Why Doesn't McKinsey Recruit at My School?

Image from NYTimes.com

McKinsey sends droves of consultants to the world's best undergrad, MBA, and other programs in search of new talent and future consultants.  It can be frustrating if you're an intelligent, hard-working, high-performing student who does not go to one of those programs.  In this post I'll explain why McKinsey focuses its recruiting efforts at certain schools...

It's a Numbers Game

Even though McKinsey is a large Firm with thousands of active consultants, it can only send interviewers to a finite number of schools each season.  For interview days at big MBA programs that send many graduates to McKinsey (e.g., HBS, Wharton, Kellogg), the Firm will send dozens of consultants, often at the expense of client engagements.  So, the Firm fishes where the fish are.  In other words, McKinsey focuses its efforts on the programs that are likely to have the best candidates and the most potential hires as a percentage of candidates interviewed.

Track Records of Success

Performance in past years can inform how much attention a school gets from McKinsey.  Schools that have candidates who do well in interviews, accept their offers, and do well at the Firm can create a virtuous cycle.  Those successes can then encourage McKinsey to return to campus to recruit more candidates who will go on to do well at the Firm, encouraging more interviews, and so on.  This results in a robust pipeline of talent that can be relied upon to provide good hires year in and year out.

The reverse can also happen.  While I was at the Firm, a McKinsey office complex dropped a certain Top 5 MBA program from its list of "core" schools after too many that b-school's students accepted McKinsey WCO job offers, then reneged.

Pre-screened Candidates

Most companies, including McKinsey, benefit from the de facto pre-screening that top schools provide via their admissions process.  First, they only admit high-potential, high-performing, high-character applicants - the kinds of students who could make great McKinsey consultants.  Second, only the brightest, hardest-working students - grade inflation aside - will earn the kinds of GPAs that will earn invitations to interview.

The Firm knows there might be great candidates at less selective programs.  We also see plenty of bad candidates at good schools.  But, overall, the caliber of candidates we see at the best schools is incredibly high, which encourages a recruiting focus.

Performance Matters, Not Pedigree

Although the Firm tends to focus on programs with sterling reputations, it's because of the quality of candidates, not the name of the school.  I was pleasantly surprised to see how little McKinsey consultants, engagement teams, and leadership seem to care about where someone went to school.  For example, during staffing, I have never heard of a McKinsey Partner or Engagement Manager asking where a potential engagement team member went to school - the questions are always about what their strengths and opportunity areas are and what their semi-annual review ("SAR") ratings have been.

As long as you have what it takes to "clear the bar" during interviews, and are diligent about getting into the interview process at the right time, you can a) can pass the resume screen, b) do well on your interviews, and c) get a job offer strictly based on the merits of your performance, regardless of where you go to school.

McKinsey Interviews - Not All Advice Is Created Equal

Image from peanuts.wikia.com

As McKinsey candidates prepare for interviews, they eagerly seek out information and are often bombarded with advice from a variety of sources.  However, it's important to remember that not all interview prep advice is created equal.  In this post I'll discuss which sources are more or less valuable and why...

Focus on Advice from Assessment-Trained Consultants...

The biggest driver of quality and reliability of McKinsey interview advice is whether or not the source has been "assessment trained".  The Firm requires a constant and robust flow of new consultants, so the recruiting, interviewing, and hiring processes are designed to be consistent as they are selective.  Therefore, every consultant who interviews candidates goes through an assessment training program to teach them the McKinsey method for evaluating applicants. 

...Who Have Interviewed Candidates For McKinsey

Assessment-trained consultants understand the process and theory of how candidates get evaluated and hired.  However, unless they have actually conducted interviews and participated in post-interview "decision meetings" for McKinsey, they won't fully understand or appreciate the behind-the-scenes realities and details of how candidates are assessed.  It's the difference between taking a Driver's Ed class and learning by driving, even if it's just with a learner's permit.

Take Advice From Anyone Else (Except Recruiters) With a Grain of Salt

Anyone giving you McKinsey interview advice likely has the best intentions and wants to help you do well.  However, if they haven't been assessment trained and interviewed candidates for the Firm, they really don't know what they're talking about (unless they are McKinsey Recruiters - see the next section for information on advice from Recruiters).  They simply will not know how what they did during their interview process maps to why they got a job offer.

Consider the advice you could give to someone applying to your school (assuming you're currently in business school, APD, or undergrad program).  You know a) what you did, said in interviews, and wrote in your application and that b) got you accepted.  However, unless you've volunteered for your school's admissions office, you don't really know which specific things you did made a difference in getting that acceptance. 

For those reasons, do NOT put too much faith in interview advice you get from the following:

• Business Analysts (BAs)
• Former BAs
• Returning Summer BAs (SBAs)
• Returning Summer Associates (SAs)
• Early-tenure Associates who have not been assessment trained

Go To Recruiters With Questions About the Interview Process

Recruiters are the most knowledgeable sources for information and advice on the interview process - topics like how to apply, when to submit your resume, or how to participate in networking events like coffee chats and the on-campus company presentation.  McKinsey Recruiters also facilitate decision meetings so they know the types of things consultants weigh and debate when deciding whether or not to pass a candidate to the next round or make them a job offer.

Some Recruiters Have Interviewing Experience

Some Recruiters, especially the more senior ones, are former consultants and might have been assessment trained, conducted interviews, and attended decision meetings.  They will have valuable insights into all aspects of McKinsey interviews and the interview process.

McKinsey Interviews - December, 2013 Posts for Aspiring Summer Interns

McKinsey's summer internship recruiting season is right around the corner.  So, in an effort to remain timely and relevant, the posts over the next couple of weeks will focus on networking, resume screen, and interview-related topics.

I will try to consolidate those posts into a short period of time so that a) interview candidates can find them easily and b) others can ignore them easily.

As always, I will post articles as I finish editing them, but they will be dated based on when they were first written.  Apologies for any confusion that causes to folks who subscribe to or follow this blog regularly.

To anyone NOT interviewing with McKinsey:

Apologies if you are already a consultant or looking for tips on how to work with a former McKinsey consultant.  We'll return to the typical mix of content after a couple of weeks.