I am Moroccan, but I’ve been in France for the past 10 years, first for college. Then after graduation, I stayed and worked at a telco operator as a product owner. After a decade there, I decided I was ready to go somewhere else.
I was searching for a new opportunity, and it was actually my brother who pointed me in the direction of McKinsey. At the time, I knew McKinsey was a big, global, well-known consulting firm, but I wasn’t aware that the firm was doing anything in digital. When I discovered a position for a product owner, I applied because it was a great fit, and I joined McKinsey Digital about six months ago.
Confirming McKinsey was the right fit during the interview
I knew I wanted to join McKinsey when the recruiter called me before the first interview to tell me how to prepare for it.
It surprised me because I had never had a company go out of its way to help me be at my best during an interview. But with McKinsey, we scheduled learning sessions where McKinsey colleagues and external experts shared best practices on how to have a successful interview, and we went through an actual use case. I felt if the firm was investing that much to help me be successful before I interviewed, I was confident it would be a great place to learn and grow after I was hired.
Plus, I gained a real understanding of the type of work I’d be doing and the people with whom I’d work, so I left the interview believing the firm was a great fit for me.
My role at the firm
My title is Senior Digital Analyst , and I am a product owner. I am responsible for understanding the needs of the clients, so we can build the right solution for them. We want to make sure any solution we build is the right decision for the clients, and they will have positive outcomes because of our work.
Then we plan the minimum viable product (MVP) that will meet the client’s most pressing needs and enable us to start collecting feedback from users. From there, we work with the designers to create a prototype. Then we build the product, and my role in that is to detail the user journey and serve as the translator between the client team and the designers and developers, so we deliver what the client expects and wants.
Using these early months to explore
Before coming to McKinsey, I specialized in telecommunications, but I have been focused on exploring other industries, including insurance and banking, and now I am back on a telecommunications study.
I’ve rolled on and off projects pretty quickly in the time I’ve been here, and I am enjoying the pace. It keeps me motivated because there is always something new to focus on. It’s one of the great things about McKinsey. We have some flexibility to choose the projects we want to work on and how long we want to work on them.
Transitioning to client-facing work
In my prior position, I was working internally, building products for just that company. The transition to client-facing work has been eye-opening for me. I think when you work for a company, you understand deeply how the company runs and how it works, but you can be blocked by those internal processes in a way, and it’s difficult to think outside the box.
When we work with clients, we can take a step back and see the challenges from a new perspective. We are coming into a company or industry we may know little about. That discovery to understand the business can lead us to ask questions that ultimately drive positive changes. We can propose ideas specifically that meet the client’s needs because our perspective isn’t affected by our history with the organization or bureaucracy.
We need to learn quickly, but I like the challenge.
Finding a community at the firm
In my previous job, we were a close team working on a solution together for years. That was my community. McKinsey is different because we work on a team for a few months and then move on to another team on another project, possibly in another country.
It’s important for me to build a sense of community, so I network within the Digital and Analytics practice in the EEMA region, especially with women in digital because there aren’t enough of us yet. We stay connected, chat about work and our goals, and connect for dinner or some other fun activity when we can.
More about me
I have been married to my husband for four years. One of my greatest passions is traveling, and I have been to more than 40 countries. I love discovering new cultures and experiencing new food. McKinsey grants me so many opportunities to go to new countries and work with new people, who are welcoming and willing to introduce me to the culture. I've been practicing karate for 10 years, and I have a black belt. I also love decorating cakes.