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BM wrote:
hi,
Need your guidance to get an interview call from McKinsey.
Qualifications
B.Tech in Automotive engg
MBA from a tier II institute in India.
Experience
5 years in industry on Dealer management/Customer care for a leading auto OEM
7+ years in business consulting – IT business analyst, process consulting,
Roles
Domain Consultant for process consulting
Business Analyst
Once my application to McKinsey got denied for an associate level role.
I am ready to join in capability of business analyst and build on my strategic thinking & analytical skills.
I am strongly thinking of few options, – try a breakthrough in any strategic planning roles, join a i year Ivy league program, join as research analyst in company like McKinsey and grow from there.
What do you suggest.
Thanks,
Bala
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My response:
Hi Bala,
Thanks for reaching out to me with your question. I know that it’s been a while since you emailed me, but, if you’ve read any of my past blog entries, you’ll know that I can sometimes take over a year to respond to folks. At least I got to your message after only a few months…hahaha.
OK, on to your question… I’ll start by saying that I have received many emails over the years from people looking for advice on how to position themselves well for McKinsey, so, if you haven’t read through my past entries yet, I would highly suggest that you do so. There is a lot of likely – relevant information in my archives that you’ll find useful.
Regarding your situation, I’ll just tell you my gut feel on your current position in terms of being a candidate for McK… As it stands right now, you’re facing an uphill battle to get an interview invitation from McKinsey for a number of reasons:
- It is difficult to get into the recruiting pipeline as an experienced hire because McK (and its peer firms) focus much of their attention on on-campus recruiting channels. While there are people who get in as experienced hires, it isn’t the usual sort of situation.
- If you have 12+ years of work experience and an MBA, then you’re not going to be seen as a candidate for a Business Analyst position. You would (and should) be seen as an Associate-level candidate.
- With your MBA being from a Tier II Indian business school, that likely means that your school isn’t a core recruiting school for McKinsey and its peer firms, which would make it even more challenging to get in as an experienced hire.
- Based on your email, I’m not certain if you’re trying to move over to McK from a different consulting firm or from a corporate role. Depending on where you are now, your profile would be viewed in a different manner by the recruiting teams at the traditional strategy consulting firms.
In sum, what I’m saying above is that your profile doesn’t lend itself to being invited to interview at one of the Big 3 strategy consulting firms at this point. That said, you aren’t exactly out of the running to try for it in the future, but, in the near-term, I think it’s safe to say that it’s not going to happen.
Here are my thoughts on your alternatives right now to set yourself up for the future:
- Based on your current set of experiences, your best option is likely to pursue corporate strategy positions at companies in industries that you understand. This would allow you to leverage what you already know to make a move to a role that would give you hands-on strategy development expertise. After a few years in corporate strategy, you can take a chance at applying to a strategy consulting firm as an experienced hire, but, this time, you’d be doing so with some solid strategy background as part of your background.
- Join one of the big consulting firms that does both technology/process/implementation work and aim for an experienced hire transition to McK in a few years. Examples of the firms that I have in mind are Deloitte, Accenture, and PwC. These firms would be more straightforward for you to enter because they would place a lot of value in your process management experience and have very robust hiring for candidates who are coming from the employed pool (versus straight out of school)
- Your idea of earning another graduate degree from a top-tier school is a good one, as it will help to reset your academic profile, which could prove helpful in the recruiting process. On the down side, this could be an expensive option for you and there is no guarantee that it will actually help you get into a McK/BCG/Bain type of firm. That said, if you’re willing to take on that kind of investment of time and money, it could be worth a shot.
- After all of this, if your goal is still to end up at McKinsey or one of its peer firms, I would suggest that you target an Expert track role instead of a standard consulting staff role. Google what I’m talking about here and you’ll understand why the Expert path is more suited to your background. If you go this route, you’ll still technically be a McK consultant, but you’d be deployed to projects differently. It would still be a long-shot for the reasons that I states above, but I see it as your best chance here.
As I wrap up this email, I’ll acknowledge that my comments above are probably not what you wanted to hear. That said, when people reach out to me, I always give them my honest read on their questions, which is what I’ve done for you here.
Overall, your goal here isn’t necessarily impossible, but it would require many things to fall in line for you, all of which are non-trivial items. As such, I’d recommend that you step back and think of ways to tweak your aspiration to move it toward something that had a higher likelihood of being achieved. Good luck with making those adjustments.
Take care and have a nice evening.
Marquis
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