Stefan

Engagement Manager

An alternative path after graduate school

After six years of grad school training to be a research scientist, I suddenly realized that the academic life was not for me. I wanted a career that would let me have a big impact on real-life problems. I wanted to be surrounded by intelligent, dynamic people and work closely in teams rather than toiling in isolation.

Finding people like me

I had heard of McKinsey and management consulting, but I wasn’t sure what they would do with a theoretical Ph.D.-level scientist like me. At an on-campus presentation about summer internships at McKinsey, I was surprised and delighted to hear that 25 percent of the firm’s consultants were trained as Ph.D.s. I decided to apply for a summer associate position, mostly to experience the case interview process and prepare myself to interview for full-time positions the following year.

To my surprise, after many rounds of interviews, I got a position as a summer associate in the San Francisco office in the summer of 2003. A successful summer turned into an offer of a full-time position, which I gladly accepted on the condition that I could work in Toronto where my wife and I had planned to settle.

Becoming a leader

I had hoped McKinsey would give me the opportunity to build my expertise in an area of business in hot demand by our clients and then build a career around it. But, the firm has done much more than that. The intensive mentorship I’ve received over the past four years has challenged and supported me, enabling me to develop into a real leader in the world of business. Working at McKinsey has allowed me to take the strong analytical problem-solving skills I developed as a research scientist and layer onto that foundation all the skills of a business leader: communications, empathy, decision making, and deep knowledge about the world of business. I now have the confidence and presence to work as a trusted advisor to CEOs, executive directors, and leaders from the public and private sectors, in Canada and across the globe.