Will slow in speaking English become an issue to apply middle east office

Dear Jessica,

Thank you for your question and transparency in your preparation. I believe you are making everything you need to succeed. Here are a few things to keep in mind:

- I believe your communication and case preparation are two different components that might need to be addressed differently. Starting with communication:

As a non-native English speaker myself who has worked for several years at McKinsey in the USA, you have several ways to improve. For the next couple of weeks, you need to fully immerse yourself in an English speaking environment. For me what works is: phone in English, podcast/music in English, reading the news in English, reading books in English, movies with English subtitles, etc. Basically ban your native language from your daily life, at least for a few weeks. Bonus point if you live with English native speaker and can spend at least several hours a day speaking English. You will naturally become more confident. Confidence is key for speaking a foreign language. 

Reading industry reports in English is an excellent idea. Consultants, especially at McKinsey, use their own language. Everyone seems to write and talk the same, especially in the work environment. I suggest you read articles on the McKinsey website, and also listen to their audio version. Pick your favorite 5 articles and read/listen to each of them every day for a week. And the week after, pick another 5. Keep going until the interview. 

Now, moving on to the case preparation. 

If is extremely important when doing the interview that you understand the question you are being asked. If you answer a different question (eg start drawing a framework that does not address your client’s needs) it is a big red flag to the interviewer! Keep in mind, the interviewer always has ONE single question in mind: “would I feel comfortable putting this person in front of my client?” . It’s the only thing that matters. If you give the client an answer they didn’t ask for, it’s no good. 

For the math, they are always 2 steps. First, when you decide on your approach to get to the number. Then, when you do the math to get the number. It is totally fine to be silent when doing the math itself. But you should NEVER be silent when deciding on your approach. A big red flag for me when recruiting for my team was when I’d ask a candidate a math question, and they would give me the answer without involving me in the process at all. This is every manager’s nightmare! 
Why? Because how can you help your team if you don’t know what they are working on?

So here is what you need to do on the math: first, you decide how you gonna get to the answer (eg divide x by y and then add z). Then, you tell the interviewer “I think that to get the answer I need to divide x by y and add z, what do you think?” . And finally, based on their answer, you either adjust your approach or you do the math. And doing the math itself in silence is fine!

Hope this helps - happy to chat more live if helpful!

Hi there,

The short answer is, yes it will impact your outcome, mainly for 2 reasons:

1. If you put a lot of effort into thinking how to speak, that cognitive load will prevent you from thinking properly about the case problem. The cases are hard enough as it is, you don't want to introduce another variable to make it even more difficult.
2. Interviewers want to see if they can trust you in front of a client meeting and they might get the impression that your English is not up to the required standard and as an effect, you are also not as confident as you should come across

That's the bad news.

The good news is that case interviews are highly standardized in terms of their flow and content. You can learn the right phrases and sentences that will help you reach 80% of your goal.

For instance, a framework will always be explained in the same way, so does a chart, so does a math logic or answer, etc. If you learn and internalize the right phrases and communication strategies, you will also gain the required confidence to imprint on the interviewers.

Let me know if you need help. I turned around the communication of many non-native clients during a session. :-)

All the best,

Florian

Hi Jessica,

I would be happy to share my thoughts on your questions:

• First of all, yes, it will certainly have a negative impact on your performance.
• Moreover, to improve your English language skills, I would highly advise you to practice them whenever you can, and not just by reading consulting reports (which doesn't seem to be your problem anyway).
• Finally, I would also advise you to practise your written English, as that doesn't seem to be particularly good either and would be a significant problem when working in an international environment.

If you would like a more detailed discussion on how to best prepare for that, please don't hesitate to contact me directly.

Best,

Hagen

Hi,

In addition to the great points already mentioned by other coaches, the other perspective that is important is that the interview process is competitive, and in reality there is an element of relativity. 

The objective metrics don't change between candidates, but if everyone else is a step ahead of you along any metric, your shortcomings become more obvious.

So for a region where applicants have no issue with English, yes it will be a problem.