Received an event invite post completion of McKinsey Digital Assessment Test. What should I expect?

Hi there,

If you don’t yet have someone that could refer you, events are great opportunities to create a strong connection with current consultants for referrals. To do so, you should:

• Prepare good questions (see below some examples)
• Move from the questions to a conversation, trying to connect on a personal level with the consultant. It is too long to describe how to do so in a post, but if you are interested How to win friends and influence people by Dale Carnegie has all the basics
• Ask the consultants if you could reach out later for further questions
• Send a thank-you note and, so far you made a good impression, chances are you could later transform the connection into a referral at the right moment

The key things I would recommend to prepare in advance are the following:

• Read about the firm and the consulting industry. Try to understand recent developments – this will ensure you can ask relevant questions and stand out
• Learn as much as possible on the consultants who will participate in the event, if possible. In this way, you will be able to connect more easily.
• Be prepared on company-related fit questions. You won’t be formally interviewed during these events, but you want to leave a positive impression in an informal conversation with consultants. At the bare minimum, you should:
  • have a clear idea of why you want to become a consultant
  • why you want to join McKinsey
  • what you can bring to that company and
  • have a clear, 5-lines pitch of who you are as introduction
• Prepare your own questions to ask. Relevant questions are a great way to show your interest in the company and get additional points. In the first reply at the following post, you can find some information on the ideal type of questions to ask: https://www.preplounge.com/en/consulting-forum/open-house-at-bcg-311

Hope this helps,

Francesco

Hi Anonymous,

Instead of boiling the ocean and speculating, the only reasonable thing to do is to call your HR contact (yes, calling, not emailing) and investigate about the event and what to expect.

Based on that you can prepare accordingly, but not before.

Hope that helps - if so, please be so kind and give it a thumbs-up with the green upvote below!

Robert

Hello!

Congrats!

Treat it as a recruiting event. There are plenty of Q&A posts here where you can read lots of advice. 

Hope it helps!

Cheers,

Clara

Hi,

Francesco covered the broad points in his answer. If you want some more details on how to network, you can also purchase the guide below. Feel free to PM me for discount codes.

https://www.preplounge.com/en/shop/tests-2/networking-for-management-consulting-51

Best,

Udayan

Dear A,

This is recruiting event where you can use your chance for networking. 

Also, if you still need more information you can contact HR on that. That is ok. 

Best,
André

Hi there,

Congratulations!

First, be prepared with the key interview questions

• Have an answer prepared for "Resume walkthrough", "Why Consulting", and "Why McKinsey", just in case

Second, prepare to make a good impression

• Networking events are hard, and virtual ones are even harder. Make sure you have good questions prepared and ask insightful ones to any of the speakers
• Ideally, they will have breakouts where you can get to know consultants at the firm...try to establish a bit of a connection with them

Third, leverage the event to get a referral

• If you seemed to make an impression on anyone at the event, follow-up! Say you found x and y interesting and were wondering if they might have some time to talk a bit more about z
• From that call you can employ the networking tactics we talk about at lot on the forum

Good luck :)