3 Reasons Why McKinsey Interviews Are NOT So Difficult

McKinsey has consistently topped Glassdoor.com's annual list of Top 25 Most Difficult Companies to Interview.  Although getting into McKinsey and other top management consulting firms is challenging (see the companion piece on "Why McKinsey Interviews Are So Difficult"), you can leverage certain aspects of the interview process and make it less difficult to get a job offer.  In this post I'll discuss a few of those factors...

3 Reasons Why McKinsey Interviews Are So Difficult

McKinsey has consistently topped Glassdoor.com's annual list of Top 25 Most Difficult Companies to Interview.  Getting into McKinsey and other top management consulting firms is certainly challenging, but there are very specific reasons why these interviews are difficult.  In this post I'll discuss a few of those reasons.  You might also be interested in the companion piece on "Why McKinsey Interviews Are NOT So Difficult"...

McKinsey Interviews - 7 Tips for Interview Days

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McKinsey interviews can be challenging and stressful, so here are some tips for the day of your interview that can help you maximize your performance.  Of course, there's no replacement for good personal experience interview (PEI) and case interview prep.

McKinsey Interviews - What Happens on Final-Round Interview "Batch" Days

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Final-round interview (or "Batch") days at McKinsey are, in many ways, very similar to first-round interviews.  This post is a companion piece to an earlier one on what happens on early-round interview days.  Rather than rehash those details, I'll focus on the differences between first-round and final-round interview days.

McKinsey Interviews - What Happens on First-Round Interview Days

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Interviewing for any job is stressful, and McKinsey and other consulting firms have some of the toughest interviews you'll ever face.  However, understanding what will happen on your interview day can help you prepare, relax, and improve your performance.  In this post I'll describe how a typical early-round interview day is structured so you'll know what to expect.

I will follow-up this post with two posts - one on what happens on second-round interview days and another with suggestions for how to make the most of your interview days.

McKinsey Interviews - What is a McKinsey Case Interview and Why Is It Important?

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If you've done any research into getting a job in consulting, you'll know that the case interview is a critical component of the interview process at McKinsey and other top management consulting firms.  Case interviews are also become more common in non-consulting job interviews, especially for Strategy roles and/or positions reporting to former consultants.

If you're just starting your research or it's not yet clear to you what, exactly, a case interview is, in this post I will answer:

• What is a case interview?
• Will it be a brain teaser?
• Why are case interviews important?

McKinsey Interviews - Roadmap to a McKinsey Job and 3 Things to Consider

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The cooler weather and changing leaves don't just signal the beginning of autumn.  We have now entered recruiting season for full-time McKinsey hiring and summer internship hiring is not far behind.  In this post I'll explain how the McKinsey interview process is structured and a few things to consider as you dive in.  The process similar for full-time and summer hiring.

McKinsey Interviews - October, 2013 Posts for Aspiring Consultants

To anyone NOT interviewing with McKinsey:

With apologies to folks who are already consultants or looking for tips on how to work with a current or former McKinsey consultant, the posts for the next couple of weeks will focus on getting into the Firm.  But we'll get right back to our regularly scheduled mix of programming after that!

To those of you who ARE interviewing with McKinsey:

For those of you who are Aspiring Consultants, the posts over the next couple of weeks will help you understand what to expect as you pursue a job at McKinsey and/or other top management consulting firms.

I'll try to coordinate the content across posts so I might delay putting content on the blog until other posts are completed.  But I will schedule them so they appear on the day they were originally written.  Apologies if that gets confusing for those of you who subscribe or follow this blog regularly.

McKinsey Presentation Decks - What is the Storyline and What is a "Dot-Dash"?

If you're working with a McKinsey boss to prepare a PowerPoint (PPT) presentation - known in consulting as a "deck" - you might be asked to work on a storyline and prepare a "Dot-Dash" version of that storyline.  In this post, I'll explain what those terms means and why they're important...

McKinsey Presentations - How to Apply Ghost (aka Shell and Skeleton) Decks and Pages

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McKinsey consultants invest a lot of time and effort into making PowerPoint presentations (decks) and pages.  "Ghost" decks are used to align on what the end product will look like and to minimize wasted work.  In this post I'll explain what a ghost deck is and what it means to "ghost out" a deck or pages...

Asking Your McKinsey Boss for Help - Bring Solutions, Not Just Problems

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In a previous post, I provided three ways to keep your McKinsey boss happy.  In this post, I'll explain a fourth, equally important way to stay in the good graces of your McKinsey boss:  When you're struggling with something and need help from your McKinsey boss, make sure you bring solutions, not just problems

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...