Convert internship into FT offer - more challenging now?

Hi there,

Congrats on the internship!

1) Did it get significantly more challenging to receive a return offer due to the current economic outlook or does McKinsey expect to generally hire their interns?

I would say it is certainly more challenging, but not “significantly”. You are more likely to receive a return offer than not.

Remember, the whole point of their internship program is to find the people they want to hire. It's a essentially a trial period.

They literally get no benefit from your work as an intern (it's all cost). Therefore, they want to hire you full-time. Important to remember this :)

2) Does my background (non-business) affect this in any way?

Nope! But, if I were you I would use the coming months to build that up. Read a ton (BCG Insights, McKinsey insights, The Financial Times, etc), study business-related topics, listen to podcasts (the Prof G Show, Money Talks, etc.)

3) What would be concrete steps I can take to increase my chances of an offer?

MOST IMPORTANTLY: Know that no-one can perfectly prepare for the job and that's the point: You will mess up, you will learn, you will be trained and supported. That's OK!

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First: Read the 25 tips in my consulting handbook

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Second: In terms of things you can learn/do to prepare beforehand:

1) Daily Reading

• The Economist, The Financial Times, BCG/Mskinsey Insights

2) Industry deep-dives

• Learn, in-depth, how the industries/companies your office advises, work. (PM me for an industry overview template)

3) Analytics tools

• Alteryx, Tableau, etc.

4) Excel

5) Powerpoint

• Best practices/standards
• Different layouts
• Quickly editing/updating slides
• Thinking in PowerPoint

6) Presentation skills / sharp communication

• There are some online/virtual classes for this

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Third: In terms of doing well in your role when you're there:

1) Understand the context/prompt (what role are you in, what company, who's watching, etc.)

2) Understand the objective (what, specifically, is expected from you...both day to day, and in your overall career progression)

3) Quickly process information, and focus on what's important - Take a lot of information and the unknown, find the most logical path, and focus on that.

4) Be comfortable with the unknown, and learn to brainstorm - think/speak like an expert without being one

In summary, there will always be a flood of information, expectations, competition etc. and not enough time. Find out which ones matter when. (i.e. be visibile and focus efforts on the things that people care about)

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Fourth: Here are some great prior Q&As for you!

https://www.preplounge.com/en/consulting-forum/what-makes-a-good-consultant-how-to-get-a-good-review-6790

https://www.preplounge.com/en/consulting-forum/how-hard-is-it-to-excel-in-top-consulting-firms-6762

https://www.preplounge.com/en/consulting-forum/how-to-become-an-engagement-manager-and-partner-quickly-6722

https://www.preplounge.com/en/consulting-forum/need-to-learn-skills-in-the-ample-free-time-before-starting-at-an-mbb-what-should-i-do-6774

Hi there, 

Best of luck with the internship!

Let me take your questions one by one.

1) Did it get significantly more challenging to receive a return offer due to the current economic outlook or does McKinsey expect to generally hire their interns?

‘Significantly’ is difficult to define, but yes, it's somewhat harder. McKinsey does want to hire their interns and generally, unless you perform badly, they extend a full-time offer.

2) Does my background (non-business) affect this in any way?

No. They don't care about that. They will make the decision about whether to give you a full-time offer or not based on the feedback they collect from the people you've worked with during this 3 month period. 

3) What would be concrete steps I can take to increase my chances of an offer?

That's an amazing question. I would focus on the following:

• Take risks at the beginning. Nobody is going to fire you for the mistakes you make in the beginning. The first six-month evaluation usually does not matter by default, so your focus should be on trying to learn as much as possible about yourself, your work, and your firm.
   
• Making everybody happy should not be your ultimate goal. To be able to do this work in the long run, identify your boundaries and preferences (e.g., working hours), make sure you stick to them, and politely communicate them to your team and manager.
   
• Find people who can guide you. These can be more senior mentors – such as Partners and Senior Partners – but they can also be consultants that are two years more tenured than you. Aim to make these relationships as non-transactional as possible and try to think of them as a two-way street where you are both learning from each other.
   
• Be open, flexible, and coachable. Show others that you are willing to learn, that you react to feedback and you are striving to get better. Compromise is an important element of progress in a corporate career, so your focus should be on things going your way most of the time, not all of the time.
   
• Exercise critical thinking. At all times, strive to understand why you are doing what you are doing, why is the manager asking for a particular piece of work, how your work fits into the overall story of the project and do your conclusions make any sense considering the wider context of the engagement. The most successful entry-level consultants tend to be those that have the best understanding of the context of their workstream and beyond.

I wrote a full guide on this topic. You can find it here:

How to Survive Your First Year as a Management Consultant https://www.preplounge.com/en/articles/entry-level-consultant-what-is-it-like

Best,

Cristian

Hello,

First off, congratulations on your internship position! I hope you have a great time at McK this summer! To answer your questions:

1) Did it get significantly more challenging to receive a return offer due to the current economic outlook or does McKinsey expect to generally hire their interns?

I don't think this changed with the economic outlook. McKinsey generally likes to hire interns (conditional on them performing well) since they already know your track record, and you've already learned a lot so they don't have to spend more time training someone up from zero.

2) Does my background (non-business) affect this in any way?

Not at all! They already hired you for the internship, so they have judged your background to be a good fit for the role. While of course business backgrounds are dominant in consulting, in general, McK hires from a wide range different fields, including medical. 

3) What would be concrete steps I can take to increase my chances of an offer?

The number one step to increase your chances of getting a return offer is to make sure you do good work. This doesn't mean you have to be perfect in everything you do - they expect new interns to come in with little prior knowledge and face a steep learning curve. Just make sure to be ready to learn and perform to the best of your ability: put in effort on your workstream, ask lots of questions and learn from others, take initiative, show professionalism in dealing with clients, and be a good team member. The other key step would be to develop a network of colleagues and mentors who can help you and vouch for you. For instance, you could talk to people in the office, develop connections with those working in fields you are interested in, and ask your project manager for feedback and guidance in your professional development.

Best of luck!

Hi there,

First of all, congratulations on the internship offer from McKinsey!

I think this is an interesting question that may be relevant for many people. I would be happy to share my thoughts on it:

• First of all, based on the experience of my coachees, even if the current tight economic situation has led to a recruiting slowdown and sometimes a freeze in strategy consulting, especially with McKinsey, since they have already offered you an internship, chances are high that if you perform well, they will offer you a full-time position afterward.
• Moreover, your background would not be any disadvantage, if not even a benefit, given the eagerness of strategy consulting companies to make their workforce more diverse.
• Lastly, in order to increase your chances of receiving a full-time offer after your internship, I would highly advise you to consider the following aspects:
  • First of all, I think dividing the aspects into the areas of problem-solving, client, and team might be meaningful.
  • On the problem-solving dimension, I would highly advise you to focus on breaking down complex problems into smaller, manageable parts. Moreover, think and communicate in solutions, not in problems, and anticipate the next steps.
  • On the client dimension, I would advise you to focus on first establishing a smoothly working transactional relationship with your client counterparts. While most aim for establishing long-term, transformational client relationships right away, a lot of them forget that you first need to have a working transactional relationship before building upon it.
  • On the team dimension, I would highly advise you to wholeheartedly embrace teamwork, and show initiative and ownership. While the first ensures you properly connect within the whole team (i.e., including project managers and partners), the latter ensures you are seen as an expert on your work package, no matter how small it might be.
  • Lastly, please keep in mind that everyone has weaknesses and that it is the person who knows how to play his/her strengths, and not the person who eagerly tries to eliminate all weaknesses, that will be considered a high performer in the organization.

If you would like a more detailed discussion on how to address your specific situation, please don't hesitate to contact me directly.

Best,

Hagen

Hello Dear, 

First of all big congratulations for your offer. Well done! 

Generally speaking, getting an internship opens to you more possibilities to join McKinsey as a full time. In particular, find below my answers:

1) In case of good performances and cultural fit, McKinsey tends to hire interns. I would say that the current economic context is not a barrier to that 

2) McKinsey is more and more looking for a “non traditional” background (e.g., management, business). For instance, art and physics are much appreciated. Indeed, they are becoming aware that a diverse team is more effective

3) I would suggest the following steps in order of importance: a) Perform at the highest possible level in terms of problem solving, client and team meeting b) Network internally with peers but also partners c) Show positive interest and determination in joining the firm with a full time position

To conclude, in order to go from an internship to full time position you still need to pass some interviews with business case. 

Please let me know in case of any help needed. I am currently offering a free session if you buy one. 

Good luck for everything! 

Matteo

Hi there,

Congratulations on the McKinsey offer! In terms of your questions:

1) Did it get significantly more challenging to receive a return offer due to the current economic outlook or does McKinsey expect to generally hire their interns?

Top consulting companies would not extend an internship offer if they would not have the expectations to hire later for full-time. Having said that, hiring needs could impact the percentage of interns that get offers.

2) Does my background (non-business) affect this in any way?

No, what matters is your performance during the job.

3) What would be concrete steps I can take to increase my chances of an offer?

I would recommend this:

▶ How to Have a Great Start in Consulting

Good luck!

Francesco

Hi there,

1. It is certainly harder because there are likely less positions they are seeking to fill

2. No, it is very common that consulting firms have team members from different backgrounds - in fact, this is by design. However, the business aspects are going to be important for the actual job so you should exhibit an aptitude to learn here

3. You should be engaged in a number of ways:

   1. be proactive with your team and offer support where you can, don't just wait passively until they talk to you or give you tasks

   2. proactively ask your manager for regular feedback and make it a point to work on it so that you can showcase a learning curve in the highlighted areas

   3. participate in team discussion and don't be afraid to share your own ideas, suggestions and observations (it's not about being right or wrong compared to more senior consultants, it's about your underlying rationale) - consulting firms want people who think for themselves so demonstrate that

   4. network within the company, both inside and outside of your project team - have chats with people at the office, make sure they know your name, participate in office/practice events and the likes

I hope that helps to give you an idea.

Best