McKinsey, BCG and Bain recruitment process: How to secure a position?
- Alessandro & Gabor
- Dec 22, 2021
- 3 min read
Updated: Dec 28, 2022
Becoming a management consultant is extremely difficult. The industry is considered to be among the most competitive ones with around 25 applicants fighting for the same position. If you are thinking about joining MBB (McKinsey, BCG, Bain), you may face an even fiercer competition. The recruitment process is tailored not just to test applicants' background, but also to assess a wide range of skills. But how does the application procedure look like?
Resume drafting
Needless to say that you will need to create a top-notch CV that sells your personal brand within 30 seconds. We wrote a separate article on detailing the DOs and DON'Ts of writing a management consultant resume, but these are the major points you must include and polish:
Your personal information and contact details
Experience that preferably demonstrates consulting background and leadership skills
Education preferably from a target university
All of your relevant extracurricular activities, awards and volunteering
Your other soft and hard skills relevant to consulting (e.g. excel macros, modelling, creating and delivering presentations)
Motivation Letter drafting
A motivation letter is a great extension of your resume. Even if it is not always mandatory to upload, we highly encourage you to do so. We dedicated a full article to creating a high-quality management consultant motivation letter, these are the key points you must consider:
How can you briefly demonstrate your drive to 1) become a consultant 2) at your target company
Why you are the best possible fit for the company, including your 1) academic background, 2) extracurricular activities 3) professional engagements
Detail why you are interested in and passionate about your target company - We learnt it on our own expense. You cannot just have a general motivation letter that you submit to every single consulting firm
A neat summary about your motivation and qualifications
If you have questions or you are worried about acing your resume and motivation letter, we highly recommend our service below:
Online assessment
Online assessments are the result of the big pool of applicants most consultant firms select from. There are around 50,000 candidates applying for various McKinsey positions every year. An automated assessment helps recruiters to filter out the bottom 90% of applicants and focus only on top candidates. These sophisticated tools measures various skills critical for consulting, including:
Problem solving
Critical thinking
Mental math
Prioritization
Business judgement
We recommend you checking the practice materials in our Case Library, especially the below problem solving test. We tailored it to the assessment procedure of McKinsey, Bain and BCG and included the solutions to support your personal development.
Motivation screening
Motivation screening is highly dependent on the country you are applying in. Some firms push you from the online assessment to the first round of interviews, while others have a brief HR call with you. If you receive an HR call, you should expect a discussion on the content of your motivation letter (paragraph above)
Fit & Case study interviews (3x2)
Fit & case study interviews are frequently used by consulting firms. You should expect at least 2, and at most 6 rounds of interviews depending the position and company you are applying for. McKinsey, BCG and Bain normally do 3 x 2 (6 altogether) or 2 x 2 + 1 (5 altogether).
An interview takes around 60 minutes, which contains:
A 25-minute session dedicated to fit, or behavioral interview. You should expect questions around your motivation to work in consulting at the firm you are interviewing with. Recruiters also assess if you are a good cultural fit and if you could become an integral part of the team
30 minutes on a business case study. You will face a simplified version of a real-life business challenge that you will need to decompose in a structured way, develop and test hypothesis and develop a solid recommendation. This is the perfect tool to predict the quality of your performance as a full-time employee
5 minutes to discuss any questions you may have. You should try to avoid evident questions that are easy-to-find on the internet. We recommend asking about the culture of the office, type of projects, team dynamics, growth of the team and the office, international opportunities, or anything else specific to your role and target office
If you are unsure how to get ready for acing fit and case study interviews and overcoming recruiters' scrutiny, we highly encourage you to take the opportunity given by one of our services below:
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