The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at McKinsey & Company in Oct 2011
Interview
OK, my interview with McKinsey confirmed what the middle management in Fortune 100 companies already knew . i.e. McKinsey is far removed from the reality of business. They are generally capable of convincing gullible Sr. Management on a strategy but those strategies are rarely implemented. That's the reason why boutique agencies are becoming very popular.
When I started interviewing I was given an impression that McKinsey is putting lot of emphasis on implementation of its strategies that's why a bug push to hire experienced managers from the industry. So now when I go to interview what they do - they make me interview with a guy who hardly has any real world experience who comes up with a ill defined business case. This interviewer probably trained on a perfect way of handling case interviews, had no real clues on how situations like what he described are handled in the successful and real companies. It was clear he was looking to get to a solution for the case that he was familiar with rather than look into areas that are beyond his comfort level. I gave him a good framework of how similar situations I have handled in my successful experience with Fortune 100 companies, which clearly he could not understand. I dont think its his fault, he clearly joined McKinsey straight from college 2-3 years ago with no industry experience. Its the fault of the system that Mckinsey created. If they continue like this, I am sure many more boutique and specialized agencies will grab business away from McKinsey.
I think more to save his face he gave a bad review and I was told that I need some more experience in the field that they are looking for. This is coming from a guy with no industry experience and 2 years in McKinsey to someone with 10+ years of successful career progression in two large well known organizations. When the HR told me that they would like to speak with me again in a year, I should have said don't waste my time anymore, I missed that opportunity. Buy I say that now, Mckinsey, thanks but no thanks....
I applied online. I interviewed at McKinsey & Company (Hong Kong)
Interview
The mckinsey interview started with PEI questions, then proceeded to a 20-30-minute case interview. The interviewer was very nice yet sharp. They will ask follow-up questions on your PEI and the reason of your case framework.
I interviewed at McKinsey & Company (Helsinki, Southern Finland)
Interview
Did not reach the interview stage as had failed interactive game test called Ecosystem. Be prepared to effectively keep track of time remaining when sitting the test. In a nutshell, it was not as hard as I expected but demanded some additional time to think which was lack of.
It was a very short interview process with two 30 minute, back to back interviews. The interviews are with upper level management and they were both very nice people. In general, I would consider their interview process to be very beneficial.
