McKinsey Location Preferences - USA & Dubai

Question

Hey All,

I am an experienced consultant and am applying to McKinsey'S USA offices (via a referral from a Partner), can someone please answer the following questions:

1) How should I pick my US Office Locations in the application? I am based out of Boston but would prefer to move to Dallas/Miami.

2) Should I pick a location where the Partners that specialize in my sector operate from? For Ex: NY for Financial Services or Private Equity (PIPE)

3) I am not a US resident but currently live in the US and have family in Dubai, should I pick 2 US office locations and Dubai as the third location? Is this strategy recommended? - I am trying to play against the odds

4) Are some US offices growing and less competitive, where I could potentially have a higher chance of being recruited?

Answer 1

Hello!

1) Pick your office based on
1. Where do you want to live?
2. Which industry do you want to work in / which industry are present in the region (e.g. California more tech / NY more Finance) => Staffing will be done regionally (West Coach / Great Lakes / North-East…) so you'll maximize your chances to have interesting & better work/life balance experience.

2) No - unless it is what you are interested in. Partner referral will mostly act as a “quality proof” to screener to say they should probably interview you. Once in the interview process, Partner referral won't have much weight unless you crush your interviews!

3) Yes, that makes sense. Better to hedge your bets! Worst case you can always ask for an internal transfer from Dubai after 1 year and come back to the US (if you want to pay more taxes ^^)

4) It is typically a tradeoff:
- Big offices (e.g. NY) are more competitive but bigger so have more recruiting spots.
- Smaller offices are less competitive but have less spots
=> Offices try to maintain the pyramid ratio of Partners/Juniors so they won't go in crazy growing spree.

Happy to keep chatting if you have other questions.
Cheers,
Nicolas

Answer 2

Hi there,

Great questions! I'll take them one by one.

1) Ideally aim to pick offices that you have some sort of link to - either because you use to live there, or studied there or for some personal reasons or because professionally the team / practice that you're most interested in operates from there. It's important that your choice connects in some way to your overall application ‘story’

2) That would be helpful indeed for the reasons mentioned above. But also don't apply somewhere where you wouldn't want to live just because the core Partners operate from there.

3) That makes sense

4) There's no public data on this, but as you might expect, big city offices e.g., NY tend to be a lot more competitive than the small ones. If you want to play your chances, focus on the smaller, less popular ones.

Answer 3

Hey there,

1+2. I'd pick the location where you would like to live, considering that you might have to travel more if your client base will be in a different city then.

3. Depends if you really would want to live there. For your odds, this should not have a huge impact.

4. In theory this should not matter, since it's one firm with a single PnL. In practice, it might (!) be a bit easier to get in in non-hotspots (e.g., not NYC).

If you are preparing for McKinsey, check out these articles to guide your prep:

Case: https://www.preplounge.com/en/mckinsey-interview

PEI: https://www.preplounge.com/en/mckinsey-pei

Cheers,

Florian

Answer 4

1. The simple rule is just to apply for the office(s) where you want to live

2. Staffing tends to be done regionally - e.g., West Coast, Midwest, Mid Atlantic, etc. and so if you want to prioritise certain types of work, its a good idea to make sure you choose a relevant region. For example, Miami/Dallas is not an obvious place for a consultant who wants to focus on PE to be based.

3. Hard to say not knowing your profile but your chances in Dubai will be higher considering the consideration set of candidates.

4. US offices outside the major cities tend to be “less competitive” but the bar remains the same.

Answer 5

When selecting office locations for McKinsey in the USA, it's important to consider various factors such as your sector specialization, growth opportunities, and personal circumstances. While choosing a location where partners in your sector operate from can be advantageous, you can also explore offices that are growing and potentially less competitive. As you currently live in the US, you may want to consider my location now when making your decision. Additionally, having family in Dubai could be a strategic move and may increase your chances of being recruited. Ultimately, finding a balance between your preferences and maximizing your chances of recruitment is key.

Answer 6

Hi there,

In general, I recommend candidates apply to offices where they have any of the following (the more the better):

Citizenship/working rights
Prior work/life experience (i.e. a job or education in the city/country)
Personal network / referral

Generally, you can select multiple offices when you apply. It doesn't hurt to put your 1st selection as your "Reach" office (i.e. the US), and another as your safety (i.e. Canada).

Best of luck!

Answer 7

Hi there,

Well done getting the referral! I too was an Experienced Hire for McKinsey and here's some insights:

1) How should I pick my US Office Locations in the application? I am based out of Boston but would prefer to move to Dallas/Miami. → It makes no difference to McKinsey where you choose to live in the US and you should pick the places you'd prefer as a base. In this case, Dallas/Miami/Other.
2) Should I pick a location where the Partners that specialize in my sector operate from? For Ex: NY for Financial Services or Private Equity (PIPE) → Technically it's not necessary because projects are staffed out of entire US talent pool (or even beyond) and not local talent pool. You could live in Miami and do most of your work in NY, it's just a hassle for you with all the travel and socializing.
3) I am not a US resident but currently live in the US and have family in Dubai, should I pick 2 US office locations and Dubai as the third location? Is this strategy recommended? - I am trying to play against the odds → Would you be happy to live in Dubai? If so, it's a valid strategy. Dubai has a different candidate pool to choose from and even though standards are absolute and should theoretically be the same globally, it can be less hard to get into location x than location y. Just make sure you can reasonably explain this in your application.
4) Are some US offices growing and less competitive, where I could potentially have a higher chance of being recruited? → No, within a single country/office cluster there's no difference (neither in theory, nor in practice).

Hope this helps a bit. Best of luck!

Answer 8

Hello!

Put Dallas o Miami as your preferred offices then. You can always work with people who work in your are of expertise and are not in your location (I would limit it then to the East Coast, coz the traveling gets crazy)

Hope it helps!

Cheers,

Clara

Answer 9

Hey there,

I would definitely apply to the office where Partners specialize in your sector as you will have much better chances of being selected and is a better long term strategy for promotion

As for Dubai, I would highly recommend you try it for couple of years (you can always go back). It's a booming market, salaries are v high (wouldnt work in consulting anywhere else in the world given margins there) and your skills for PE will be highly valued as they are looking to grow this practice across firms.

Hope this helps!