Very insightful responses on this thread, kudos to the OP.

gcfr.com:
Fred: our client said the problem is from the painting.
Me: tor let them go and buy a new paint na, or better still get a fvking new plane.

lmao. The Perfect Answer!.. I wish i could like dat p0o a bazilion times

gcfr.com:
Fred: our client said the problem is from the painting.
Me: tor let them go and buy a new paint na, or better still get a fvking new plane.

LMFAO, I almost fell laughing at this...abi wettin person go talk again..

HNosegbe: Threads like this don't attract a crowd. Perfect for intellectuals.

I can't wait to read the second part - I've been eyeing that firm for a while now.

Unfortunately they don't, because folks here come dull and to dull their intellect.

When I drop by on NL I 'cherry pick' from the frontpage, view topics worth my attention and sign off.
Stopping by today I have found reason to say welldone to the OP for sharing his Mckinsey interview
experience. Just to chip in to what I believe you already know. When an interviewer responds like
yours did while mentioning that paint was actually the reason sighted for the spike in fuel cost,
what he could also be saying is - while all you mentioned also in some form contributed to the
rising fuel cost, I wish you had mentioned the weight of the paint!! To be honest with you
Jarus, it was a delight going through your responses and I will be on the lookout for the
next one.

People, we need more contributions like this on NL to generate the level of intellectual
discourse that has been lacking on this forum for a while. Thanks once again Jarus
and best wishes with your preparations for the next stage.

Cold faya: #faints. Waht kinda interview is dis again. Shuooo
Serious thing.

no be small interview be this oh? This one having first class alonecan't help you even if you didn't prepare

Hmmm, nyc one

Nice one jarus, Following this one, waiting for the next...
BTW, anyone notice there's been just one lady comment on this thread Ok, I'm sure they feasting on tonto dikeh's thread...

Mckinsey is one hell of a place to be at. Passing the test alone is something to be proud of. I'm just imagining what my responses would have been if I was on the receiving end of that interview. It takes critical and logical reasoning ability to answer those questions. Nice 1 op

black is: When I drop by on NL I 'cherry pick' from the frontpage, view topics worth my attention and sign off.
Stopping by today I have found reason to say welldone to the OP for sharing his Mckinsey interview
experience. Just to chip in to what I believe you already know. When an interviewer responds like
yours did while mentioning that paint was actually the reason sighted for the spike in fuel cost,
what he could also be saying is - while all you mentioned also in some form contributed to the
rising fuel cost, I wish you had mentioned the weight of the paint!! To be honest with you
Jarus, it was a delight going through your responses and I will be on the lookout for the
next one.

People, we need more contributions like this on NL to generate the level of intellectual
discourse that has been lacking on this forum for a while. Thanks once again Jarus
and best wishes with your preparations for the next stage.

spinnin: Mckinsey is one hell of a place to be at. Passing the test alone is something to be proud of. I'm just imagining what my responses would have been if I was on the receiving end of that interview. It takes critical and logical reasoning ability to answer those questions. Nice 1 op

Thanks all. But as you can see it wasn't my experience. It was that of David, one of my blog's columnists.

Uyi Iredia:

Unfortunately they don't, because folks here come dull and to dull their intellect.

Intellectual threads don't attract crowd on NL

This was the thread he opened on Nairaland before going for that interview 2 years ago:

https://www.nairaland.com/740444/mckinsey-first-round-interview

Wow.
Is this real? Did that interview really occur?
I'm trying to picture myself in that situation.
Please more of this, I'm following 110%

OP u try oh. Reading for that their PST alone was like a test to me gaan. Talkless of writing the test. For my mind I say wetin be this! I never even ready for dis one sef. But i write d test sha, I try for some, d rest I just shade anything. Pple dey sha.

brown_kid: Nice one jarus, Following this one, waiting for the next...
BTW, anyone notice there's been just one lady comment on this thread Ok, I'm sure they feasting on tonto dikeh's thread...

. Meaning what? soo how many guys commented? What makes u think that everybody who reads this must comment whether lady or guy?mchewww. @OP nice one, pls get the guy to give us the 2nd one. Waiting.....

Impressive answers...!

BIGER BOY: the guy even tried to have passed the PST, dat thing is seemingly 'unpassable'

i think these interviews are designed not necessarily to get the precise answers out of you, but to see mechanics behind your reasonining, and d ability to find FIND solutions and not GETTING them per say. ..

Exactly!

Part 2

This is the sequel to the first part which contains a transcript of my second interview. Sadly, I didn’t make it through to the next round (reason why you are getting all these details – so you can get in) but I would also analyze why I think that didn’t happen in the third part and also answer some questions people have asked about the interview process. Let’s get straight to business.

As part of feedback from my first interview, Fred mentions the following things to me:
1.Let there be a structure to all your responses. This means ensuring that your thought process is sequential, logical and organized.
2.Communicate without pauses. Don’t doubt your statements just go on and speak convincingly.
3.Think outside the box. When I asked you why airlines paint their planes, I expected something out of the box. Almost everyone I have interviewed today said for planes are painted for branding purposes.
4.Automatically discuss the implications of your analysis. I like that you mentioned that the company spends about $1m for every kg of paint. It helps get a better perspective of the situations and not just spilling out figures.

My second interview was shortly after the first with about a fifteen minute interval.

This time I was interviewed by a guy named Nameet who was a project manager in Amsterdam and had been with Mckinsey for six years. This interview was conducted using video conferencing.

Nameet goes on to ask the competency based question as usual and surprisingly, it is the same question Fred asked me in my first interview – Tell me of a time you had to convince a superior and how you went about it.



The Case Interview

Nameet: In 1998, there were two airplane manufacturers – Boeing and Airbus both manufacturing similar products. Boeing and Airbus both produced about seven products of about 100 and 300 seats. Boeing then announced it had started developing a 400 seater Boeing 747 to which Airbus had no response. Airbus the decided to manufacture the Jumbo jet a 500 seater aircraft.

Nameet: So David, tell me. Given that air traffic is constant, what other factors would affect the demand for Boeing and Airbus’ products?

Me: two factors can affect their product sales – Positive factors and negative factors. On the positive side, passengers fear about aircrafts as a result of crashes and the recent volcanic ash…

**Nameet cuts in “Remember traffic is constant”

In my mind I am there wondering what is this guy saying. I start getting nervous because my line of thought has been broken and now I don’t even know where to pick up from again. I begin to wonder what is wrong with these people and airline industry today why didn’t they ask me about an industry that I could easily relate with. At the time of the interview, I hadn’t even been on a plane in my entire life.

My confidence level started dropping and I gathered myself to continue with the interview. Al these thoughts went on in my mind in a split second do there really was no pause.

Me: Ok, reduced prices, introduction of frequent flyer programs

**Nameet cuts in again “Remember traffic is constant”

This time I actually take a pause because I do not even know what to say again.

Nahmeet goes on to narrate the case again from the beginning and suddenly I realize my mistake!!!! I didn’t realize that Boeing and Airbus were not airline operators but airplane manufacturers!!!! OMG. You see what I was thinking? If it was a familiar industry now I would not make this kind of mistake.

Me: Oh, Oh, I’m sorry. Speed of airplanes, comfort of airplanes and the opportunity for airline operators to charge higher fees as a result of the new airplanes.



Nameet: Ok. Airbus has been told it would cost $12bn in research and development expenses to come up with the new Jumbo Jet. It costs $175m to produce one airplane and it can be sold for $200m. Airbus has decided to introduce the new 500 new jumbo jets by the introduction of 250 new jumbo jets and the replacement of 250 existing airplanes. How many years would it take Airbus to recover its investment?

Me: Could you please come again the network seems to be breaking.

At this time, I had already got all the details I needed. I only said that so by the time he repeats the question again, I would have finished my calculations and BAM!! I would slam him with the answer. He went on to repeat the question and truly I had finished my computations.

Me: Selling 500 airplanes at $200m gives us $100bn at a cost of $87.5bn (500*$175m). This gives us net revenues of $12.5bn.

This means Airbus can recover its money in one year!

Nameet: Ok, David, thank you for your time. Do you have any questions for me?

Me: Yes. Tell me how a typical workday at Mckinsey is.

Nameet goes on to talk and talk and honestly I am not interested in his story I just asked as part of standard interview procedure. All I could think about was how much time I spent on the mix-up between airline operators and aircraft manufacturers.

I thank Nameet for his response and the interview is over. I head home and begin thinking about everything. So this thing is real? Companies really do this kind of interview? All through my preparations I somehow thought it could never be as they had mentioned now I was thoroughly convinced.


http://www.jarushub.com/ysr-my-mckinsey-interview-ii/

Oh Lawd!

these guys are really the best in the consulting business, and they go for the best, they never compromise standard anywhere. I use to have a professor who was a mckinsey consultant or something he specialised in asian markets. i use to go sit in his office for hours to discus market trends, exchange rates etc hoping he might refer/recommend me to mckinsey. but the guy no bulge. may be one of these days or years i might consider given them a try again even though i luv my current job.

thanks for the insight OP better luck nxt time

Interesting! I am looking forward to the third part. I feel the repeated emphasis on air traffic remaining constant may have been one of the factors that disqualified the interviewee.
If I may add to the tips given, speed of thought while presenting a logical,structured and sequential response is bound to be a plus.

Jesus Christ is a christian!! jeez, I still don't even understand the questions.

May God help me oo

BIGER BOY: these guys are really the best in the consulting business, and they go for the best, they never compromise standard anywhere. I use to have a professor who was a mckinsey consultant or something he specialised in asian markets. i use to go sit in his office for hours to discus market trends, exchange rates etc hoping he might refer/recommend me to mckinsey. but the guy no bulge. may be one of these days or years i might consider given them a try again even though i luv my current job.

thanks for the insight OP better luck nxt time

BCG and Bain staff are equally as good.

I would also be careful with that statement.

They are the best in "strategy" consulting, by no means are they good or close to being the best in implementing the strategy. Majority of these kind of consultants (Mckinsey, BCG and Bain) are usually only good in blue sky thinking and theory. They tend to struggle with detail. Hence are not that good in strategic change and transformation, which are also highly intellectual fields but require a larger population to conduct and hence allows some not-so cream of the cream in with the cream, unlike high-level strategy that requires a few and hence very gregarious.

They are good for developing corporate, business and functional strategy. But there are many other consultancies better for transformation consulting. Those with a capability for both high level and mid level view of issues.

Sagamite:

BCG and Bain staff are equally as good.

I would also be careful with that statement.

They are the best in "strategy" consulting, by no means are they good or close to being the best in implementing the strategy. Majority of these kind of consultants (Mckinsey, BCG and Bain) are usually only good in blue sky thinking and theory. They tend to struggle with detail. Hence are not that good in strategic change and transformation, which are also highly intellectual fields but require a larger population to conduct and hence allows some not-so cream of the cream in, unlike high-level strategy that requires a few and hence very gregarious.

They are good for developing corporate, business and functional strategy. But there are many other consultancies better for transformation consulting. Those with a capability for both high level and mid level view of issues.

You are bang on point bro (as always).

They did some consultancy work for us recently and what you described above is exactly how we felt once they left the building.

I actually did quite a lot of analyses for these guys. They are so damn rude.... Geeez

jay bee:

You are bang on point bro (as always).

They did some consultancy work for us recently and what you described above is exactly how we felt once they left the building.

I actually did quite a lot of analyses for these guys. They are so damn rude.... Geeez

I am surprised they were damn rude because they are usually better trained than that.

Maybe that was a junior and recent hire that had his head up his arsse.

They are trained to learn get as much people on side with them and to aim to operate laconically with majority of client staff that are not their direct senior client contacts.

The ones that were rude to you can be out of the door if anyone ever found out.

tunapa2009:
We need to know the area of the room, and also the area in which a golf ball can occupy..lol

it would be the volume of the room, not area. That gives you 3 dimension in Length, Width and Height.

Area is just 2 dimensions when considering a cube-shaped room, which is Length and Width.

As for the golf ball, you factor in the diameter for each ball which I believe would be uniform on others.

What an interview !!!! Just picturing myself in the guy's situation.God dey .jarus, wish there will be a part 3, really enjoyed part one and two, so educational. ..

Nice interview. really got me thinking.

If I was to rank consulting firms based on their specific business models, I would go like this:

Strategy
1. Mckinsey
2. BCG
3. Bain
4. Roland Berger
5. AT Kearney

General Advisory
1. Oliver Wyman
2. Deloitte Consulting
3. PWC
4. Ernst & Young
5. KPMG

Full Service Advisory
1. Accenture
2. Capgemini
3. Booz Allen Hamilton
* I will refrain from naming any more as I don't see any other player in the full service field that is diverse enough from systems integration and has the brand strength to win strategic/advisory work like these three named firms.

In consulting there are, by and large, two key success metrics:

1) Revenue per Consultant
2) Scale/size of firm

For the Strategy business model, (1) is dominant. High revenue per consultant with medium scale is good.

For the General Advisory business model it is a balance.

For the Full Service Advisory business model, (2) is dominant. Medium revenue per consultant with high scale is good.

Hence why the strategy consultants get paid more. Even in the Full Service Advisory firms, their strategy consultants get slightly higher pay. The hierarchy there is strategy->transformation->technology->outsourcing.

Sir Sagamite, I sent you a PM.

2s£xy:
Sir Sagamite, I sent you a PM.

Cool.

I go pick am up.

I replied but e bi like say NL email dey fail.

I dey get mail demon error reply.