Evan

Careers

Your lifestyle at McKinsey is manageable. It is very much what you make of it. I virtually always have weekends free, and there is always flexibility around when and where we work..I can almost always say to my engagement manager: I’m going to go to the gym at 7 pm, and then I can work from home afterward if necessary. In addition, the New York office has a wonderful community of business analysts. In many ways the community of BAs in New York is like the continuation of a big group of college friends. The office itself puts on great events like dinners, cocktail mixing classes, and casino nights. And many of the BAs will spend time together over the weekends, too

Growth and development

I think you can learn more in two years out of college at McKinsey than you can at any other job in the world. Of course McKinsey has formal learning opportunities, like workshops and classes, where new business analysts learn a lot of the technical and hard skills required on the job. But more broadly, learning at McKinsey is driven by the apprenticeship model: you learn the most by doing. On my client projects at McKinsey, I’ve learned a tremendous amount: from analytical skills, to communication skills, to the ability to persuade a client in an oppositional environment. On a personal level, McKinsey and the team model has led me to be more open, extroverted, and willing to jump in and give my opinion.

Helping the work stick with clients

As I think about the five client projects I have worked on so far, one in particular stands out: We were helping a pharmaceutical company develop a global pricing strategy for one of their products. We knew that the proposed strategy would create a lot of internal discussion, and would likely be controversial with many in the organization. We decided to bring together a group of clients at an offsite workshop in Paris. We invited people from around the world, and facilitated a discussion on the potential pricing strategies. At the end of the workshop, many of the clients who had been skeptical of the strategy approached our team privately, letting us know that they had been convinced of the strategy. Today the pricing strategy is being implemented around the world.

People and values

People at McKinsey often talk about two of our firm’s most important values: putting client interests first, and developing exceptional people. I am always struck by how often I see these values in action. For instance, I have been in many meetings over the past year where our team will tell a client something they may not want to hear, because it is the right thing for the client—and the broader organization—to know. On the people front, I often see more senior consultants on my teams go out of their way to develop mentor relationships with more junior team members. Mentorship is a critical part of your overall development experience at McKinsey— and certainly something that has been an important part of my first year here.

Business analyst benefits

Ultimately, I know McKinsey was the right choice for me because of the incredible people I have the opportunity to work with every day. I also have the opportunity as a recent college graduate to work with some of the world’s leading institutions, helping them think through some of the most challenging issues they face. I recently started an engagement with a pharmaceutical company that is trying to figure out how best to launch a new product, taking into account how it will impact their other major product. This is likely the most important decision the client will make in the next two years—and we are working with them on a daily basis to figure it out. I don’t think that’s an opportunity anyone else my age has.