Mckinsey Interview

Hi there,

What happened to you it is not that rare. It happened to me as well in my final McKinsey interview.

While all interviewers at McKinsey (and also at other MBB) are trained to follow a standard interview process, second round interviews with partners might be slightly different. More senior partners tend to make the interview in their own style, being more conversational and using unstructured case.

That is why is so important to be prepared for everything during interviews (that's a core consulting skill) rather than being case solving machines :)

Good luck with the final decision!

Alberto

—

Check out my latest case based on a real MBB interview: Sierra Springs

“It was super unconventional to the typical cases at mckinsey”

Sorry, but this is a misnomer.

There are NOT “typical” McKinsey cases

Both in case type and flow.

I'm sorry for being so direct- it would be much better/easier to just say I'm so sorry (I am!) and that you got unlucky. Genuinely, I am sorry - it sucks and it's a terrible feeling.

But, you did not get unlucky. Plenty of cases don't have quant. Plenty only have quant. Plenty are in an industry you've never heard of and a case prompt you couldn't imagine.

Here are the most recent questions my candidates have gotten:

1. SE Asia underdevelopped country having challenges with flooding, how do we help them?
2. South American dairy goods processing company acquiring a milk supplier based in Brazil. Objective to determine the bidding amount for the acquisition.
3. A private hospital chain in a small city is having trouble attracting good physicians. What factors would physicians would consider when deciding if they want to work at the hospital chain?
4. A clothing company is looking to introduce a hybrid sales model that combines a physical store front with an online store front - in this case, customers ordering online and collecting items in store. What factors would need to be considered when setting up a pilot of this model?
5. Factors to consider for a vaccine rollout plan for infants <5 years age in an African nation

Do any of these seem typical to you?

Ok, now, why am I doing this? So that you wake up. I want you to succeed in your next interview! How? Be ready for anything. Any industry, any case type, any flow of the case, and interviewer style.

Why? Because that's how real life works and that's how your real consulting projects will be - that's why they do this in the interviews!

Here's some reading to help:

The Most Common Pitfalls in Case Interview Preparation
How to Shift Your Mindset to Ace the Case

And, just in case you don't believe me :)

You can do this! just adjust, reset, regroup, and come in again…if you got to the final round you can definitely  get the offer!

Hi there,

This is a ‘typical atypical’ interview situation with a senior interviewer at McKinsey. I train this with my coachees at the offchance they encounter this situation, just as you did and I did when I interviewed with the firm.

Your best chance is to just roll with it and remember that despite the different format, you're still being tested with the same scoring criteria in mind. 

What you were being tested on were primarily your analytical skills and to some degree your conceptual skills. As for analytical skills, this is all about your ability to ‘create something out of nothing’. In other words, if you're being given a high-level situation with a high-level question/objective and you're generally expected to hypothesize as to:

• What could be important to analyze if you were on the project (you're not asked to actually analyze it - big difference)
• What could be some measures to turn things around
• What are some of the reasons that could have led to this situation

The important thing is when it comes to hypothesizing is that you don't build an actionable framework that leads to an analysis. Instead, you must give it your best shot and basically speculate based on educated guessing, trying to relate to as many of the crumbs of information you're being given.

In order to hypothesize, you should always imagine that you're being asked WHAT and WHY. For example: WHAT are some of the drivers that could have led to this situation and WHY? It's really the answer to the why that is your hypothesis as it fills your answer with life by justifying it. Just throwing out single words isn't enough.

I hope this answer resonates with you and your experience. Best of luck!

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This sometimes happens, though it's more unusual these days. 

Partner interviews used to be wild cards. In the past few years, however, most firms have been making an active effort to standardize them in order to eliminate bias. That's why many Partners now are asked to use ‘official’ cases rather than random cases they might generate on the spot. 

As a side story - I had my interviews in 2016 and 3 out of the 4 consisted of cases created on the spot, all unstructured. 

So, yes, what happened to you does happen sometimes. 

When approaching final round interviews, generally have the following differences in mind from the first round:

1. Work on the feedback provided in the previous rounds. Most firms communicate the feedback from the previous rounds to the final interviewer. It's important then to show the final interviewer that you have a growth mindset and are reactive to feedback. This matters immensely. Make sure you are clear on your development areas and that you get the right support to polish them before the final interview.
2. Expect less structure. Senior interviewers already have the confidence that you are a decent candidate, your skills having been already vetted by their younger colleagues. They are rather more interested in your as a person and your way of thinking. So they might present you with an unusual case, or one that is created on the spot or no case altogether. Expect anything.
3. Focus on excellent communication. Senior interviewers care a lot about how clearly you communicate and how you manage to forge a connection with the interviewer. It's important to be top-down and concise as much as possible with your answers, while allowing the conversation to flow in a natural way.
4. Put yourself in their shoes. The one question senior interviewers are asking themselves throughout the interview is what will happen when they'll put you in front of a client they've groomed for years? Make sure that even based on this first impression you seem somebody who can be trusted and who can work with any client regardless of how difficult they might be.

Best,
Cristian

Hi there,

there is no true recipe for partner interviews. Many of them will choose to do their own thing. What you are describing tends to happen. Either that is the partner's inherent style or they figure they want to test you in some areas that weren't central in your prior rounds to see how you deal with it.

On the flipside, they might assume that you have been tested enough in terms of quant in the prior rounds that they don't want to spend more time on it.

In my partner interview back in the day, it was more of a discussion around an industry he was active in and I was asked about current trends and drivers and how they might impact industry structure and supply chains. No real quant portion (other than some percentage estimations) or a typical case either. 

Fingers crossed that you receive positive news!

Hello, 

First of all don't worry, Partner's interviews can be ANYTHING, so what you describe is definitely within the norm. 

As usual, some partner interviewers want to play a role (aka “the difficult”), or test how you react to difficult situations/clients → talking over you, discarding what you say || The ultimate goal is to see how you react, is that unsettling you, are you able to communicate and manager around it.  

I cannot state about positive or not outcomes, but focus on “based on the context and behavior, did I do the right things?” → if yes, you did all you could and it is up to the partner to assess however he wants the performance (sometimes very weirdly). 

Best of success in the process and congrats again on making it to that level! Hope you get it !
Cheers, Nicolas 

Hi there, I can tell you I have led the same style of interviews before. It is perfectly normal and doesn't mean the interviewer is not impressed or interested. Sometimes partners are just super busy and or test your stress resistance. I keep my fingers crossed for you! Warm regards, Freddy

P.s.: If prior round feedback was consistent, it is normal that some dimensions (e.g., for you quant) are skipped.

Yes, partners will go off-script, and sometimes will not even give a “proper” case. This happens very frequently.

Hi there,

Q: I just wanted to know if others have experienced this type of interview where theres just no structure a McKinsey.

This occasionally happens in final rounds. I experienced something similar in my BCG final. I thought I did poorly as the interviewer constantly challenged me but in the end, I received the offer. It turned out it was a stress interview.

The absence of a quant part doesn’t necessarily mean you performed poorly. Instead, most likely it means they had enough information on that based on your previous interaction/interviews.

Good luck!

Francesco

Hey,

This is not something uncommon and you should definitely always be prepared for everything (any industry / any function / any format). The most efficient way to approach the interviews is to: 

1) Learn a few high-level templates to approach the standard business-related cases;
2) Learn how to do ad-hoc structuring to approach the non-standard cases.

Good luck!
Nick