McKinsey and APD (Advanced Professional Degree) Candidates

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Many management consulting firms hire non-MBAs.  However, few, if any, hire them to the extent that McKinsey does.  This post will cover a few of the basics of APD recruiting at McKinsey...

Get Feedback From Your 1st Round McKinsey Interview - Why It's Important

To get hired by McKinsey, you typically have to pass two rounds of interviews.  McKinsey's feedback-driven culture doesn't just apply to the job, it applies to interviews as well.  It's also possible that former McKinsey consultants will apply this approach when interviewing candidates for non-consulting jobs.  In this post we'll cover why it's important to get feedback from your 1st round interview...

Releasing Your Agenda - What It Means and Why It's Important

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It's likely that, at some point, you'll be asked by your McKinsey boss to "release your agenda".  In this post I'll explain what that means, and why it can be helpful.

80/20 Thinking, 110% Execution - Why McKinsey Decks Are Often Warm

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One of my favorite McKinsey client quotes is "I like McKinsey decks - they're always nice and warm".  The reason McKinsey decks are often warm to the touch is because they're fresh off the printer.  It's common for McKinsey teams to be making edits and adding content until the very last minute, then scrambling to print documents and race to client meetings.  You also might see this behavior if you work with or for a former McKinsey consultant.  Here's why this happens...

McKinsey Interviews - 3 Tips For Selecting Your Location Preferences

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Prior to joining McKinsey, you will have 3 major decisions to make - 1) whether or not to apply for a job at the Firm, 2) to which location you'd like to apply, and 3) whether or not to accept your offer.  This post will focus on your location preference decision.

Cover Letters for non-Consulting jobs - 4 common mistakes

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As I mentioned in a previous post about consulting resume screens, cover letters are not critical when applying for a job at McKinsey.  However, in my pre- and post-McKinsey experience, I've found that non-consulting hiring managers rely heavily on cover letters to differentiate between candidates with similarly impressive resumes.  In this post I'll discuss the most common cover letter mistakes I've seen from candidates for non-Consulting jobs...

McKinsey Presentations: The Page Pull Deck and How to Build One

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There are many types of PowerPoint decks that your McKinsey boss might ask for.  One that is relatively common and easy to prepare is the "page pull" deck.  In this post I'll cover what it is, and how it's used...

T-shaped Problem-Solving at McKinsey and 3 Reasons Why It's Preferred

At McKinsey, there's a strong preference for T-shaped problem solving - making sure you've considered all of the applicable topics before going too deep on any of them.  This applies to problem solving a client engagement, case interviews, and working for a former McKinsey boss.

Interviewing with former McKinsey consultants - 5 tips for case-type questions

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Even if you're interviewing for a non-consulting job, there's a chance you'll be asked case questions similar to those used in consulting interviews.  In this post I'll share some tips on how to do well on those case-type questions...

McKinsey Case Interviews and Unit Conversions - An Easy, 3-step Method

One of the most common causes of math errors during case interviews is unit conversions.  Here's a method I learned as an engineering undergrad that helped me get through all of my case prep and interviews without making any unit conversion errors.  I've also used this method countless times at McKinsey and even after leaving the Firm...

MBTI - 3 ways McKinsey teams think about and (mis)use personality types

McKinsey teams use MBTI personality types as a short-hand for understanding individual preferences and team dynamics.  In this post I'll review a few ways McKinsey consultant typically think about MBTI.  These are not necessarily how an expert on MBTI would apply this framework, but the McKinsey person in your life still might think in some of these ways

MBTI - How your McKinsey colleague thinks of you in 4 letters (an introduction)

McKinsey consultants change teams frequently and must quickly understand new colleagues' and clients' personalities, working styles, and preferences.  MBTI is a 4-letter shortcut that the McKinsey consultant in your life uses to do just that.

In this post I'll give you a brief overview of how to figure out your own MBTI type and understand what they're talking about

McKinsey case interviews - 6 common math mistakes and how to prevent them

Everyone applying to McKinsey knows case prep, but I’m always surprised to see how poorly some of them prepare to do math during their interviews.  In this post, I’ll go over the six most common quant errors I’ve seen and some tips on how to avoid them

3 questions your McKinsey interviewers are asking themselves

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If you're being interviewed by someone from McKinsey - even if they've an ex-consultant who has already left the Firm - it's likely that they're asking themselves 3 questions about you.  In this post I'll explain what those questions are, whey they're important, and what you can do to address them

McKinsey interviews: PEI and 5 tips for doing well - it matters as much as the case interview!

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McKinsey interviews consist of two components, and most people focus on preparing for the case interview.  In this post I'll provide tips on how to do well on the personal experience interview (PEI) and explain why it's risky to neglect preparing for it.  This will be useful to candidates applying for jobs with McKinsey and potentially helpful if you're interviewing for a job with a former McKinsey consultant

McKinsey's culture of negative feedback - you're probably not performing as badly as you think

Are you getting a lot of negative feedback and constructive criticism from your McKinsey boss?  Is it making you feel like you're underperforming and disappointing your supervisor?

In this post I'll explain the culture of frequent and often negative feedback at McKinsey and why you're probably not performing as poorly as you think

Common coffee chat mistakes - 7 ways candidates screw up pre-interview networking

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During my time at McKinsey I participated in dozens of coffee chats and other pre-interview networking events.  Of the hundreds of conversations I had with candidates, the ones that stand out are the bad ones.

In this post I'll discuss the 7 most common pre-interview networking errors I've seen so you can avoid making them yourself...

Recruiting coffee chats - 4 tips for McKinsey pre-interview networking events

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If you're applying for management consulting jobs, firms will provide you with opportunities to meet their consultants prior to interviews.  For McKinsey recruits, networking events usually take the form of coffee chats, office hours, cocktail events, and company presentations.

In this post, I'll go over some tips for making the most of these opportunities

5 Tips for McKinsey Resume (CV) Screens and Cover Letters

It's recruiting season so many first-year business school students are gearing up for their first consulting recruiting cycle.  So, I'll use the next few posts to discuss some pre-interview elements of the recruiting process.  In this post, I'll go over some 5 simple tips for improving your resume and increasing the likelihood that you'll pass the resume review process and be offered a first-round interview.

If you're not in business school but are applying to a job that requires an interview with and resume screen by a former McKinsey consultant, these tips should still be helpful.

Typical day in the life of a McKinsey consultant - why your McKinsey boss expects so much from you

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In this post, I'll share the schedule of a typical day in the life of a McKinsey consultant.  One of the great things about being at McKinsey is that no two days are the same, but I've tried to capture what a management consultant's day-to-day lifestyle is like.  It's a composite of many days I've had at the Firm, but directionally accurate and representative of how we work.  I'll start with what this might mean for you, depending on your relationship with the McKinsey consultant.