While studying for my PhD in physics and philosophy I lectured at Oxford University, and I loved the intellectual challenge and freedom of academic life. But as I specialised I began to feel I was exploring a much more limited space. I wanted a career where the problems were just as intellectually challenging, but where I could work in a team and our results would have a wider impact.
The right fit
I talked to a friend who’d worked in consultancy and he told me that if I was after variety and interest I should go for a global firm that works with a large number of clients. His other advice was to choose the place where I liked the people and felt most comfortable. I hadn’t heard of McKinsey before I started the process, but the people I met were great to spend time with, and the interviews were collaborative problem-solving exercises that were fun to take part in.
Creative problem-solving
The single thing from my PhD work that has helped me most is the creativity and independence in problem solving and analysis that it taught me. Because I’ve been exposed to many different approaches to thinking about a situation, I can almost always contribute something original to a discussion.
Constant learning
I haven’t stopped learning at McKinsey for an instant, mainly thanks to the incredibly talented and intelligent people in the teams I’ve been privileged to join. Our culture of mentoring means it is everyone’s responsibility to make sure you develop as quickly and as far as possible, and equally you have lots of opportunities to share your knowledge and skills with others.
Support from experts
At McKinsey you don’t have to solve everything yourself. The support from colleagues, research specialists and people on other teams has to be experienced to be believed. It’s so exciting to send out a quick query about something you are unsure of and within minutes have a conversation set up with an expert on the subject who will do everything in their power to help you understand the topic in as much depth as you need.
Personal highlights
My McKinsey experience has given me lots of memorable moments to choose from, including being thanked personally by CEOs of multibillion-dollar organisations and watching a large group of people have an “aha!” moment after we trained them in techniques we helped develop and convinced them they could use these tools in their own day-to-day work.