Why I decided to apply
I was hired at McKinsey with eight years of working experience. Frankly, working here wasn’t something I considered at first. I expected to find people who thought they have answers to everything and were only interested in their jobs. I found quite the opposite: a group of people interested in what I think and who I am, always curious to learn more and make things better, in work and in life. They help me make my ideas better.
Proudest moment
For me, doing meaningful, impactful work for clients is as important as working with a great team, and learning. I recall many moments when we made a difference: two clients walking down the corridor, smiling from ear to ear because of the enormous success of the implementation of a project we had done together. Or hearing how a client's business is growing based on granular insights we created.
What I’ve learned
The most important skills I learned here have to do with making vagueness concrete and making complexity understandable. This requires structuring topics logically and communicating in ways that people remember.
Some examples
Say you want to find out how to define a marketing budget from zero. I remember a really fun project where we managed to create a logical structure that gave us a limited number of drivers with which we could determine the optimal budget.
Opportunities I’ve had
I’ve had the chance to work in many sectors, with different people, on a range of topics, from high tech to energy, mainly in marketing and sales. For example, not long after I joined McKinsey, our senior partner couldn’t make it to a meeting with the heads of strategy and wanted me to replace him, telling me: “You can listen, you have a curious mind and are smart, go and enjoy!” It’s this kind of opportunity and trust that makes you feel nervous, but it does allow you to make a difference quickly.
There are many ways that the firm is flexible, which helps you find a good work-life balance, for example, part-time work is an option, as is reducing time spent on the road by focusing on local clients. Of course, any executive function remains demanding, no matter what. But people may not realize that this flexibility is one of the things that makes McKinsey a wonderful place for a mother or father to work.