Turned Away by McKinsey
Max (not his real name) 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 application 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 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. Their entire recruiting team was very pleasant, and actually took the time to give me feedback – which I thought was very nice. The only thing that somewhat bothers me is that I thought their restriction on applying again is 12 months, and it would have been nice to have my application reviewed as a fresh entry. 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 the merit behind their method and decision. Why would they want to invest resources to interview someone who they’ve already rejected in the past?
I am very disappointed with the outcome as I feel that I was so severely underprepared last time (2 hours of case prep) that I was not able to showcase my problem solving abilities. Now that I have had sufficient time to prepare, I am confident I could have went all the way if given the opportunity. The reason that I am sharing this failure with you is because I want the candidates out there to fully prepare the first time around! Even with the heavy networking I did the second time around, it was still not enough to get me another chance. These opportunities don’t come by easily, and you must be ready to seize the moment when it arrives.
It’s somewhat discouraging that one of my top options has been eliminated, but I am still hopeful that I will get a chance to interview with one of the other top firms. The ones remaining on my list are:
1) BCG
2) Bain
3) Roland Berger
4) Booz
5) Oliver Wyman
6) Monitor
I hope that one of them will be willing to give me a chance to interview! Also, I’m typing up the transcript for another sample case, and will share it with everyone once it’s ready.
Related articles
- Which Consulting Firms are Hiring & Where (May 2011 Edition) (firmsconsulting.com)
- Case Preparation Process of an Aspiring Consultant (Part 1) (firmsconsulting.com)
- McKinsey makes a strategic bet on Nigeria (firmsconsulting.com)
- Are McKinsey consultants in smaller offices getting worse training? (firmsconsulting.com)
- McKinsey is no longer the top-ranked management consulting firm! (firmsconsulting.com)
Trackbacks & Pingbacks
- Case Prep Resources and List of Target Firms | Firmsconsulting – About Management Consulting
- Placing someone in one of McKinsey’s 5 largest offices with a business degree from a school ranked about 69th! | Firmsconsulting – About Management Consulting
- Q&A with consultants from McKinsey, Oliver Wyman, Deloitte, and ZS Associates | Firmsconsulting – About Management Consulting
Thanks Max for sharing with your latest. I have been following up with your blogs and really learnt a lot. I wish you the best of luck!
Best of luck with the other firms! I too was turned away by McKinsey in one of their Canadian offices. I was however applying for the internship program then — hopefully they will interview me this fall for full time!
Hey Max,
I think you are overlooking a small detail. Mckinsey turned you down because you didn’t prepare for the first time. With such a talented pool of applicants, is it fair to give you two chances when you didn’t prepare for the first one? There are plenty of students out there with that type of initiative. Students that are counting the days until that interview. That said, it’s clear that you have come a long way since that interview. Therefore it’s natural for you to feel cheated when you really cheated yourself the first time around. Best of luck, I am sure you will land at a top firm since you clearly have great problem solving skills.
Kevin – it is the policy of BCG, Bain and McKinsey to permit candidates to reapply if they were rejected previously. There is no guarantee of an interview invite, but it does happen.
Hi Kevin,
As mentioned in my post, I understand that they may not want to waste resources on interviewing a candidate twice, and I see the reasons behind it. It’s just an unfortunate situation for me. Maybe it’s the tone of my post, but I do not feel cheated in any way by McKinsey. They were very friendly, very professional, and the only person I can put blame on is myself since I screwed up my first opportunity.
Thank you for your insight and kind thoughts!
Max
Max,
Unfortunate, but I am positive the best firm among the list above awaits you.
BR
Thanks Darrell!
A few weeks ago you said you rank OW as fourth — what happened to that?
My company has worked with all sorts of consulting firms but since 2010, we’re only working with OW. They are really strong in what they do.
I apologize for the confusion as I was simply laying out a list of the firms I still want to apply to – not ranking them. Oliver Wyman is still fourth on my list, and from the people I’ve spoken with at networking sessions they really do seem to be a strong firm.
Chin up Max! Good luck for the rest!