The first step towards becoming a consultant at McKinsey is your on-line application. If we proceed to the next step, we will invite you for a number of
consecutive, one-on-one interviews with various consultants. All of your
discussion partners will have a broad range of project experience.
For some candidates there may be a telephone discussion in which your fluency in Mandarin will be assessed prior to an invitation to interview. All candidates must be able to lead a business meeting, read, and write in Mandarin, regardless of which Greater China Office you are interested in.
How We Interview You | What To Expect
How We Interview You
We try to ensure we are as accurate and fair as we can possibly be when we interview you. To do this, we employ a wide range of interviewing methods. While different offices use different methods, by and large they all use the following:
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Problem Solving Test: A 60-minute, multiple choice, case-based test assessing basic
problem solving abilities (no calculators are allowed).
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Case studies: We do not require you to take intelligence or personality tests. Rather, we have a practical selection process. In each interview you will be asked to solve a case study. This may be a typical business case or a very general conceptual problem. Case studies are broad, two-way discussions rather than one-way tests. You will be assessed more on how you go about dealing with the problem rather than on the specific answers you come up with. If you want to prepare yourself, you can
try your hand at an on-line case study.
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Experience interviews: It is not just your achievements that are important to us - it is also also the skills you used in order to accomplish those achievements. Our interviewers want to examine your past accomplishments in-depth to determine if the skills you possess would position you well for a successful career at McKinsey.
What To Expect
After two interviews the interviewing team will discuss its impressions of you and will decide how to proceed. If we conclude that the first round was successful, you will be offered the opportunity to attend further interviews.
During the interviews we will try to form an opinion about the following characteristics:
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Structured and analytical thinking
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Ability with figures
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Entrepreneurial thinking and interest in business
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Ability to excel in a team environment
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Personal initiative
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Communication skills
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Inquisitiveness
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Creativity
Therefore, you need to be prepared to discuss your most important past experiences in a very detailed way, focusing on your specific role and describing the key actions that were critical to success.
We will not expect applicants without a background in economics to be able to apply business concepts, but we will expect them to demonstrate a feeling for entrepreneurial issues.
