mckinsey_preparation.pdf

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Acumen Learning Resource

AcumenResource:Consulting InterviewPreparationIs this your dream company?

Consulting Career Prospects in McKinsey & Co

Exploding myths & revealing insider information about TheFirm, this issue looks at what it means to be a consultant atMcKinsey & Co. and what does it take to get in there.

Career PathContrary to popular beliefs; in consulting Client Service; and not high funda problem solving ability;

is probably the most important success factor. If we look at the career path of an MBA in a typicalconsultancy we observe the following stages of growth:

Skills ProfileThe skillset that Mckinsey looks for:

Problem solving: Identification of the critical issues and accordingly, structuring of the problem.This is followed by an analysis, which in turn provides the foundation for recommendations.

AnalystCollects information, processes it and finally analyses it.

ConsultantInteracts with clients, identifies core issues during

problem solving

Project ManagerLeads a team of consultants, ensures client

satisfaction (basically, service on an everydaybasis)

PartnerProspects, gets new clients, sets new

goals for the project teams and suggestspossible solutions


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Managing work under time constraints: This not only includes having the ability to manageone's own tasks but also other team member's tasks within the operating time constraints.

Communication skills:Again, contrary to popular beliefs, it is your written communication skillnot oral communication that is more important. This is more so because communication skillsare not needed in the initial stages of a consulting career because direct interaction with the

clients is minimal. This is especially true for Indian consultancies.

Team building skills:The ability to work and lead a team is also very important. In fact, 100%of a Project manager's time and 20% of a partner's time is spent in this exercise. Internalcompetition within a group does not exist and the emphasis is on capitalizing on the corecompetencies of each one of the team members to generate a synergic result. However, tomaintain adequate control, the responsibility of a team's performance lies with the projectmanager himself.

Client relationship building expertise:These skills are required at the project manager level andupwards. The importance attached arises from the fact the trust in a consultant-client

relationship gets built over a 6-9 month period of continuous interaction. A consistent topnotchperformance of the involved team over a prolonged period is therefore a must. A monthlyprogress review helps to build this credibility.

Leadership qualities:This includes both people skills and entrepreneurial skills.

Job Profile

1. Strategy consultancy (Problem Solving)- Defining core competencies- Identifying business strategies

2. Operations(Implementation/Managing Work)- Operations process improvements e.g. improvement in blast furnace performancemostly driven by client

Problem Solving The McKinsey Way

The key principles of the McKinsey method of problem solving (only for non-dotcom and for non-financial Institutions)

1. End product or the answer first (governing thought) You work on a hypothesis, and see if it fitswith what is happening.

2. MECE Mutually Exclusive Collectively Exhaustive Generate a set of solutions that aremutually exclusive (no repetition) and completely exhaustive (Contain all factors/parameters).For example: If the problem is: How can profits increase? The alternatives are clearly:

a. Increase pricesb. Increase salesc. Decrease costs

An exhaustive analysis is carried out on each of the possible alternatives. Some of the populartechniques for analyzing include


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The 80/20 method 20% analysis, 80% answers Peel the onion method A hierarchical method in which analysis is done while moving

from a higher level to lower level (i.e. going deeper into the problem)

Classical problem solving techniques hardly work in real life situations and therefore it is alwaysadvisable to work through first principles. Moreover, consulting never provides optimum

solutions. This translates to the selection procedure also, where conceptual clarity ispreferred to extensive knowledge of models for strategic analysis

Is Specialization relevant?

As far as McKinsey goes, there is hardly any importance accorded to which field you are specializingin. However, this does not discount the importance of fundamentals. Consultancies are looking forbasic skills and not functional skills. Functional learning is expected to take place mostly on-job;depending on the field to which the consultant or analyst is being exposed to. Whatever additionalinformation or advice you need, you are free to ask the people who are known as Experts in thatparticular field in the organization (at least in McKinsey). By the time, you become a projectmanager or a Partner you are expected to be a specialist in a particular industry or set of industries.

Lifestyle Lot of traveling Hectic lifestyle Glamour (get to meet the crme-de-l a -crme of the top executives) Despair (Often, the recommended solutions for projects are not implemented) No ownership (One cannot stay long enough to see the implementation through in most of

the cases, though this trend is slowly catching on)

McKinsey looks for

Well rounded individuals excelling in at least one area i.e. Be distinctly differentfromthecrowd. This requires that you should be excellent in a particular field (proficiency level close

to 100%), mostly academics, and be pretty good at the other skills (proficiency levelabove70%-80%)

People who can accept their mistakes and learn from them Ethical, consistent, confident, having clarity of thought, etc. The emphasis is much more on the fit of the candidate with the company.

Taking you closer to consulting

E-mail: [email protected]

Visit us at:http://www.iiml.ac.in/consultgrp

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mckinsey_preparation.pdf