The message below is from a longtime reader of this site who recently graduated with his MBA from London Business School. Also, he scored a post-MBA position with McKinsey’s London office, which is a huge feat given the office’s popularity. Now that he’s started the job, he asked for some tips on how to position himself well at the start of his time at The Firm. Hope he finds the following advice to be useful.

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AH wrote:

Hi Marquis!

Thanks a ton for the fantastic blog you’ve run the last few years. It inspired and guided me a lot on my own journey of going from investment banking to the MBA at London Business School and finally starting at McKinsey’s London office next week. It occurred to me that I could use some specific advice now and also get in touch to perhaps meet in person some day (I visit Chicago from time to time).

So specifically I would like to ask:

1) In an environment where your peers are incredibly talented – are formal reviews relative (to Associate peer group performance) or absolute (this is our benchmark, everyone may be above it in the batch, or all may be below)

2) You advised in one post to build a support network within the office – what does this constitute? Senior mentors and advisors? Strong relationship in staffing? – And are there any particular ways you recommend to do this (my default is suggest coffee!)?

I know you get over whelmed with questions and requests so no worries in taking time to respond, this is a totally speculative reach out and thank you to you!

Best regards,

AH

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My response:

AH,

Thanks for checking out my website and for following my words for so long. Also, congratulations on your recent graduation from LBS and on scoring a position at McK’s London office. That’s an incredibly in-demand office for candidates, so you must have been an outstanding candidate to score an offer from there. I apologize for taking so long to get back to you…things have been very busy on my end as of late. I hope this gets to you in time to be helpful.

Here are my quick answers to your questions:

1. By now, you’ve probably had some sort of overview on how the performance review process at the Firm works, so you may already have your answer to this. Just so you know, my read on this question comes from what I heard/saw about my office back when I was there. Also, I’ve talked to friends who worked in other offices and for other firms and it seems that there is some consistency on this across the industry. Based on that, I’d say that there is a combination of absolute and relative aspects of the performance review process. There would be a certain set of skills/experiences/abilities that people at a certain level would be expected to demonstrate by a given point in their careers (i.e. “the bar”). So, the group of consultants in a given class would be judged according to this bar, which would be the absolute aspect of the rating. Then, the consultants would be judged as a group to see who should be given the different available rankings. For example, given a 1-to-5 rating system, some folks would be 1s, some would be 2s, and so on. This would be the relative aspect of the evaluation system. Make sense?

2. Building a support network is crucial to success in Consulting and this goes for having a support network in the office and outside of the office (across the region and possibly outside of the region). These will be the people who will give you advice on how to maximize your performance and how to address development areas. They can also give you a sense for how to position yourself well as you move from study to study. Finally, they can help you get onto assignments that will be good for your career and positioning. Building this support network can involve several different types of relationships. Some might say that the most important relationships to build are with Partners and Associate Principals and, if you can get on their schedules for lunch/coffee, that could be a great way to kick that sort of thing off. Being staffed on studies with these folks can be helpful for this relationship building, as well. Another important set of relationships to develop is with the Engagement Managers in your office because they are likely closer to your experience level and it may be easier to get time with them to build relationships with them. These folks can give you very direct feedback and guidance on how things work and where you can make improvements. Overall, a great way to initiate and develop relationships across levels in your office would be to attend as many office events as possible and spend your time getting to know new people at those events…there’s no room to be shy about putting yourself out there when it comes to the networking game within your office.

I hope the responses above are the sort of responses that you were seeking. If not, let me know and I’ll see what else I can give you on them.

Take care and I hope we have a chance to cross paths in person one day. Good luck with the start of your time at McK.

Marquis