McKinsey Forum

[Anonymous User]

Does McKinsey not do informative interviews?

Reached out to their recruiting from the online messaging tool to try to set up coffee with someone from my nearby office and got a response back that they don't do informative interviews. Can anyone confirm protocol?

[silenttimer]

You heard directly back from them that they don't do one. Not sure how random folks on this forum can change anything.

[sadpandayolo]

My recommendatiotn: Reach out to your school alumni who are at McK or if you're at a firm, your firm alumni at McK.

[michaelscotch99]

You can reach out to fellow alumni.

Alumni at my school was willing to get coffee with me. I found him through LinkedIn, and not through the online portal.

[ur_hero]

Same as above - the best way to do this is to usually contact a specific person who's either (1) in an area you're interested in; (2) alumni; or (3) some other connection, e.g., attended an event you were at.

[lawlorbust]

Does McKinsey not do informative interviews?

Reached out to their recruiting from the online messaging tool to try to set up coffee with someone from my nearby office and got a response back that they don't do informative interviews. Can anyone confirm protocol?

And not to be pedantic, but if you're going to be reaching out to various consultants, it's informational interviews.

[Anonymous User]

Does McKinsey not do informative interviews?

Reached out to their recruiting from the online messaging tool to try to set up coffee with someone from my nearby office and got a response back that they don't do informative interviews. Can anyone confirm protocol?

And not to be pedantic, but if you're going to be reaching out to various consultants, it's informational interviews.

No, that's not being pedantic, i actually appreciate you pointing out my error there.

The reason why i posted was because I was more surprised than anything; every single firm that i've reached out to, both in law and the other members of MBB, has been more than receptive/happy to set up coffee when I asked if I could meet with some of their office's people. So I was hoping that someone here who works at McKinsey could verify that it is indeed the practice and the response wasn't just the product of me phrasing my request in a strange way or otherwise catching someone at a bad moment.

[Anonymous User]

Does McKinsey not do informative interviews?

Reached out to their recruiting from the online messaging tool to try to set up coffee with someone from my nearby office and got a response back that they don't do informative interviews. Can anyone confirm protocol?

And not to be pedantic, but if you're going to be reaching out to various consultants, it's informational interviews.

No, that's not being pedantic, i actually appreciate you pointing out my error there.

The reason why i posted was because I was more surprised than anything; every single firm that i've reached out to, both in law and the other members of MBB, has been more than receptive/happy to set up coffee when I asked if I could meet with some of their office's people. So I was hoping that someone here who works at McKinsey could verify that it is indeed the practice and the response wasn't just the product of me phrasing my request in a strange way or otherwise catching someone at a bad moment.

McK consultant here. Are you actively going through the interview / recruiting process? If so, they should be very helpful in assigning you an interview buddy to help you prepare, answer questions, etc. If you have an offer, you'll have no shortage of people reaching out to you.

If you're just in school and thinking about submitting an app, and not in the thick of the active process, it may be the case that we don't officially coordinate coffee chats, etc. I would imagine that would drown the capacities of recruiters just due to level of interest. As others have mentioned, best way to do this is to reach out via LinkedIn, etc. to alums. Several students from my law school reach out to me and I'm typically happy to hop on the phone briefly with them.

[Anonymous User]

McK consultant here. Are you actively going through the interview / recruiting process? If so, they should be very helpful in assigning you an interview buddy to help you prepare, answer questions, etc. If you have an offer, you'll have no shortage of people reaching out to you.

If you're just in school and thinking about submitting an app, and not in the thick of the active process, it may be the case that we don't officially coordinate coffee chats, etc. I would imagine that would drown the capacities of recruiters just due to level of interest. As others have mentioned, best way to do this is to reach out via LinkedIn, etc. to alums. Several students from my law school reach out to me and I'm typically happy to hop on the phone briefly with them.

As a current lawyer looking to make the career change, what things could I do/show in my informal meeting so that my app may get pushed through and I would at least have the chance to sit for the test and get an interview?

[Anonymous User]

Consultant here as well. I know at my firm recruiting will likely not arrange for someone to speak with you informally, but if you go through LinkedIn and message someone from the company they're likely to at least have a phone chat with you. Several students from my alma mater have reached out to me and I was more than happy to review their resumes, answer their questions, and point them in the right direction with HR. Just be mindful that a lot of us travel Monday through Thursday, so if it takes a while for a response don't worry.

[Anonymous User]

McK consultant here. Are you actively going through the interview / recruiting process? If so, they should be very helpful in assigning you an interview buddy to help you prepare, answer questions, etc. If you have an offer, you'll have no shortage of people reaching out to you.

If you're just in school and thinking about submitting an app, and not in the thick of the active process, it may be the case that we don't officially coordinate coffee chats, etc. I would imagine that would drown the capacities of recruiters just due to level of interest. As others have mentioned, best way to do this is to reach out via LinkedIn, etc. to alums. Several students from my law school reach out to me and I'm typically happy to hop on the phone briefly with them.

As a current lawyer looking to make the career change, what things could I do/show in my informal meeting so that my app may get pushed through and I would at least have the chance to sit for the test and get an interview?

diff poster here: Also, how does work experience factor into the hiring process? I went straight through to law school. I've interviewed with MBB during law school and failed. Now that I'm an attorney, I want to get a couple years in before interviewing with MBB again pending how helpful extra work experience is (I want to get out now, with only 1 year under my belt, but I'm assuming the additional WE helps). Does the couple years of work experience (all in biglaw) help at all to get interviews?

[Anonymous User]

McK consultant here. Are you actively going through the interview / recruiting process? If so, they should be very helpful in assigning you an interview buddy to help you prepare, answer questions, etc. If you have an offer, you'll have no shortage of people reaching out to you.

If you're just in school and thinking about submitting an app, and not in the thick of the active process, it may be the case that we don't officially coordinate coffee chats, etc. I would imagine that would drown the capacities of recruiters just due to level of interest. As others have mentioned, best way to do this is to reach out via LinkedIn, etc. to alums. Several students from my law school reach out to me and I'm typically happy to hop on the phone briefly with them.

As a current lawyer looking to make the career change, what things could I do/show in my informal meeting so that my app may get pushed through and I would at least have the chance to sit for the test and get an interview?

diff poster here: Also, how does work experience factor into the hiring process? I went straight through to law school. I've interviewed with MBB during law school and failed. Now that I'm an attorney, I want to get a couple years in before interviewing with MBB again pending how helpful extra work experience is (I want to get out now, with only 1 year under my belt, but I'm assuming the additional WE helps). Does the couple years of work experience (all in biglaw) help at all to get interviews?

Previous McK poster.

1 - If you have the pedigree for it (e.g. t-14 school with decent grades and good law firm), they'll probably give your app serious consideration and give you a chance at the test. No guarantees obviously, but with McK if you pass the baseline hurdle they tend to cast a relatively wide net. It's the interviews that are very rigorous in screening people out. At least, that's the impression I get.

2 - I'd apply sooner rather than later. There's very little skills translation between the professions, and they probably are not going to much more highly value a 3rd year attorney than like a 1.5 year attorney, as long as the experience you have so far enables you to talk about how you've had an impact on projects, where you've developed, etc. This is again my guess, but I think a year or so starts enabling you to speak about those things.

[Anonymous User]

McK consultant here. Are you actively going through the interview / recruiting process? If so, they should be very helpful in assigning you an interview buddy to help you prepare, answer questions, etc. If you have an offer, you'll have no shortage of people reaching out to you.

If you're just in school and thinking about submitting an app, and not in the thick of the active process, it may be the case that we don't officially coordinate coffee chats, etc. I would imagine that would drown the capacities of recruiters just due to level of interest. As others have mentioned, best way to do this is to reach out via LinkedIn, etc. to alums. Several students from my law school reach out to me and I'm typically happy to hop on the phone briefly with them.

As a current lawyer looking to make the career change, what things could I do/show in my informal meeting so that my app may get pushed through and I would at least have the chance to sit for the test and get an interview?

diff poster here: Also, how does work experience factor into the hiring process? I went straight through to law school. I've interviewed with MBB during law school and failed. Now that I'm an attorney, I want to get a couple years in before interviewing with MBB again pending how helpful extra work experience is (I want to get out now, with only 1 year under my belt, but I'm assuming the additional WE helps). Does the couple years of work experience (all in biglaw) help at all to get interviews?

Previous McK poster.

1 - If you have the pedigree for it (e.g. t-14 school with decent grades and good law firm), they'll probably give your app serious consideration and give you a chance at the test. No guarantees obviously, but with McK if you pass the baseline hurdle they tend to cast a relatively wide net. It's the interviews that are very rigorous in screening people out. At least, that's the impression I get.

2 - I'd apply sooner rather than later. There's very little skills translation between the professions, and they probably are not going to much more highly value a 3rd year attorney than like a 1.5 year attorney, as long as the experience you have so far enables you to talk about how you've had an impact on projects, where you've developed, etc. This is again my guess, but I think a year or so starts enabling you to speak about those things.

Thanks for the response. Just to provide background: T14, V30 with an engineering background.
Re. interviews: I've done quite a few during law school and would like to pick it up again soon to prepare for the cycle. Would you say paying for a tutor (e.g., Coaches from PrepLounge) is helpful/worth the $?

[Xochi]

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