McKinsey & Company Interview Questions

Application

I applied through college or university. I interviewed at McKinsey & Company (Chicago, IL).

Interview

Case Interview Method

Be well versed in basic geopolitics, maths, and be in engaging. Be willing to back up your numbers. Remember no one likes to feel stupid, most importantly an interviewer. I'd advise you to be prepared to be intimidated and tired, and even bored, and even asking WTF am I doing here? - things that consultants experience OTJ.
mmmk

Interview Questions

Application

I applied online. I interviewed at McKinsey & Company.

Interview

I was very excited when I learned I would be interviewing for a role with McKinsey Digital Labs. Unfortunately the interviewer rescheduled on me three times each on the day of our interview. After we confirmed the next interview date, I was rejected from the role before even interviewing. Very unprofessional and poor experience.

Application

I applied online. I interviewed at McKinsey & Company.

Interview

1 HR Screen: fairly standard technical HR screen
2 Phone Interviews: talking about past projects, skills, etc. in depth
3 On-site Interviews: back-to-back hour long interviews about past experience and skills (similar to phone screen)

no white boarding, no coding challenges

Interview Questions

Application

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

Interview

Two one hour interviews consisting of personal history and a case study. Held by two different interviewers, one right after the other. Used a video chat provided and set up by the company.

Interview Questions

Interview

First stage 2 interviews by engagement managers. Second stage 3 interviews by partners. McKinsey gives offers on the same day/the day after the interview. The interview is a case and a behavioral part.

Interview Questions

Interview

Screening call. Interviewer called on the wrong day and didn't seem to care one way or another about inconveniencing my schedule.

Approved to move forward. Next interviewer cancelled the day of the interview and the recruiter never followed up.

Feels like there's a reason the recruiters were too rushed to bother with being polite. Glad this did not turn into anything.

Interview Questions

Application

I applied online. I interviewed at McKinsey & Company (Saint Petersburg, FL) in August 2017.

Interview

I had a phone interview, and would have had a skills test the following week, but I declined. The interviewer was very nice and the process went smoothly. He had emailed the same day to ask when I'd be available.

Interview Questions

Application

I applied online. I interviewed at McKinsey & Company (Tampa, FL).

Interview

Screening phone call followed by an assessment test and then "speed dating" style interview. The test was very easy just a few questions on how you would respond to emails and listening activities and the interview questions were as expected.

Interview Questions

Application

I applied through a recruiter. I interviewed at McKinsey & Company (San Francisco, CA) in July 2017.

Interview

Pretty much what you read everywhere else:
 - Recruiter reached out to me
 - 30 minute recruiter phone screen interview
 - 1 hr practice session
 - 2 hr Webex Case Interview 'Best Practices' and Demonstration
 - 30 min phone Interview
 - 1 hr practice session
 - 2 x 45 min in-person interviews
 - 2 x 45 min in-person interviews

All in all, great experience. Fast response times, approachable interviewers.

Don't take for granted the need for 'in-person' practice... Doing math in front of someone is more challenging than you may think.

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