Left "The Firm" a little over a year ago. I've been meaning to do this and just never got around to it; no time like the present! I'm doing a Q&A at r/consulting on reddit as well, in case you run across that.
I joined McKinsey in a mid-sized office in the US as a Business Analyst out of undergrad (top 5 engineering school). Got the DTA (direct to associate) promotion in 2.5 years before leaving.
Why Did you Leave McKinsey?
A wide variety of reasons. Part of it was disillusionment/burn-out. Part of it was that my young age was making my life in consulting harder than it needed to be. I also wanted to get out and try something else out for a change.
I actually left because I had achieved DTA (a big objective for me) and I'd finally come up with a fantastic idea for a business. I started that business summer last year and I've been running it since. It's starting to wind down now; afterward I'm going to see if I can get into venture capital, preferably seed/early-stage.
Are Post MBA Consultants Better than Pre-MBA Consultants?
Definitely not in terms of raw intelligence. Excel prowess never caught up and PPT work was slow to do so. Of course, Associates are less relied upon for that type of work than BAs are anyway.
As you would expect, Associates are generally better with clients. They're older (yes, this matters) and simply know how to handle themselves and others better.
They were also just generally more interesting people. There's a wider variety of candidate profiles entering the firm at the post-MBA level. This translates into more interesting personalities and life stories.
My first inclination was to say that Associates are less douche-baggy. But the HBS grads give the worst BAs a run for their money, and there are just so damn many of them. I don't miss the days of sitting down at a new associate training and asking someone where they went to school, just to get the faux-modest "in Boston" response.
What are the Common Exits from Consulting?
When asked if starting a business is a common exit opp - the OP responded with the following.
Definitely not most. It's a relatively common exit-path, but definitely under 20%. There's plenty of info out there on common exit routes, but some of them include: business school, joining a client, private equity, venture capital, entrepreneurship, banking, etc.
The first thing I focused on after leaving was de-McKinsey-ifying myself. Consultants tend to wrap themselves in what looks like a layer of bullshit to people outside the industry. Jargon, false structuring, a way of carrying oneself. That kind of thing. I made sure to remove as much of that as possible so I could appear "normal" to people out in the world.
Starting a business is obviously a very different beast from being a management consultant. All of your fancy frameworks and awesome analysis go out the window. It's a lot of paperwork and a lot of sales (not just direct sales; you're always selling yourself as an entrepreneur in some way or another). McKinsey helped me manage different complex tasks at the same time, think logically, and work hard under pressure. It did not help me figure out the best way to attract and retain good talent on a tight budget.
What is the Work-Life Balance Like in Consulting?
It's hugely variable based on project. My worst study was 80 hours a week for 6 weeks. My best study was actually under 40 hours a week (though I did not readily admit this to my co-workers). Either way, you're almost certainly going to be spending Monday through Thursday away from home at the junior levels. People with kids handle it by not being with their kids. Unfortunately, all of the phone calls and skype sessions in the world don't make up for that. Having kids will working at McKinsey is something I had always promised myself I would absolutely not do.
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Why'd you leave / where'd you go?
A wide variety of reasons. Part of it was disillusionment/burn-out. Part of it was that my young age was making my life in consulting harder than it needed to be. I also wanted to get out and try something else out for a change.
I actually left because I had achieved DTA (a big objective for me) and I'd finally come up with a fantastic idea for a business. I started that business summer last year and I've been running it since. It's starting to wind down now; afterward I'm going to see if I can get into venture capital, preferably seed/early-stage.
Definitely not in terms of raw intelligence. Excel prowess never caught up and PPT work was slow to do so. Of course, Associates are less relied upon for that type of work than BAs are anyway.
As you would expect, Associates are generally better with clients. They're older (yes, this matters) and simply know how to handle themselves and others better.
They were also just generally more interesting people. There's a wider variety of candidate profiles entering the firm at the post-MBA level. This translates into more interesting personalities and life stories.
My first inclination was to say that Associates are less douche-baggy. But the HBS grads give the worst BAs a run for their money, and there are just so damn many of them. I don't miss the days of sitting down at a new associate training and asking someone where they went to school, just to get the faux-modest "in Boston" response.
Enterprise software in the retail industry. My fiancee had been consulting in the space for a couple of years and we saw a very clear market need. Product development went great; sales, not so much. Figuring out how to tie a nice bow on the experience now.
Which is unfortunate, because it desperately needs more people like you.
Definitely not most. It's a relatively common exit-path, but definitely under 20%. There's plenty of info out there on common exit routes, but some of them include: business school, joining a client, private equity, venture capital, entrepreneurship, banking, etc.
The first thing I focused on after leaving was de-McKinsey-ifying myself. Consultants tend to wrap themselves in what looks like a layer of bullshit to people outside the industry. Jargon, false structuring, a way of carrying oneself. That kind of thing. I made sure to remove as much of that as possible so I could appear "normal" to people out in the world.
Starting a business is obviously a very different beast from being a management consultant. All of your fancy frameworks and awesome analysis go out the window. It's a lot of paperwork and a lot of sales (not just direct sales; you're always selling yourself as an entrepreneur in some way or another). McKinsey helped me manage different complex tasks at the same time, think logically, and work hard under pressure. It did not help me figure out the best way to attract and retain good talent on a tight budget.
1) It's hugely variable based on project. My worst study was 80 hours a week for 6 weeks. My best study was actually under 40 hours a week (though I did not readily admit this to my co-workers). Either way, you're almost certainly going to be spending Monday through Thursday away from home at the junior levels. People with kids handle it by not being with their kids. Unfortunately, all of the phone calls and skype sessions in the world don't make up for that. Having kids will working at McKinsey is something I had always promised myself I would absolutely not do.
2) When people talk about joining McKinsey, they're talking about the CSS (consultant services something...) track. You can join as a generalist CSS or in the Ops or BTO practices. They are all 95% the same. Please don't let people on the internet try to convince you otherwise.
Anything else is completely different. MIG (implementation) is not CSS. It is not the same pay or the same development. I know several implementation folks who were really screwed over by what recruiters told them about this. You can also get hired in as a practice or knowledge expert. Again, these are not the same as CSS.
What are the logical/intelligence questions? You mean the sizing/estimation questions (how many golfballs on a 747)?
What would you propose as an alternative to the hard interview process? Just hiring more people? It's a really hard job. Lowering the standards would not be a good idea...
I don't really know the process elsewhere in the world, so I can't speak to it. I think it's safe to assume it's at least a similar level of rigor.
View of foreign McKinsey consultants depends on the country. Germany is the best represented in the US. Stereotypically, Germans are insanely detail oriented, have absurdly high expectations for work hours, and care about data to the exception of anything else. The east Asian offices are known for working 6 days a week and just running their junior consultants into the ground. The Italian offices reportedly give their BA's a 5,000 euro bonus when they join to buy designer label clothes (showing up in anything less will get you thrown out the door).
Focus more on you (the internship is a great start) and less on networking. First, networking is just plain tough. Those consultants don't really want to talk with you, I promise. Second, networking will absolutely not get you a job at McKinsey. It can possibly get you an interview, but even that is pretty tough. Nothing but your own skill (and luck) will get you through the interviews.
School matters a lot. Major matters quite a bit. GPA is obviously huge. Standardized test scores (SAT, GMAT, GRE) are big. Brand-name recognition of your work experience is huge.
The most common reason to ding BA applicants is lack of leadership experience. You've got to have at least a couple of examples of you leading 10+ people through a real project/challenge. That's really tough to do by 22 and probably where your time/effort could be best spent.
1) Your perception of the type of work McKinsey (or any high tier firm) does is too narrow. It is very rare (never?) that they will just come up with a strategy for a client. Even rarer that they'll just come in and sign off on a strategy that the client has already developed. You're closer to the money with the "doesn't have the resources..." train of thought. Resources is a huge part of it. Sometimes that's just analysts in chairs, but more often it's a lot more than that. McKinsey has an enormous support network of experts backing up its consultants. That's an even bigger part of it: experience. More than anything, McKinsey is brought in to help clients solve problems they don't come across often enough to justify having in-house expertise.
One of my studies was to map out the cost structure (and resulting international trade flows) of every production plant in the world for a given petrochemical commodity. We'd done the exact same study for the same client on the same product five years before. They'd tried to develop the capability in-house after that and had failed, because it's really complex, niche knowledge. They ended up bringing us back in to do it again.
Another client brought us in to do a model to calculate the expected value of a call into their customer service center. Based on that value they'd decide to outsource the call or keep it in-house and domestic. There was something like 15 variables of different weights that we had to factor in for each call.
One of my studies was helping a client downsize their support staff. We showed them where they could automate back office processes and where it made more sense to outsource the work. Not complex stuff, but where does the client start if they've never had to do this before?
2) Depends a lot on the engagement. There's a lot of time in Excel either doing one-off analysis (typically for opportunity identification ) or model work (which will then generally be handed over to the client). A lot of time in ppt writing up results for the client and teeing up discussions. A lot of time actually with the client: learning from them, sharing results of analysis, helping them structure their thinking on the problem. A fair amount of time on the phone with McKinsey experts at the beginning of the study, getting up to speed on the topic and getting their ideas on where to start looking for opportunity.
1) It's really tough to build a strong relationship just by socializing. Most of the partners have better things to do. It's much, much easier to do it through actual work. The partners on your studies are going to be your strongest advocates. You can also get involved in different types of work outside your engagements to get as much exposure to different people as possible.
2) Minimize weekend work; it's very rarely required. Minimize Friday work: don't put in hours just because you feel like you should. In fact, don't do any work just because you feel like you should. Get really good at figuring out what work really matters and what doesn't. Some people kill themselves with 80+ hours of work per week on every single project. Those people are idiots.
3) Similar to above, get really good at figuring out what matters and what doesn't. Being up until 3 AM working on analysis doesn't win you any points unless that analysis actually delivers a meaningful insight.
Take a step back every now and then and think about where you stand in context with the rest of the project. Doing so can help you realize if you're going down the wrong trail or missing an obvious opportunity. This type of thinking is not at all expected of a BA; exhibiting it wins you huge points.
Make the most of the McKinsey support network. It's massive and incredibly powerful. Use India for ppt work. Use analytics for Excel work. Use practice experts to get up to speed on topics very quickly and give you ideas on where to look for opportunities. Use external expert networks (GLG) to figure out how the client thinks about their own industry and what they should be looking for.
4) This is a tricky one. I think it's just a soft skill that you develop in the first ~4 months on the job. Especially out of undergrad, you're going to get hit with a lot of questions that you have absolutely no idea on. The client's paying $250/hr for you, just looking at the dumbly isn't an okay response.
One way to minimize this is what I said above: make sure you're getting up to speed on topics as quickly as possible by leveraging others' knowledge. You're not expected to be an expert on a given industry (or any industry), but you are expected to become one very quickly when you're asked to.
That being said, no matter how practiced you are you're still going to be presented with a stumper every now and then. Part of it is just having the confidence to tell a client that you don't know or you're not sure what they're talking about. If you're on top of your game then that sort of thing shouldn't happen too often and you'll have ample other opportunity to impress the client.