Mckinsey - waiting for recruiting feedback on interviews

Question

Hi,

I have done my first 3 interviews with Mckinsey and I am waiting to hear back from them.

I got the feedback after my first interview within the same day, saying it was positive.

They have then scheduled 2 other interviews in the 2 days after the first one.

My last interview was on Thursday last week and they did not yet get back to me (they should schedule at least another interview).

What could be the reason why? Do they usually take more time if they have a negative feedback?

Thanks

Answer 1

Hi there,

before (offer) decisions are communicated, they have to be aligned between HR and the interviewers in the process. This can sometimes take time for various reasons. In your case it has not even been a week which is still well within a typical timeframe. In any case, a few common reasons 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.

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

No, there's no correlation between the time they take and whether the answer is negative.

Sometimes it just takes longer for them to take a decision because they either need to get all the interviewers on one call and they haven't managed yet

OR

because they are not clear whether they still have the capacity to extend offers (this is more specific to the current situation in the market).

I also waited for 10 days for my offer.

I know it sucks. Try to keep yourself busy. And I hope you get good news soon.

Best,
Cristian

Answer 3

It takes the exact same time to decide on a positive vs. a negative. It takes the same time to make a call to give good news vs. giving bad news (sure, I would call the positive's first, but would still do the 2-3 I have in a row… so no material difference in terms of timing).

Senior people usually take a bit longer to reply… a lot more stuff on their plate.

Answer 4

Hi there,

Q: What could be the reason why? Do they usually take more time if they have a negative feedback?

There could be multiple reasons for the delay, unrelated to your performance.

Possible examples include:

HR got busy and did not have time to communicate results
Interviewers did not have time to align
The recruiting process is still ongoing and they want to complete the process with candidates before making a decision

So, this is not necessarily a bad sign.

I understand your desire to get a clear answer, however, the only thing you can do now is to act on what is in your control, that is (i) prepare for other interviews/apply to other companies and/or (ii) wait for the results.

Good luck!

Francesco

Answer 5

Did you finally hear back? And after how many days since last interviewing?