McKinsey Round 1 interviews
Hi, I was a postdoctoral fellow in pharma/drug development and will be doing round 1 interviews with McKinsey next week. Could I get pointers on what to expect in the problem solving component and any other relevant areas? Thanks.
look at glassdoor.com; I vaguely remember an article regarding top consulting firms (BCG, McKinsey, etc.) on yahoo.com stating consulting firms ranked in the top 10 hardest places to interview and they pulled some of the questions and interview experience from the glassdoor.com website.
Practice case interviews like a fiend, that's all I'll say. Seriously, hours and hours. That's what it takes.
Also, don't pretend to be someone you're not in the interview. Be yourself, be very relaxed and most of all, seem just comfortable and at ease. Not an easy thing to do and some do it better than others, but it's an important point.
I would get my hands on a few books, "Case in Point" is pretty good IMO. Also, a friend of mine interviewed with McK for a position and they were actually pretty helpful giving him pointer and tips before he had the interview. I agree with bbjhva though: It all comes down to how many hours of work you put in.
try not to stare at the tits of your interviewer, and you will have done better than me.
If you are feeling uncertain about the interviews, ask your recruiter if there is anyone who can provide you with some coaching before the interviews. They want you to do well, and will usually do what they can.
The problem solving component tests a few things:
1) picking out relevant figures from a given data 2) setting up the right equation to solve (e.g., the profit equation with given price, quantity, variable/fixed costs) 3) general economic/intuitive sense (e.g., which answer choice makes most common sense for a given situation?) 4) agility with basic mathematical calculations 5) how fast you can solve these problems; it's not necessarily a short exam - a lot of people struggle to finish.
With that said, I don't think you can really prepare for the PST. Just do the practice one that they gave you so that you can get used to the format. Make sure you get a plenty of sleep the night before so that you can think clearly during the exam.
For the interviews, the format is very predictable, and McKinsey tells you exactly what to expect via e-mail/phone call. If no one has contacted you yet, as monkey_business23 said, check out glassdoor.com. There are several useful interview tips there.
Thanks folks for your tips in super quick time. Keep them coming in!
Our Consulting Case Interview guide was written by a McKinsey consultant and has 10 original practice cases....so likely a good place to start.
http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/guide/consulting-case-interviews
Food for thought: my current EM does a ton of APD interviewing, and he keeps commenting on how many super-smart PhDs and doctors fail to get through interviews because they don't bother practicing cases and thinking about the "fit" questions in advance. Get the math right, and prep for the interviews, and you sound like a typically strong candidate. Don't do the prep, and your CV won't carry you through the door.
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