What McKinsey Seeks In MBA Hires

What excites you personally about working for McKinsey? 

Looking back on 20 years and three different careers at the firm, I can say I’ve never been bored. Every couple years I look back and I can’t believe the growth trajectory I’ve achieved professionally and personally. After so many years, I’m excited I haven’t plateaued and that I can expect growth every year.

The people I work with are energizing, interesting and become advisors and friends.  Not only do I have a great network in the Toronto office where I’m based, but I can go into any office and have that network… and that extends to all my alumni friends I stay in touch with.

The other aspect that excites me is being one of the firm’s diversity leaders. I’m a co-founder of GLAM (McKinsey’s gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender network). I’m particularly thrilled with how much GLAM has grown and that it is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year.

What question(s) didn’t I ask that you’d love to answer? 

I love to talk about growth so I have a lot to talk about these days. Because McKinsey has been around for so long, some people may think of how we used to be but we’ve changed a lot.  As I tend to say, ‘We’re not your grandmother’s McKinsey.’ Two areas of growth that are most relevant to candidates are our new delivery models and our geographic expansion.

In our new models, we are expanding past the traditional consulting services and focusing on other areas our clients want support in. McKinsey Solutions is where we bring software and technology-based tools and analytics to clients. McKinsey Implementation helps clients put our recommendations into place and realize the full potential of our work. McKinsey Digital Labs is another exciting area as is our Recovery & Transformation Services.

The significance of these new models goes beyond the expanded service it brings our clients. For our consultants, it brings a whole new facet to solving client problems and creating impact. It also expands the profile of people we recruit as we need new skills, backgrounds and perspectives.

In addition to expanding the kinds of problems we solve for clients, we are continually expanding where we are located.  W are expanding within countries where we already are – like Perth in Australia and Denver in the US – and entering countries where we have done work but haven’t had physical locations, like Angola, Kazakhstan and Vietnam. This expansion means more opportunity for our people to work wherever they like.

It’s my challenge, as well as a challenge to McKinsey’s recruiters around the world, to find an increasingly diverse group of people to bring to McKinsey and to show them how they can build an interesting and dynamic career here. And, I can honestly say that it’s a challenge I look forward to every day.