Business Analyst applicants have rated the interview process at McKinsey & Company with 3.9 out of 5 (where 5 is the highest level of difficulty) and assessed their interview experience as 69% positive. To compare, the company-average is 64.4% positive. This is according to Glassdoor user ratings.
Candidates applying for Business Analyst roles take an average of 45 days to get hired, when considering 991 user submitted interviews for this role. To compare, the hiring process at McKinsey & Company overall takes an average of 40 days.
Common stages of the interview process at McKinsey & Company as a Business Analyst according to 991 Glassdoor interviews include:
One on one interview: 34%
Skills test: 17%
Phone interview: 10%
IQ intelligence test: 9%
Personality test: 9%
Presentation: 7%
Background check: 6%
Other: 3%
Drug test: 2%
Group panel interview: 1%
Here are the most commonly searched roles for interview reports -
I applied online. The process took 4 weeks. I interviewed at McKinsey & Company (Madrid) in Jun 2015
Interview
After sending your CV + Cover Letter, McKinsey contacts you to do the PST Test (26 questions, 70 minutes, 3 different cases). After a week or so if you passed the test, McKinsey will contact you with further information regarding the first round of interviews.
There is a telephone pre-interview session with a Junior McKinsey consultant which gives you a basic insight into the interview procedure.
You are usually given two week between they tell you you passed the PST and the first round of interviews.
There are two interviews, usually one after the other (in my case I had them split morning-evening) with two associates. I was given a small folder with basic information regarding the firm and my interviewers (basicaly background).
The first interview was 1-on-1 although there was a Junior Consultant monitoring the main interviewer. There were two parts: Personal Experience and Case study. The interviewer was quite harsh on answers and demanding. I had to give 3 different answers as the interviewer was "not convienced" and thought about a "lack of credibility" of my examples. He even asked me to summarize in 30 seconds each example to see if they were "worth" a try.
Case study was really specific about cutting cost in an international infrastructure company (which was my interviewer domain of specialization).
After these two parts, I was given the oportunity to ask questions regarding the firm. I tried to ask more personal questions (what did McKinsey give to the interviewer and what did the interviewer think that he had given McKinsey)
The second interview was purely 1-on-1 and much more relaxed from the first minute. Simple Personal questions and not really requiring demanding answer (as in the 1st).
"typical" case study, much more conceptual, going from the main frame to details (R&D services P&L case). Sanity tests needed after calculations due to striking results.
In the "third" part (questions) the interviewer was very receptive and seemed to enjoy answering the questions (more than 30minutes). Topics covered were not only professionals (life-work balance, family etc)
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Tell me about a time you had to lead a team, set a goal and achieve it (repitedly)
Tell me about a time in which you were confronted to a great challenge and how you managed to deal with it
Tell me about a time you had to take an unpopular decision within a group and how you managed the situation
It is a difficult process, it is often not very clear what the exclusion factors are in the case interview. Behaviour interviews are as described on the website. Recommend being very familiar with their style of case interviews
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Tell me about a time you had to face and outgrow a challenge.
I interviewed at McKinsey & Company (Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi)
Interview
Application/Interview process: Applied online for a Business Analyst role through Glassdoor. Was invited to complete the McKinsey Solve online case assessment (a gamified problem-solving test, roughly 80 minutes). Completed it and received a rejection email about two weeks later, before any live interview stage. I requested them to share my test score and got a reply 2 days after that i scored a 10th decile and 537 points, despite this they didn't consider me for the HR interview round. This made me really confused and they refused to share any further information with me.
The real reason why they rejected me is still unknown.
2 interviews back-to-back in-person. Cases weren't super hard but you definitely need to prepare a lot beforehand to navigate the curveballs and be able to function under high stress. Expect difficult industries and focus on PEI which is half as important.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Tell me about a challenge situation that you faced in detail (expect to be interruped because they will go deep into the story, make it memorable and interesting)