to the first round with the cases being slightly harder.
      I did not end up getting the offer, but the overall experience was good and has prepared me well for future interviews. An area that I fell short was in my breakdown of the problem. Make sure you go continue to separate each bucket until you have MECE'd the problem.

      Interview Questions

      • Cases - just keep practicing, nothing too tricky here. People from McKinsey are very willing to get on the phone and practice with you. Take their advice.
        PEI - pretty typical: conflict, leadership, teamwork, goal-driven, failure. A few times they would mix these. For example "Tell me about a time you were the leader of something and a conflict arose. How did you deal with that? What did you learn?"           Answer Question
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