McKinsey & Company Had final rounds and received offers from both Boston Consulting Group and McKinsey & Company. Noticed that in the process with BCG I had a dedicated 45 mins HR interview really digging into who I am as a person, what do I enjoy doing in my spare time, etc, and explicitly stating that it's important for them to make sure there is a personal fit with the vibes of the office. Also in the 4 case interviews the interviewers always digged into my personality, hobbies, etc *continue in comments
Lol nobody gives a damn about your interests once you officially start. Cute effort tho by their recruiting team
Disagree for very small offices.
Join BCG, I really think we have kind, intellectual people. We also have much less ethical scandals compared to McKinsey. I think we have a reputation for being a more ethical, impactful place to work. That’s my two cents, no offense to McK.
And also if BCG were in the news it wouldn’t receive nearly as many clicks as McKinsey … so there’s that to consider
Pro
I’d be concerned if an employer was digging into personal life and hobbies. Hear me out.
This potentially ends up in areas that are illegal to ask about, at least in the US. This has to do with marital status, family status, etc. It also can predispose a group to hire into less diverse groups. Vibes can be code here for “like us,” which tends to skew white male in Western countries.
While this may be under the guise of building community, it has the potential impact of exclusion and discrimination (disparate impact).
The process is pretty much designed that way to remove as much bias as possible and focus on your skills and capabilities.
There’s such a diverse set of people here that it’s just a matter of time until you find the people you vibe with best.
Congrats on the offer!
There’s pretty much no wrong choice here - good luck!
Former McK person here - knowing what I know now if I had cross offers I would 1000% choose BCG over McK
I went the other way (BCG to McK), so take this opinion with a grain of salt.
I felt the opposite when I got my BCG offer. Their fit interviews were so brief that it felt they didn’t care about personal skills or capabilities. I never had this learning session youre talking about.
I’m sure you’d be happy at either firm. Congrats!
Chief
Not my experience. We’re also such a large firm with so much diversity (not to say we’re perfect) that there isn’t a specific “culture” to fit into. McK also was a lot more flexible than BCG during my interview process, which made me feel more valued.
You’ll be taken care of either place you go though; congrats!
Do you really want a firm deciding whether they should hire you based on factors that have nothing to do with your potential to perform on the job? Does this risk the process being subjective where one person thinks you’d fit in with the culture of the office and another does not? Could it maybe result in hiring “more of the same”? Is that the kind of place you want to work?
Food for thought.
One thing you should know about McKinsey (and maybe this is true of BCG - I don’t know, I haven’t worked there) is that we value people for what they bring to the table, even if they don’t fit a mould. This diversity of thought is cherished and actively sought after. It’s a firm where what you bring to the table in terms of knowledge and competence trumps all.
At McKinsey I did not have an HR interview at all (which I found odd), and in the four case interviews nothing other than my professional experience was discussed. Even my PEI stories were all work/uni related so they literally did not get a glimpse into how I'm like besides work.
Assessing candidates only based of professional experience seems like a red flag to me, was this also your experience interviewing with McK or was my experience unrepresentative?
Pray tell why you believe an HR interview to be valuable? HR does not make the hiring decision, the consultants do. Which firm gave you the most time with consultants, inarguably the core asset of a consulting firm?
Honestly OP the people are the same (picked from the same pools), the job’s the same, culture varies by office or practice, you’ll have great and tough experiences at both firms… just follow your intuition - the recruiting process is really not that telling IMO. From a Mck EM ( who had crossoffers) with a BCG SO and friends from both firms ✌🏾
SO at BCG and I am at McK.
Both firms can be as good or bad as you make them. Both have good and bad projects and kind and meh people.
Focus on finding your place/team once you choose.
I had the same choice as you: no bad decision, congrats!
Gf and I had the same experience with BCG and McK. McK is still a great firm though!
There’s a deep background check done on you through a Social Media and Interaction firm. So they know who you’re as a person.
BCG is the angel on your shoulder and McKinsey is the devil 😂😂😂
Is that for real or jk? What are your thoughts on BCG?
My personal opinion is go with McK. I’ve worked at BCG, joined McK, imo it is less close than people advertise, McK just has multitudinous tangible benefits over BCG.
Also if you have elements that you find BCG does better I’d be happy to comment on them! I definitely don’t think McK is better in EVERY way, but certainly most ways