It's been three weeks since my last McKinsey interview, now what?

Question

Hi,

I did my third interview of McKinsey final round on October 28th. After two weeks with no response, I contacted HR and was told that by the end of this week I would possibly receive a answer.

In parallel, I'm finishing my Ph.D., and I'm being asked by my advisor to plan my lab tests for the first trimester of next year.

I have tried to postpone this planning as long as possible, as if I receive an offer it would affect my planning. However, tomorrow I will have a meeting with my advisor, and I can't put it off any longer.

I'm thinking about planning for the first three months of 2022, and if I received positive feedback from McKinsey, I would only ask to enter in April. I want to hear from you guys about, and if I should contact HR one more time.

I'm still trying to stay positive, but after all this time, I'm losing hope that I'll get an offer.

Thanks.

Answer 1

Hi there,

before offer decisions are communicated after the final round, they have to be aligned between HR and the interviewers in the process. This can sometimes take time for various reasons. A few common ones are listed below for a general overview:

internal scheduling conflicts between HR and the interviewers, especially when partners need to be involved
the firm is still conducting more final round interviews with other candidates and they might want to wait for that to play out to look at the full candidate picture before extending final offers
offers have been extended to “first choice” candidates and the firm is trying to keep “backup” candidates on hold until they know who accepted and who declined their first batch of offers
holidays or year-end shutdown delay the decision-making and communication process
there is uncertainty internally around budget and the exact headcount they can actually hire so they are trying to buy time

I know that this is unsettling and every candidate wants to have clarity on the status sooner rather than later. Unfortunately, you'll always have to wait for the official word. It is legitimate, though, to politely follow up for an update after not hearing back for two weeks.

However, it is best to just assume a rejection and continue with the recruiting efforts with other firms until you have a written offer in your hands. That way you at least won't lose time.

Best of luck

Answer 2

Hi there,

You need to proceed as if McK will say no. Hope for the best but plan for the worst.

Propose a plan to your advisor that would have done without McK. If you end up having to change it, then cross that bring when you get there!

Fingers crossed for you!

Answer 3

Hello!

Sorry to hear that, you must be so nervous!

That long wait time is very very unusual, but as someone was commenting, it´s not impossible! Partners can have impossible agendas, that makes it difficult to meet.

Although you should be ready to receive a no, and take next steps instead of waiting, it´s totally worth following up with recruiting and asking for an update.

Fingers crossed for u!

Hope it helps!

Cheers,

Clara

Answer 4

Hi,

I have almost never heard of a 3 week waiting period post the final round at McKinsey. Did HR provide details as to why you are being asked to wait this long?

As to your main question - do what you need to do from a PhD perspective as that will be important in case McK does not work out. You can always push back the start date at McKinsey if that is the case.

Udayan

Answer 5

I believe you should give priority to scheduling your stuff for Ph.D. - it is a more important and (somewhat) inflexible parameter.

From your question it is not entirely clear what exact are you worried about. If you receive an offer from McK - then you can ask for flexibility on the joining date so that it works out with your Ph.D planning.

Answer 6

Top consulting firms are flexible regarding start dates. And asking them to wait 3 months doesn't seem to be unreasonable, even more so given the reason. Additionally, McK would probably prefer anyway that you take care first of whatever you need to do regarding your PhD than having to somehow plan to do it while you are already working for them.

So your plan seems quite reasonable and I don't really see a reason why you wouldn't be able to manage the situtation if you move forward with it.

Answer 7

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Answer 8

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Answer 9

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