Caroline

Associate Principal

What prompted you to investigate a career in consulting?

I studied law and really enjoyed it, but I felt that practicing law would be very narrow. I wanted a job that would allow me to try out different aspects of business and also get broad training in those areas, so consulting seemed like a great fit. I was interested in McKinsey because of its external reputation. I wanted to find out what it would be like to work with the firm, and I got good insight into that during the interview process, but it was also helpful that I knew people from my university who had been at the firm. It sounded like the work would be interesting, and, from the range of people I met and knew, I thought I'd enjoy working there too.

How did you manage the transition from your previous career or education to McKinsey?

The business analyst programme started with training that allowed me to learn about how McKinsey thinks about problems and was also a great way to meet people. Then, on each project I've had a great team, which, along with my friends from the business analyst community, made the overall transition easy. The second time around, coming back from business school, McKinsey felt very familiar, so returning was remarkably easy. In some ways I felt as though I'd never been away!

What has been your biggest challenge while at McKinsey?

Balancing everything is one of the biggest challenges. In addition to working on client problems, there are many other things to get involved in—recruiting, training, organizing the bi-annual office retreat...and then, of course, everything you want to do outside of work. I've had to stay focused and prioritise to fit everything in, but so far it's been working really well.

What has been your greatest moment of satisfaction while at McKinsey?

I once worked on a petroleum study in the Middle East where our final presentation was to the board of directors, including members of the royal family from that country. It was incredible to meet such high-profile people, and they were extremely pleased with our work.

What have you been working on recently?

As a generalist consultant I've worked in many different industries, including consumer, media and telecoms, and private equity. More recently, I've been more focused on the public sector. The challenges there can be quite different from the private sector, as you are involved with much larger budgets, more complicated relationships, and often, a degree of politics. Generally, our work in the sector is not purely about financial benefits; it's about making public services work better and making them more effective, which can feel quite rewarding overall.

What are the three most important things to bear in mind to make sure that your recommendations have impact?

I think the most important thing is to make sure that the client really owns the problem. They need to be part of developing the solution and feel committed to making change happen—otherwise our recommendation could just become another binder on a shelf. Second, I would try to anticipate the challenges that could make it difficult to deliver the solution and deal with them as early as possible. Then you can maintain momentum. Finally, it's important to think about implementation planning. Delivering the recommendations needs to be part of someone's day job, and there must be a way of making sure that plans are followed up on. If people own the problem and feel responsible for it, change should happen.