The Straw Man - An Important Tool for McKinsey-Style Problem Solving

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As a Firm, McKinsey if often engaged to work on a client's most challenging problems and McKinsey teams apply structured approaches to arrive at the best answers.  The "straw man" is an important tool for collaborative problem solving in all phases and at every level of a client engagement.  In this post I'll explain what a straw man is, why they're important, and caveats for their use...

5 Ways to Get the Most Out of your McKinsey Summer Internship

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It's internship season and that means all the insecure overachievers who are McKinsey Summer Associates and Summer Business Analysts are stressing out about whether or not they'll get a job offer at the end of the summer.  While securing the full-time offer is important, there are other critical things a Summer can get out of the internship.  Here are some tips on getting the most out of a McKinsey summer internship....

Extra Miles and Points - How Far Some McKinsey Consultants Will Go to Earn Them

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A previous post covered why airline miles and hotel points are so important to many McKinsey consultants.  In this post we'll go a bit deeper on the topic and look at the extent to which some current and former consultants will go to earn more of these miles and points.

Why McKinsey Consultants Are Whores... For Hotel Points and Airline Miles

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There are many things about working at McKinsey that are challenging, including the travel.   Some of the upsides of travel include the opportunity to earn many airline miles and hotel points.  In this post I'll discuss the relationship current and former consultants have with these loyalty programs...

How the McKinsey Resume / CV Screening Process Works

McKinsey's success is built on its reputation and people.  To maintain a sufficient supply of the latter, every year McKinsey reviews thousands of resumes from the top undergrad and MBA programs around the world.  As a result, the Firm has gotten quite good at making a highly qualitative process more objective and consistent.  In this post I'll explain the resume review process...

McKinsey is a Pie-Eating Contest and the Prize is More Pie

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This is one of my favorite phrases about life at McKinsey.  In this post I'll explain why "working at McKinsey is a pie-eating contest and the prize is more pie"...

5 Traits of Client-Ready Decks (PowerPoint Presentations)

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Just as there are "client-ready" consultants, there are client-ready PowerPoint presentations.  In this post, I'll briefly cover what it means for a McKinsey deck to be client ready and 5 traits that client-ready decks share...

6 Traits of Client-Ready McKinsey Consultants

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You might hear management consultants refer to a a person as "Client Ready" or not.  In this post, I'll briefly cover what that means and share 6 traits that client-ready consultants exhibit.  You can also check out the related post on what it means to have a client-ready deck (PowerPoint presentation)...

Stockpiling "Dry Powder" For Your McKinsey Boss

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McKinsey consultants already work a ton of hours, but if they left it up to their clients and Partners, they'd work even more.  One way teams and individual consultants can keep their workloads reasonable is by stockpiling "dry powder".  In this post, I'll discuss what that means and how it can help you manage the workload you're assigned by the McKinsey consultant in your life...

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...