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Posts tagged ‘McKinsey & Company’

Dec 1

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Detailed Statistical Analysis of Client Profiles

Our placement rate for the Sep/Oct 2012 recruiting period was 68.3% ~ 68%. This number only includes candidates pursuing McKinsey, BCG & Bain. If we include firms like Roland Berger, Oliver Wyman, Booz, AT Kearney etc, the number moves up to 71.6% ~ 72%.

This post is a detailed analysis of this placement rate. Clients who worked with us know we ask for a lot of information throughout the interaction. We ask that every interaction be shared with us, and preferably a copy of any networking emails sent, be mailed to us as well. Basically, we want to know as much as the candidate. Read more

Nov 23

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Does McKinsey intentionally invite many interviewees to market itself?

“There is an opinion that McKinsey’s interviewing approach is very different from BCG’s and Bain’s in the following respect: for the same number of final offers McKinsey interviews much more people than the last two companies. This means that it is easier to get interview invitation from McKinsey than from BCG or Bain, but the odds of getting a final offer after you go through interview process are lower. There is an opinion that McKinsey intentionally invites too many people to interviews as a sort of marketing itself to potential future clients. Do you think it is true?

I ask this question because I have been invited by McKinsey to the second round after a remarkably weak performance during the first round. I simply cannot understand why I was invited. The only explanation I can come up with is that they have a target number of people whom they want to interview in the second round, and they are going to interview this number regardless of the quality of people. Read more

Nov 16

Firmsconsulting with Kevin P. Coyne
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Leadership & Ethics

This video interview is part of a series Firmsconsulting is conducting with our client mentors, where we discuss ethical leadership: our central value.

Kevin P. Coyne is a co-founder of the Coyne Partnership, and a former director and co-leader of both McKinsey’s worldwide strategy practice and CEO transitions practice.

During a 27 year career at McKinsey Kevin advised clients on a variety of issues and across a broad range of industries – including banking, consumer goods, venture capital, industrial, telecommunications and the public sector – although his primary area of focus was corporate strategy. He has worked one-on-one with over twenty-five different CEOs on one or more of the following subjects: setting the management agenda, corporate strategy, decisions to merge or sell the company, developing a new management agenda, building an executive team and integrated change programs.

Civic leadership
Kevin has been an active leader in civic roles throughout his career. He served as an Executive Assistant and sole policy advisor to the Deputy Secretary of the United States Treasury, the second ranking department official in the Reagan Administration. In that role he advised on Brazil’s economic growth, served as an intermediary between Britain and Argentina after the Falklands war, and advised on opening Japan’s capital markets. He recently co-led several pro-bono efforts, such as: setting up the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund, leading the Atlanta and London Olympic Games committees on several initiatives and leading the team supporting former US President Carter on the Atlanta Project helping low-income citizens.

Idea leadership
Kevin has co-written 6 Harvard Business Review articles, 12 McKinsey Quarterly articles and 2 bestselling business books, as well as many articles across influential business publications.

Kevin on values, leadership, growth and ethics

Nov 16

Firmsconsulting Mentors
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Firmsconsulting Mentors

We founded Firmsconsulting on the belief that ex-principals of the top-three strategy firms would be best equipped at placing clients into McKinsey, Bain, BCG & Roland Berger. Simply put, we believe clients should be coached by the very people who made the final decision on hiring.

There are substantial insights that only partners have and our clients should have this competitive advantage.

We are going to extend our principal-only core philosophy by working with four of the most eminent former McKinsey directors and BCG senior partners who will now provide mentorship to clients excelling in our case coaching program and demonstrating strong potential for growth.

The Mentors

All mentors were former-senior partners/directors of only McKinsey, BCG or Bain, and former co-leaders/leaders of their respective global practices. We could not find more eminent leaders in the consulting field. Three mentors currently serve as executive officers of Fortune 500 companies, including a bank.

Each mentor specializes in one of four functions: strategy, corporate finance, business technology or operations. All have broad domain expertise across multiple sectors. Our mentors have both US and non-US experiences – Latin America, Asia and Europe – to help clients pursuing consulting careers outside the US.

For confidentiality reasons, biographies of mentors who are current executive officers of listed companies will not be made public. However, full resumes of the assigned mentor will be available to our clients, whom would have signed our extensive NDA agreement – a standard requirement to work with us.

  • Kevin is the former McKinsey & Co. worldwide strategy practice co-leader and CEO transitions practice co-leader. Kevin’s biography and interview for Firmsconsulting may be viewed here, and an extensive Firmsconsulting Quarterly cover story piece about Kevin’s leadership style is presented here.
  • The former regional financial institutions group practice co-leader who is an executive officer of a listed Fortune 500 company and served as a senior executive of a bulge-bracket investment bank after leaving management consulting.
  • The former regional business technology practice co-leader and special-counsel to the CEO of a listed US Fortune 500 company.
  • The former senior partner and regional operations practice leader and an executive officer of a listed Fortune 500 company.

We may use different mentors from those listed above when this is required to augment a client’s specific goals. For example, in Japan we are working with a media executive over 3 weeks to position him as an experienced-hire and will thereafter pair him with a former McKinsey director, head of an Asian hub-office and practice leader to round out his leadership profile.

All interaction with mentors, as with coaches, is bound by our NDA agreements and should be treated as confidential at all times. We value discretion.

Logistics

Mentors may only be assigned after a client receives their case training program mid-point feedback at session 6. This will allow clients approximately six sessions to incorporate feedback from their coach and mentor while possessing sufficient basic consulting skills to benefit from the mentoring. After session 6, selected clients will have two ex-partners guiding them – a mentor and a coach.

Discussions with mentors should focus on career planning and positioning. We believe that the case training provided by a client’s coach is best complemented by the career planning provided by the mentor.

Clients began receiving invites into the mentorship program since 20 October 2012 and will continue receiving invites on a rolling basis. There is no deadline and all clients of Firmsconsulting are automatically eligible.

We advise clients to only proceed with follow-up mentoring sessions when they are prepared. Your mentor and coach will decide if/when it would be the appropriate time to have the next session.

Please note that, rescheduling mentoring meetings will not be permitted once a date and time are mutually agreed with your mentor.

Clients who are appointed a mentor and reside in Atlanta, Boston, Seoul or London may, pending mutual availability, meet their mentor.

Guidelines for Selecting Clients into the Mentorship Program

All clients in our program are treated equal. We have a thorough screening process to find, invite and groom tomorrow’s consulting leaders. You are in the program because you have passed our rigorous screening process – which has a 15% acceptance rate – and have the attributes required to succeed in management consulting, irrespective of your background or perceived weaknesses.

Therefore, your educational background, ranking of your school, GMAT scores and GPA or resume strength will not influence your chances of being selected for mentoring once you have joined the program.

Case performance in the first six sessions, potential displayed in the coaching sessions and adherence to our value system will be the three sole criteria used.

Clients can improve their chances of being awarded a mentor by doing the following.

First, prepare well and perform well in the case coaching sessions. If you subscribe to the video libraries it is imperative you use them to come adequately prepared. It is not enough to merely watch them, you have to understand them and apply the underlying principles. Listen carefully to feedback, take notes and use these notes. Ensure you are available to be contacted by your coach on Skype, arrive on time and ensure your equipment is tested before the session. The administrative details matter.

Second, potential is measured in three ways. We initially look at your ability to extract the lessons from the videos, and use them in your lessons. We thereafter look at how much of the feedback we provide in the session is captured, and how much of it is used appropriately either immediately after the feedback is provided, or in the next session. For example, consistently repeating a mistake lowers your chances of being selected. Finally, communication is vital. You need to constantly demonstrate your intellect by holding a meaningful discussion with your coach.

Third, but certainly not the last, is adherence to our value system. We select only the best candidates and groom future consulting leaders. We expect candidates to be ethical, respectful and professional at all times, be it in their interactions with us or decisions they make during the course of the program.

That said, upon selection to this competitive program, clients should make the adequate preparation to engage their mentors. Researching mentors, having a clear agenda and confidence in one’s abilities will go a long way towards creating a strong impression, and developing a mutually-beneficial relationship. The best mentors are those who take a personal interest in a client’s development, and mentors will do so if the client comes prepared. Listen to our podcast on “Influencing the interviewer” to understand how to build a compelling profile to sustain the relationship.

***

Talented future consulting leaders do not always graduate from Ivy League schools, hang out in Harvard Business Review chat-groups or read Bloomberg. We hold the rare distinction of placing the first McKinsey and BCG hires from several countries in Africa, the Middle East and South-East-Asia.

We are proud of that record and understand the significance of the role we play in nurturing talented individuals and providing opportunities they may not have easily had by themselves.

We want to find such people who have the intellect to succeed in management consulting, but not the easiest path to get there. A good example of such a candidate was a young lady from a tiny, war wracked country in Greater Asia who once wrote to us and asked for help. She clearly did not expect a positive reply and we took some time in responding as we assessed her profile. She did not fit the image of a typical consultant and the firms did not have even have an office in her home country. She had no relationships into management consulting, came from a very poor background and barely had a working laptop to be coached.

Those were some difficult coaching sessions as her laptop regularly overheated, the Skype connection dropped repeatedly and we were unable to share screens. In fact, she borrowed money for her interview preparation and travelling expenses.

Yet, she secured an offer at McKinsey; the first person from her country to do so.

We are always looking for such outstanding hidden talent, and both coaches and mentors will work to ensure worthy clients have as many advantages as possible going into the interview.

Clients in all our programs may be paired with mentors. Aspiring consultants, as described above, will make up the majority of mentees. However, current consultants at McKinsey, BCG and Bain are also a part of this program and will comprise a substantial percentage of all mentees.

Nov 16

7 Comments

Why choosing the right mentors will teach you the appropriate values

I have spent a long time examining my own career path from business analyst to principal.

I eventually realized that I succeeded not only because I was analytical, could communicate well, develop great storyboards, was great at math etc. Let’s not be mistaken, I needed those skills. Yet, they were not enough if you did not know how to use them. Everyone had those skills when they entered BCG, McKinsey et al and were not enough to distinguish oneself. Read more

Oct 5

9 Comments

Is Deloitte IT strategy equal to McKinsey BTO/BCG?

“Michael,

I listened to your podcasts about McKinsey, BCG et al versus the so-called second-tier of Deloitte, Accenture etc.

My focus is IT strategy and I have offers from both McKinsey and Deloitte in the North-Eastern USA. I am obviously keen to take McKinsey but I have had coffee chats with the partners from Deloitte and seem to be doing much more strategic and exciting work than McKinsey. The people are also great and went to some amazing schools. The Deloitte recruiting partner is also Harvard alum and I cannot see any differences between her and the McKinsey partners

Maybe you could shed some light on how this decision should be made?

Alex” Read more

Oct 1

4 Comments

MBA’s are being ambushed in the USA September Full-time Recruiting

By now, Firmsconsulting has developed a reputation for being brutally honest about what we see happening with management consulting recruitment and management consulting firms. This email will be no different and will likely see a drop in revenue because we are advocating fewer applications for the immediate hiring cycle. No consulting website is going to publish something like this because it directly impacts their business. We are different.

Consulting recruitment numbers across all major English speaking offices are down worldwide. Having spoken to several consulting partners and recruiting officers, we can confirm this. We use the major English speaking offices like New York, Boston, New Jersey et al along with London, Dubai and Singapore as barometers for recruiting. We ignore South Africa and Australia since their economies are structured differently and they will keep growing strongly. Read more

Sep 30

2 Comments

McKinsey resources or financial services sector?

“Dear Michael,

We have been in contact a few times in the past and you have always provided useful advice. I used the mining version of SAAMC and it helped me on my first few business development roles in a small mining company in Australia. I have an interest in mining and resources and want to consider joining McKinsey specializing in this work.

I have both a masters’ degree in business administration and undergraduate degree in finance from highly regarded Australian schools – I have attached my résumé. Could you please offer some guidance for me on this?

I want to know if this is a sector in which I should specialize, in which country I should focus, and what would be my exit options in about 5 to 10 years. I want to know if this is a sector I could do impactful work. The other option is to follow the advice of all my friends who insist I should make the jump now and move to banking where I have some experience interning at a bulge-bracket bank.

JK” Read more

Sep 9

7 Comments

120 Case interview PhD practice sessions and failed a McKinsey mock-interview

“Dear Michael,

I have a question about case interview preparation which I was hoping you could answer for me. I provided some context and I am sorry if the email is far too long. I listened to the Firmsconsulting podcasts and articles I like the honest views provided.

I am currently a PhD candidate at Princeton, with an undergraduate degree from South Korea. I started casing about 6 months ago and completed about 120 cases with casing partners in my consulting club and over the internet. I bought several books and other programs. I paid to have my resume edited with an online service.

The problem is that I cased with a friend of a friend recently and it did not go well. He is a McKinsey manager. It was very, very bad and he really did not like my resume. I was embarrassed to explain to him that I did so much work. I am now a little confused and frustrated. I do not know what I did badly or correctly, and not sure what to do. I feel all my efforts have been wasted and concerned that if I continue, I will keep wasting my time.

Should I quit pursuing management consulting or am I using the wrong services?

SK” Read more

Sep 6

3 Comments

Case Interview Video, new: Roland Berger case

Roland Berger MBA level cases – senior consultant – are unusual for the types of things they can test. Many MBA candidates are surprised by the additional skills needed. Here is an example of a typical case:

“A Russian bank wants to enter the Ukraine market. You need to explain to me how you will design, structure and manage the project as well as cost the entire engagement.”

This is an actual case our clients in Toronto, Lagos and Chicago receive. While this may look like a case testing merely softer skills, it is really very creative and elegant in its ability to test both analytical and planning skills with candidates. In fact, it goes one level further than the answer-first approach to see what you would do to test that answer on a project site.

So do not be fooled.

McKinsey et al are completely obsessed with image, confidence, poise and analytical skills in case interviews. They only discuss leadership and management skills in the fit section, but do not test it. That is one area where the principle of demonstrated competency is never applied.

This case fixes that problem. To be able to answer this case, the candidate must be able to have the skills to tackle a complete McKinsey or BCG case, and then go further. A candidate would need to;

  • Explain how they will convert the hypotheses to analyses for testing. This specifically means the graphs the candidate expects to draw, with the accompanying x and y axes descriptors – the interviewer could even ask for the storyboard from these graphs and we have seen that in some Roland Berger interviews.
  • Next, the candidate must explain the data needed to complete the graph.
  • Then the candidate must determine the number of consultants, their seniority and time requirements to capture the data and complete the analyses.
  • Finally, the candidate must build a project timeline; lay the analyses in the correct order, since some parts can only be done sequentially, and determine the overall man-hours usage.
  • The cost of the project can be easily generated from the man-hours per level and the cost per hour per level against the total project time.

This approach tests to see if a candidate actually can manage a project and really understand the issues of converting analyses into project management steps. It is an excellent way to test how project-ready a candidate is. This case does not have a high pass rate.

This video about Roland Berger cases is only available to our case candidates and can be found in session six of our online case solution video library.

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