Part Eight: McKinsey Rejection

Max is an aspiring consultant who is looking to secure an analyst role with one of the top firms for the upcoming recruitment cycle in September 2011. His interest in management consulting was sparked by a failed McKinsey interview last year. In this series of blogs, he will be sharing his background, case preparation process, useful resources, and any breakthroughs or setbacks that he experiences. *** A few weeks ago I submitted my online applications to McKinsey. Unfortunately, I was not invited to interview with the firm. Before I go on, I just want to say that the firm handled everything with the professionalism that you would expect from a top firm, and I have no hard feelings toward them whatsoever. If anyone is looking into management consulting, I would still strongly recommend that they apply to McKinsey! The determining factor in my McKinsey rejection was the fact that I was dinged a year earlier during the interview rounds, and they feel that I have not had enough time to grow. However, they looked over everything from the first try as well. I disagree with this as I think it has the potential to introduce bias, but I also see…

Part Zero: McKinsey Rejection and Case Prep

Max is an aspiring consultant who is looking to secure an analyst role with one of the top consulting firms for the upcoming recruitment cycle. His interest in management consulting was sparked by a McKinsey rejection last year. In this series of blogs, he will be sharing his background, case prep process, useful resources, and any breakthroughs or setbacks that he experiences. *** “How to solve case interviews” was the search term that I typed into Google a day before my McKinsey first round interview. I was a 4th year mechanical engineering student from a top Canadian university, and knew very little about the field of management consulting. The only reason I even applied to McKinsey was because my undergraduate adviser had sent out a mass e-mail encouraging students in the department to give it a shot. “BCG”, “Bain”, “MECE”, and “Elevator Pitch” were names and terms which I had never heard before. This interview opportunity came about after a long process that started a few weeks earlier. The McKinsey recruitment process The McKinsey recruitment process had started with an on-campus information session held by a few analysts, consultants and engagement managers. Unfortunately, I was unable to attend this session…