Claudio
Engagement Manager
Importance on People
What I really liked about the firm was also what drew me to law—the continuous problem-solving aspect, the intellectual stimulation. I am very much a people person so I was really attracted to that too. I went through the interview process my first summer and didn’t get the job. But it wasn’t like other jobs where I had applied and not gotten the job—I saw an interest on the part of the interviewers for me to do better the next year. They volunteered to coach me over the phone, encouraged me to reapply. It really highlighted the importance that McKinsey puts on people in general. The attitude is always, “Look, we know you’re trying; this is what you need to do to succeed in the future. Let’s work together to make sure that happens.”
If you’re thinking about leaving academia or law because you want to gain practical skills, here’s a job that allows you to use those problem solving skills in a practical environment, confronting the biggest issues that the top businesses in the world face everyday.
A Problem-Solving Force
On a McKinsey team, everyone’s voice has an equal share. It’s not like the partner or the director will talk and then I just nod and execute. I’m really a problem solving force within the team, and it’s up to me to make myself a greater force. At McKinsey it’s really hard to coast. As soon as I start becoming good at what I’m doing, I will be given more responsibility and be pushed to develop further. I progress not just as a McKinsey person but as a person in general.
Legal Background
I wondered whether the lack of a business degree would hurt me, but I thought, “Here is one of the most successful business institutions in the world coming to recruit at a law school: Who better can tell me whether I can actually do a good job at what they do?” Much of our job is problem solving and communication; law school and even academia is effectively that. We learn up on a topic and try to solve a problem by running a thesis and then communicating it. If you’re thinking about leaving academia or law because you want to gain practical skills, here’s a job that allows you to use those problem solving skills in a practical environment, confronting the biggest issues that the top businesses in the world face everyday.
Climbing Kilimanjaro
One memorable moment of my career was a study in Tanzania where we served a large non-profit dedicated to developing a self-sustaining healthcare system in South Africa. At the end of the engagement the team ended up taking a few days off and climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro together. I ended up sharing a tent with my EM for a week, climbing a mountain. To me that was really McKinsey at its best—finding myself in an exotic location, helping the world become a better place with super smart people who have become really close friends, with whom I have an adventure.