Hi everyone,
Today I wanted to share something that may be one of my best McKinsey experiences to date: I was invited to be a faculty member for Embark, our new hire training program.
Embark is a week-long program that is standard across all of our offices in all countries. It is a thoughtfully prepared, interactive, and fun program that prepares new hires to hit the ground running once they are staffed to their first projects.
I arrived at my Embark session in Prague feeling slightly nervous about teaching a large class. It’s a little overwhelming to feel responsible for preparing these new hires for success! Luckily, I was joined by a wonderful senior associate, Lukas, and everything went well. The class comprised attendees from France, Spain, and the U.K., among others. I was worried it might be hard to connect with so many people from different regions, but the group was so eager to learn and connect that my worries quickly disappeared.
There were a few highlights that stood out to me. The first was following the Q&A on the first day—we ended up going way over time because the attendees were so interested in hearing the facilitators’ personal stories and experiences at McKinsey. It made me realize that I have so much more to share than I’d previously thought.
The second highlight was the diversity of the group. Some attendees were experienced hires and some came straight from university. They came from different regions and spoke multiple languages. Some were hired as generalist consultants, some were hired into our practices, and still others are part of our New Ventures groups. We talked a lot about New Ventures at McKinsey and how our model is changing. I actually learned a lot of new things about the firm myself and am amazed at the breadth and depth of what we do. (Here’s an interesting stat: more than half of what we do today did not exist five years ago. Learn more here.)
Another incredible part of the program was the feedback session at the end. The attendees were so positive and thankful for the time we spent together and the stories we shared. We then received the formal feedback survey a couple of weeks later, and it was so positive that I made me feel even better about the experience. I am really looking forward to my next Embark session.
Finally, being a faculty member at Embark helped me reflect on how much I’ve learned and grown since I joined McKinsey. The session was actually held in the same location where I attended Embark back in 2014, and some of the restaurants and activities were the same as my program. I couldn’t help but compare my experiences as an attendee and a faulty member four years later. McKinsey has certainly changed me!
Take care,
Anna