McKinsey First Round VS Second Round

Can anyone comment on the main differences between McKinsey's First Round and Second Round?

I just finished their 1st round and as expected the case was very structured, in the sense that the interviewer was driving the case by asking a set of 5-6 specific questions per case.

Are the 2nd rounds (office visits) similar or are they more driven by the interviewee? I've heard that 2nd/final rounds involve more probing for information and one broad initial question, rather than individual segments to the case. Anyone have any experience with this? Thanks in advance for your help.

 
ivoteforthatguy:
In the second round, there are actually right answers to questions. There is no "good try" medal. Read the cases very carefully.

This was not my experience.

I found that second round cases were still quite structured, but less rigid than first round cases. Because you are interviewing with partners and engagement managers, my understanding is that they have a bit more freedom to choose their own cases.

The main difference is that there will be a bit more emphasis on fit. Questions such as "tell me about a time when you demonstrated x" or "tell me a time when you had to do y." So know your resume down pat and have some anecdotes that will set you apart.

Hope that helps

 
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ivoteforthatguy:
In the second round, there are actually right answers to questions. There is no "good try" medal. Read the cases very carefully.

This was not my experience.

I found that second round cases were still quite structured, but less rigid than first round cases. Because you are interviewing with partners and engagement managers, my understanding is that they have a bit more freedom to choose their own cases.

The main difference is that there will be a bit more emphasis on fit. Questions such as "tell me about a time when you demonstrated x" or "tell me a time when you had to do y." So know your resume down pat and have some anecdotes that will set you apart.

Hope that helps

I suggest you be ready for both types. I had two industry cases and a financial case. The former two were slightly more open ended, but for the financial, there was absolutely a right answer that the partner was looking for -- I missed it the first time around and stumbled onto it at last after a lot of prompting. Needless to say it did NOT go well. Even in the industry cases, the data they give you is supposed to point in a direction that they want you to find.

Mind you, I didn't get the job, so maybe I'm totally off base here. But if I had to point to my major fuck up in that interview process, I'd point to that.

Good luck.

 

Should've also noted that these are BA interviews (out of undergrad). The written exam was very similar to the practice one on their website, no surprises there.

Does the second round have written cases? And could you elaborate a bit more on a leadership case?

 

^ No, I was interviewing for a generalist position through their APD recruiting program. I sure as hell wished that it was more open ended. They were nice enough to give some leading pointers but I fucked up some basic arithmetic, etc., and that was the end of me.

I suppose a place like McK has the luxury of dinging you for stuff like that. What can I say.

 

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