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McKinsey & Company Any advice to help prepare for data science analyst role at top consulting firms (McKinsey & Company EY Boston Consulting Group etc)? Any materials, open source platform recommended to take on freelance data science project? When should I start actively looking and applying? I am a new grad who is working in tech as a marketing analyst I’m looking to pivot to marketing& sales data science consulting next year. Would like someone with similar backgrounds offer some practical tips.
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What do you like most about your current role that you hope continues in your next role ?
What do you like least about your current role that you hope doesn’t follow you to your next role.
Chief
I’ll ask them to critique a strategy presentation I have. [I work in strategy but it’s applicable to other roles]. I make sure there’s a mix of good stuff and mistakes. The junior candidates should at least find the glaring typos 🤣
It shows their thinking without asking them to do homework which I can’t stand.
Rising Star
Love this!
I like to ask people what they read to stay informed about what’s going on in the industry. It’s really telling if folks don’t have a good answer.
I also like to ask people when they feel most engaged with their work because to me it shows self awareness, and will help me understand how they’ll handle the work culture at the company and how we might best work together.
Last bit of general advice is to not try be something you’re not when interviewing. Being yourself goes two ways. If you’re a more informal or casual type of manager, don’t try be formal and rigid in an interview setting - if this person is hired they’ll want to know who they’re working for - being impersonal or intimidating doesn’t help anyone.
I like to have very informal interviews when I ask the candidates a lot of open-ended questions about what they like, what they’re looking for, and what’s important to them in their next job. Having them describe what they value in a job/team without first giving them much background gives me a great idea of if they’d be happy in the role, which I think is just as important as being qualified.
I also like to ask them to tell me something about themselves that’s not on their resume.
(If you couldn’t tell I make most hires based on culture fit)
I think we’re talking about the same thing. When I say “culture fit” I mean I try to evaluate if what they’re looking for aligns with what I offer. No job is perfect but I want someone who have the qualities and mindset to thrive in the specific environment of this company/role. I don’t want them to just be able to do the job, I also want them to be happy doing the job.
If you’re one of many team members interviewing- try to see if they’ll be focusing on anything in particular.
I think it’s a good practice to make sure the candidate isn’t answering the same questions over & over again, just with different people. Makes for a more fruitful candidate experience as well as getting the most out of the limited time you’ll have to speak with them.
Pro
Always ask these three questions:
What kind of work do you *not* want to do? (This reveals confidence in ability and worth while simultaneously weeding out sycophants, also people tend to answer honestly and it can be really insightful).
What will be different about this team and the work we do after you've been here a year? (This shows that they can demonstrate long term thinking and will force an honest self-assessment of their talents and how they'll mesh with the rest of the team).
What kind of music do you like? (This weeds out robots and lets you connect on a human level.)
“Who do you think would win in a fight, you or me?”
For behavioral questions, look for these 7 core characteristics in their responses:
- Grit (tenacity)
- Ownership (locus of control)
- Teamwork (emotional intelligence)
- Impact (quantitative results)
- Curiosity (passion)
- Polish (body language)
- Rigor (skills test)
Depending on the role, some characteristics are more important than others. Weight the importance accordingly and set up a scorecard system beforehand so that you can evaluate each candidate equally and without bias.
Rising Star
Go with your gut.
Allow time in the interview for the candidate to ask questions of you. You'll get a sense of what's important to the candidate, what they're looking for in their own words, and also see briefly what supporting them would look like