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    McKinsey & Company Management Consultant Associate Interview Questions

    Interviews at McKinsey & Company

    43 Interview Reviews

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    Interviews for Top Jobs at McKinsey & Company

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    Helpful (6)  

    Management Consultant Associate Interview

    Anonymous Interview Candidate in Chicago, IL
    Declined Offer
    Positive Experience
    Difficult Interview

    Application

    I applied through an employee referral. The process took 4+ months. I interviewed at McKinsey & Company (Chicago, IL) in June 2012.

    Interview

    I went through the full interview process with McKinsey, total of 9 interviews spread out over several months, and two trips to Chicago. I was being considered as an industry hire, so this was not the traditional MBA path, though certainly similar.
    It was a great sequence of a first discussion with an HR person to introduce me to the process, followed by a first training case study (phone), a real case interview (phone), a case study training session (webcast), a trip to Chicago with three case interviews (2 live, one through video link), a second trip to Chicago with two case interviews and a written test, and then one final complementary phone interview.
    All the way, I met very interesting and capable people, the process itself was process grueling - training for case studies in parallel to a full time executive job is not easy - but also very motivating.

    Interview Questions

    • Paradoxically, the most difficult case for me was one which related to my own background (manufacturing) - because I felt so familiar with the context, I did not lay it the process out as clearly as I could have. The lesson is that even if the context is familiar, the same rigorous lay-out of the case study should be applied.   Answer Question

    Reasons for Declining

    I took an offer at another management consulting firm. Both offers were compelling, and it was a very difficult decision, but ultimately I felt a bit more in tune with a more generalist approach, while McKinsey was very interested in my vertical expertise.

    Other Interview Reviews for McKinsey & Company

    1. Helpful (2)  

      Management Consultant Associate Interview

      Anonymous Interview Candidate in Chicago, IL
      No Offer
      Positive Experience
      Average Interview

      Application

      I applied through an employee referral. The process took 5 weeks. I interviewed at McKinsey & Company (Chicago, IL).

      Interview

      The process is not a short one. It can expand for a couple of months and several contacts over the phone. It is mainly based on your experiences and case based. So be really prepared for the cases. The process is exactly what they tell the applicants is going to be. So do not expect any surprises just review all the materials they provide through its website and through your recruiter, study all the basic interviewing questions (tell me about yourself, how your experience relates to the position, etc). Be yourself, review your resume, gather and study all the material they provide and you will do fine.

      Interview Questions

    2.  

      Management Consultant Associate Interview

      Anonymous Interview Candidate
      No Offer

      Application

      I applied online. I interviewed at McKinsey & Company.

      Interview

      The process was incredibly organized and fast-paced. I made it through the PST test stage, but unfortunately did not make it past the 2nd round regional interview stage.

      There was nothing unexpected in the interview, it is exactly as they say it will be on their Careers website.

      The feedback I received after not going on to the next stage was extremely helpful.

      Interview Questions

      • One of my cases was on banking. I hadn't practiced enough banking questions, and was a bit unprepared for the math.   Answer Question
      3. Join the McKinsey & Company team
      See Our Latest Jobs

    3.  

      Management Consultant Associate Interview

      Anonymous Interview Candidate
      No Offer
      Positive Experience
      Difficult Interview

      Application

      I applied through an employee referral. I interviewed at McKinsey & Company.

      Interview

      1st round PST and 2nd round onsite interview.
      1st interview includes PST and two group case practices. Seems that only PST counts for whether getting into next round or not.

      2nd round included two sessions. 15 mins personal experience and 30 mins case interview. Mostly engagement manager will lead the case

      Interview Questions

      • How did you handle a party of multi-interest and multi-background?   Answer Question

    4.  

      Management Consultant Associate Interview

      Anonymous Interview Candidate
      No Offer
      Difficult Interview

      Application

      I applied through college or university. The process took 4 weeks. I interviewed at McKinsey & Company.

      Interview

      Applied through school. 1st round interview and followed by 2nd round with partner. 1st round was case based and also had behavioral component. Recommend interviewer led cases. 2nd round was more behavioral and some ad hoc cases

      Interview Questions

    5. Helpful (1)  

      Management Consultant Associate Interview

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

      Application

      I applied through an employee referral. The process took 4+ weeks. I interviewed at McKinsey & Company (New York, NY) in March 2016.

      Interview

      Two very well structured interviews with two engagement managers.

      Behavioral part first - they dug deep in the details of a specific experience and sought out implications. Structure mattered as much as creativity in thinking about the bigger picture (both personally and for the other people and organizations involved in the professional experience I was discussing).

      Case study interviews were very interesting - one PE-type investment project in a hypothetical water utility company in a new city; required both attention to detail ( eg calculating water volumes in cubic meters and translating it in other units to solve problem) and big picture creativity (eg political risk) the other was more market segmentation & revenue growth driven, more quantitative.

      Fantastic experience overall, despite making a number of mistakes in the quant side of the case study that lead to not advancing.

      Interview Questions

      • Tell me about a time when you worked in a team and faced a disagreement and how you went about resolving it.   Answer Question

    6.  

      Management Consultant Associate Interview

      Anonymous Interview Candidate in New York, NY
      Declined Offer
      Positive Experience
      Average Interview

      Application

      I applied online. The process took 4 weeks. I interviewed at McKinsey & Company (New York, NY) in October 2014.

      Interview

      Met with 3 different people, highly structured, walked through two cases with each person. The cases were relatively easy, they were more interested in thought process than actual answers. Shortly after (a day or two) I got a call moving on to the next round. Decided consulting wasn't the best choice for me at this moment, everyone was very pleasant each step of the way.

      Interview Questions

    7. Helpful (1)  

      Management Consultant Associate Interview

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

      Application

      I applied online. The process took a week. I interviewed at McKinsey & Company (New York, NY) in January 2014.

      Interview

      Two rounds of interviews, one is a fit interview where typical interview questions are asked. The other is a typical management consulting case interview, where you work through a case step by step with the interviewer. It is relatively casual; but preparation with good case frameworks goes a very long way to making this far more comfortable.

      Interview Questions

      • Provide a story which demonstrates learning from failure   Answer Question

    8.  

      Management Consultant Associate Interview

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

      Application

      I applied online. The process took 5+ weeks. I interviewed at McKinsey & Company (New York, NY) in November 2013.

      Interview

      I applied online and received a rejection email a few weeks later. Then, a McK recruiter reached out to retract the rejection and ask if I could come in for a half day interview (with less than a week of notice). This happened to a handful of other applicants who interviewed on the same day as me - needless to say, we were underwhelmed by the recruitment team.

      Because I hadn't taken the GMAT yet, I spent an hour or so taking their proprietary standardized test (they have examples online). Then I did case interviews with two different engagement managers.

      Interview Questions

      • Case example - imagine you are advising a small nation in a developing country on how to improve education. You can either fund teacher-development programs, or create a tax rebate for all parents who send their children to school. How would you evaluate these options and what would you recommend?   Answer Question

    9. Helpful (1)  

      Management Consultant Associate Interview

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

      Application

      I applied through college or university. The process took 1 day. I interviewed at McKinsey & Company (New York, NY) in January 2013.

      Interview

      Full day interview. 2 interviews per round. R1 in the morning and if pass, R2 in the afternoon. Each interview is a combination of cases and behavioral. Partner interview is less structured but in all four interviews I had to solve a problem with some maths involved. Once done, I got the offer call 2 hours later. It was a very fast and efficient process

      Interview Questions

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