McKinsey Portugal

Extraordinary people

After 5 years at McKinsey, I’m very excited about the work that I do—and the people are by far the biggest reason. I’ve had the pleasure of working with extraordinary people, from whom I've learned an incredible amount. I have also made many friends here, both clients and colleagues.

Real responsibility

One of the most rewarding things about working at McKinsey is the high level of responsibility you get from the very start. From the moment I joined, I was assigned work streams related to clients' most important challenges. I still remember my first project in which I was responsible for analysing a €10M+ contract for a bank and making recommendations about it (for which I had to interact with a few senior client managers). Although this level of responsibility can be daunting, it is what makes McKinsey such an intense and rewarding learning experience.

Contributing to development

After a couple of years at McKinsey, the firm sponsored me to do an MBA at Columbia University. My first project after returning from Columbia was to shape a developing country's energy strategy—including defining the electricity generation mix and identifying how the electric grid should be developed. It was an important infrastructure project which contributed to shaping the future of the country. I'm very proud and excited to be part of such a key development project.

Advice for applicants

If you have been invited for an interview at McKinsey, I would recommend that you think in advance of a few interesting stories about yourself - it is likely that you will be asked for one or two. For the interview cases, my suggestion is to prepare, prepare, prepare! And although it's very important to be structured in solving your cases, don't apply frameworks just for the sake of it—ensure they make sense for the particular case. Last but not least, don't be afraid to ask questions—they show your interest and knowledge of the company.

Education