Think I bombed my partner interview with McKinsey - is there any hope?
So I had three interviews. First with an EM, where I'll give myself 10/10 for PEI and 9/10 for the case.
The second was with an Associate Partner. I'll myself a 11/10 for PEI ( it went super awesome) and 10/10 for the case and 10/10 for the guesstimate she asked me to do. I did very well on both.
Then comes the bummer. I had a partner interview in which I'll probably give myself an 8.5 or 9/10 in the PEI part and only 5 or 6 out of 10 in the case. Or I don't know, the case was so tricky I don't know what to give myself. I feel like I have zero chance based on just this partner interview.
BUT in case they consider the EM and especially the AP interviews I think I have a solid chance.
So my question is, how does McK actually make hiring decisions? I read that they make decisions as a team. Will the EM and/or AP be able to influence my chances? How does it work? I was interviewing for a BA role.
The results are going to be out in a week. The anxiety is killing me. :(
Yes, there's hope. Friend of mine thought she bombed her McK interview (1st one with partner went horribly wrong in her own words, then the last 2 were decent/good). Got an offer that same day. Another friend thought she rocked the BCG interviews, which I wouldn't have been surprised about. No offer.
I don't think anyone who works at McK will divulge their decision process unfortunately. There's a scorecard, they'll compare notes and then decide. Interviewers say they have a good read at the partner level 5 minutes into the interview.
I made plenty of mistakes in each round of interviews. You don't need to be perfect. Just relax, take your mind off of it until you know for sure. No sense in panicking about something you no longer control. Send your thank you emails out and go get a drink. I hear it's great skiing weather right now.
Sorry to hear that. I had a similar experience which didn't end well (oh well, I would've had to relocate which I did not want to).
~3 month experienced jr. hire process... at least 5 rounds of interviews... finally presumably final interview with the Partner. The guy was just super awkward from the onset and just didn't buy my story and kept thinking I had some ulterior motive, which was weird since all his previous interviewers did buy the story. Did not end up being a fluid conversation. I did not get the offer and they told me that ultimately they went with an internal hire.
There's supposed to be consensus amongst the interviewers.
The Partner's input obviously matters a ton. If he's against you, I don't see it working out.
The silver lining is that it's fairly common for people to think they bombed a McK partner case and it turns out they did fine. Experienced partner interviewers know how to find your weaknesses and test them. You might have passed that test and felt like crap doing so.
The thing is I had a total of 3 interviews and only one of them was partner interview. So is the consensus supposed to be among all my interviewers or all firm partners?
All interviewers, but Partner opinion matters most. FYI Associate Partner is considered senior-level decision round interviewer at McK. Not sure why an EM was thrown into the mix.
Sounds to me like you are overestimating how poorly you did at the last interview. Could be good news for you.
You'll probably hear today or in the next 48 hours.
Let us know how it goes.
My most senior final-round interviewer straight-up told me I was wrong at the end of a case, and then I responded with what felt like 3 minutes of awkward stammering. Ended up getting the offer the same day. It may feel like you bombed, but the person across the table sometimes feels differently. Don't lose hope!
In that case why do you think you got the offer? What did the partner like about you in spite of the fuck up?
My guess? The partner was simply testing me by telling me I was wrong, and I perceived my response as worse than how I actually performed.
You likely didn't get it if you don't hear within 2-3 days. All it takes is one bad interview to ruin your chances. They're not going to take the risk of hiring someone that one of the established team members, especially the partner, do not like. This isn't always the case (there may be an immediate hiring need) but it's often the case.
did you hear back yet?
not yet man, not yet. They havent given out the results to any of the candidates yet. I'm in touch with other candidates. Nothing released as of yet.
Fingers crossed although I'm less hopeful about this.
gotcha, makes sense. best of luck man!
It all dependes on what role you would be joining... If you are at the most junior end of the food chain, it is expected for you to fuck it up on the partner's case.. but if it's a post-mba role.....
Anyway, good luck man! There's still hope! Let us know if you get the offer!
I'm sure you did fine, so don't over stress yourself too much. It's very difficult to know how you did because these things are subjective. I once had an interview that I thought it wen't so bad, I was surprised the guy didn't throw me out. We were arguing about the best way to expand revenue for an Airline and his take was that they should increase prices and focus on the upscale market and mine was that they should drop the price a bit and focus on expanding their fleet and add routes so that they get more revenue through volume. Both ideas can work especially in a market where you have a large number of affluent customers. So we went back and forth arguing for about 45 minutes and I dropped a few Fucks and Shits and assholes and all sorts of bad things and so did he. At the end we were both very pissed off and blood was boiling. I thought I would never hear from them but three hours later I got the call to go to the final interview round. Turns out he liked how vigorously I defended my idea with facts and that I spoke passionately about it and was willing to stick to my guns on what I thought was the right call vs. just kissing up and going where the wind takes me. All that to say again: you really never know so just sit tight and wait to hear back. Good luck.
Thanks a ton mate for that. Lifted my spirits by a lot.
How do you go from 1st year analyst to partner at McKinsey.. am i missing something o_O
Oh I thought you were interviewing FOR the partner position my bad. So is this for the business analyst pre-mba role and are you lateraling from a boutique or bb?
thanks.
Sorry for not being very clear, but I interviewed for a BA role, and I'm talking about my final partner round interviews.
that awesome bro, hope you get it!!!
Did you get the results of the interview?
Yea, how'd it go OP?
Unfortunately didn't get the offer :-|
Its very weird; everyone from the office I interviewed from got rejected. Same for another region. These two are the prime metro cities from where you would expect the best candidates McK could get.
Rumors were going round that McK isnt doing very well in our region recently and hence not very keen on hiring heavily this time around, which doesnt make sense to me.
I'm slightly gutted, especially how things like good performance except in one interview where in retrospect I could've done way better, dictates career. Anyway, I'm sure it wont matter much in the long run, so things are chill. Just want to make sure I crush it in the next opportunity I get.
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