“Let’s Dive Deeper”: Two Former Consultants’ Thoughts on Acing the McKinsey Case Interview
The McKinsey case interview is famously challenging — it’s meant to push your thinking and show how you act under pressure. Even though your interviewer is there to cheer you on, the case part of the interview can be intense. Beyond the long introduction and exhaustive list of facts and the occasional grilling, the reason we always felt nervous with McKinsey interviews was because our interviewers would keep saying, “ok, but let’s dive deeper.” This is typical for a McKinsey interview, and is one difference between the McKinsey interviews and those of peer firms. Every time we heard this, we felt like we were doing poorly and not thinking deeply enough, but note that this is usually not the case – the interviewer is simply seeing how far you can go. This is your chance to show the interviewer the best of your thinking and personality.
Here’s our best advice for acing the case interview when under pressure:
Be confident, calm, cool, and collected, even if you don’t feel like it on the inside.
Be deliberate—it’s always better to think for a moment than spitting out the first thought that comes to your mind.
Be structured. List things out before getting into details. Vocalize what’s important and what’s not so important (prioritize). If you go on a tangent, realize it and say something like: “but I realize we’re getting rather specific. I think it might be more useful to move on to the other issue, which is _____.” Think out loud, and make notes for yourself so that you know what you’ve already said to interviewers.
Be a critical thinker: Use common sense and intuition, gut-check your calculations and your conclusions. Show that you’re thinking about the case in the context of the real world and not just going through the motions. Engage higher-level thinking — don’t let yourself get too bogged down in the details
Be creative when asked to brainstorm. Be rapid-fire and think out-of-the box. Show your mind is moving fast and that you have outside knowledge.
For example, if asked “what do you think are some potential areas this internet company could expand?,” don’t say “mobile phones” and spend hours saying why. Instead, say “hmm, I mean given their extensive network infrastructure, I wonder if they could start offering mobile services. Or since I know home phones and internet are often bundled, I wonder if we could explore landline phone services at all, though I know landlines are going out of fashion a bit. I mean thinking even bigger, maybe this American company could look at expanding into other North American markets. Or perhaps we could look at new customers — do we provide business services, or just internet for individuals/homes? Are we covering businesses in all industries?”
Be personable: Mention personal experiences you’ve had with the industry you’re talking about. Use intuition and trust your gut. Speak in plain English.
For example: “Ok, I know when we go to hotels, my mom always asks if they offer deals at local restaurants. Does our client have any promotions like that, with local businesses?”
Use numbers wherever possible, but remember that qualitative information can be very valuable. Try to quantify qualitative information you hear, and try to put numbers on trends the interviewer may mention. At the same time, look for big-picture trends and implications in any numbers you’re given.
Be willing to back off a conclusion when you realize you’re wrong, and be willing to interrogate your assumptions. For some reason, I had it in my head that social media marketing would have a higher return on investment than billboard marketing, and I insisted on it in the interview. The interviewer asked me whether I was sure of that conclusion based on the data she was showing me. At that point, I realized that my idea did not bear out in the data, and was willing to admit that my initial hypothesis had been disproven by the evidence and pivot my approach.
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