Client Testimonials

Interview Experiences at McKinsey, Bain and BCG Paris

Did you enjoy the program? If yes, how? I enjoyed the program very much. I knew nothing about case studies and consulting before I spoke with Michael and I have to say I was very happy with the training I got from Michael. I have a strong experience in top tier investment banks –capital markets- and I wanted to join a consulting firm. I found some of Firmconsulting videos on YouTube and I thought they were very clear, structured and straightforward. The training is well structured. It starts with basic market sizing questions and ends with tough cases. Michael is very professional and very experienced. He teaches very well, he is patient and knows all the tricks and all the mistakes candidates usually make. His methodology is very efficient. Sometimes I thought I knew how to solve a basic question but Michael showed how to improve the structure of my reasoning and the way I could resolve each case. The training helps me every day in any project I undertake. Michael helped me improve the way I solve problems. And I am not exaggerating. Did the program meet your expectations? If yes, how? The program did meet my expectations. I…

Client Testimonials

Client Testimonials

EMBA to McKinsey Asia over 30 months

We would caution readers to think carefully before trying to replicate the costly and risky strategy below. We were hesitant to publish this detailed client survey since we did not want readers to assume such a path is easy to undertake. A fair degree of luck is involved so please do not assume this one example is a blanket recommendation for readers with similar profiles. Did you enjoy the program? If yes, how? Michael and his team changed my career plans and I enjoyed every minute of it. They were very professional, very hard working and spent far more time than time I had expected. Given my situation, it would have been very easy for them to have quit ,but they just stayed by my side and worked with me. I will never forget that. It is very difficult to network when you live in a small city in India away from the major commercial centers. Networking became a major frustration for me, and Michael suggested I take a month away from it to calm down. This helped and we started again from the beginning and just redid everything. This is something everyone needs to understand. Networking is very hard…

Client Testimonials

Client Testimonials

27 yr old Yale PhD pursuing McKinsey Germany

Felix is a 27 year-old PhD candidate at Yale and a candidate in Season One of “The Consulting Offer.” Felix discusses her experiences in the program. This interview was conducted at the end of session 21. What was it like practicing cases with Kevin Coyne, the ex-McKinsey worldwide strategy co-leader? In general, I enjoyed a lot talking with Kevin during the case training session. I think we used the time effectively, and the communication was smooth. If I need to rate the experience, from a 0-10 scale with 10 being the best, I will give it an 8.5. The difference leaves me to communicate better. More specifically, from the contents - there were lots of information plotted in the case in a clear and logical manner. Kevin made the case very compelling, like a detective story, and left it for me to discover. He would also give lots of hints for me to pick up, or not, to try to discover by myself. Then in the end of the case, the feedback from Kevin exactly revealed the complete detective story, and showed me how I was exploring each step and what I could have done better. He also showed me in a…

Client Testimonials

Client Testimonials

PhD’s unusual path and strengths to BCG Asia

Did you enjoy the program? If yes, how? I enjoyed the program in all respects. I was ill throughout the month of the interviews and cancelled or postponed every session and FC understood my situation. Michael offered to cancel and redo 2 sessions when I was too sick to handle the questions posed. I did not go through the entire program and only completed 6 sessions of the 12. I enjoyed the six sessions and liked the effort Michael made to teach me simple ways to solve math problems, brainstorm ideas and solve cases. The brainstorming techniques were very good and I liked this. In my PhD class, I practiced with colleagues who had spent months preparing and they always struggled to build frameworks. Michael dissuaded me a few times from memorizing frameworks and forced me to learn how to build them. I think this allowed me to learn more with fewer sessions. Michael was generally very professional and supportive at the same time. I felt he took extra time to help me understand the challenges I would face as a female PhD applying for a BCG consultant position in Tokyo/Singapore/Hong Kong and this was useful in my interviews. Did…

Client Testimonials

Client Testimonials

Euro MBA US economy crash-course into McKinsey

Did you enjoy the program? If yes, how? The program was easy to follow, with good content and well designed. I was a long time listener of the Firmsconsulting podcasts and had a very good feeling of what to expect. I think the coaching program itself was much better since the content was very specific to my needs. I was pursuing the Boston office and had been in the US for all of 11 months! I had a steep learning curve on things my class colleagues took for granted. How does the US banking system work? How does the energy sector work? How is the healthcare structure designed? What are the major issues in the retail sector? I did not have any of this simple knowledge all my MBA colleagues took for granted. Michael took a lot of time to educate me on these small things that mattered to me, and probably only me. I think it really helped me get into McKinsey because I had this small-talk glue and did not just stare stupidly at the interviewer when he was discussing the healthcare bill or changes to the banking acts. Did the program meet your expectations? If yes, how?…

Client Testimonials

Client Testimonials

Harvard Baker Scholar’s McKinsey Corp. Fin. Prep

Did you enjoy the program? If yes, how? The program was a very pleasant experience. The FC team was polite, professional and very accommodating to my hectic IBanking schedule! They were also very honest and this honesty, more than anything else, made me want to work with them. I was one of their first CF clients back in 2010 and Michael was upfront they could train me, but had never before trained someone targeting CF. He offered to reach out to an INSEAD professor whom he knew and had been a super-star at McKinsey Corporate Finance, and use his thoughts on building the program. Overall, my coach took the time to explain concepts in great detail and build an effective program around my limited weekend availability. I liked the constant availability of my coach. I could always reach him on Skype to get a response. This is a BIG advantage since not everything can be planned in the short 1-hour sessions we had to practice cases. I felt Michael was always willing to answer questions and take the time to find better explanations if I did not understand anything. Michael also never tried to dismiss or belittle a question when…

Client Testimonials

Client Testimonials

Lawyer on importance of structures

Did you enjoy the program? If yes, how? Yes I enjoyed the program immensely because it provided me with many resources such as the videos that I directly utilized for improving my case skills. Haaving Michael as my coach was very helpful because he was always responsive to my requests and provided me with helpful feedback particularly with my application strategy. Did the program meet your expectations? If yes, how? Yes the program did meet my expectations. My expectation was through this program, I would have the tools to succeed through the application and interview process. I was able to get an interview at McKinsey (second time) and also advance to the final round. Although I did not get the offer in the end, I don’t think it was the materials and guidance that were dispositive, but rather an off-day. What was the most important learning’s from the program? The importance of clear communication in both the case and fit portions of the interview; how to brainstorm and hypothesize; how to perform market-sizing effectively Do you feel the program provided an advantage for you versus your own/other preparation? If so, in what way? I feel like this program dives deeper…

Client Testimonials

Client Testimonials

40 yr old details path into McKinsey Imp. Group

Did you enjoy the program? If yes, how? I enjoyed all parts of the program. I had listened to all 180 or so podcasts before reaching out to Michael and felt like I knew him very well through the podcasts. The podcasts were superb and I liked the ones were Michael described engagements from each stage of his career: analyst, associate, and manager, associate principal and principal. They were the most interesting to me. As a 40 year-old, married with children and a daughter starting an expensive college program, I doubt I was the ideal pick for FC. I was just happy to get the acceptance letter! Prior to my screening interviews, Michael and I had an additional 5 discussions over 3 months so that he could properly understand my background and motivations. I liked this part since the calls forced me to think very carefully about my own reasons for making the switch. Michael did not trivialize anything. Assuming I knew his thinking, he painted a picture of the worst possible outcome so that I was clear I wanted to proceed. He made it clear this would be a humbling and humiliating experience to have myself assessed by much…

Client Testimonials

Client Testimonials

McKinsey Associate on avoiding hubris

Don is an associate at McKinsey who has been in our program for 8 months, since the day he joined McKinsey. He holds a bachelors degree and an MBA from a ranked-program. Prior to completing his MBA he worked for the US Federal Government as an analyst. He had been an early contributor to Firmsconsulting before commencing his MBA studies. Why did you seek additional help for your consulting career? I knew someone who had graduated near the top of their class or at the top of their class and I looked up to him. He had received an offer from Bain and I fully expected this guy to make partner. Nine months after he joined I received a LinkedIn update email and noticed he had just changed jobs and was working at a bank. I reach out to congratulate him and express my surprise for the rapid change. He intimated there was more and we soon met for coffee where he explained he had been managed out of the firm after his 3rd study. I was pretty shocked. This was a top guy from a very good school and someone I had hoped would serve as my mentor. There…

Client Testimonials