Am I McKinsey Material?

A career at McKinsey or any of the other top consulting firms is the greatest job on earth, believe me. It is a fairly risk-free way to make $30 million if you go full cycle. It will bring you wealth beyond your expectations, and you don’t have to put any substantial money of your own into it. It’s the sweetest sweet spot of what you can do with your life. But getting in is hard, and even if you’re brilliant and have got good grades, it doesn’t guarantee you a job there.

There are a couple of things you have to know if you want to get in, and we’re going to hack this together. I’m the master of hacking things. I always told people I didn’t study law, I studied exam tactics. I always thought that by looking hard enough at what exactly is needed, I can prepare really well, and I did that every single time and aced my exams. And it’s the same with the consulting interview. There are a couple of things you really need to understand and know in order to crack it.

Let’s start by talking today about: am I McKinsey material? Will I be good enough for this? Should I apply there? What about these questions? Let’s first go a little bit into what the view looks like from the other side. The consulting firms call it “the war for talent”. The war for talent is on, and we’ve got our planes up in the air. Currently in this climate, talent is scarce. Startups are thriving, big tech is thriving. Everybody wants the best people, so the consulting firms have to really fight hard for the best people, in order to find that talent.

A consulting firm spends $50,000 for each hire they get. Yes, $50,000 is the cost of getting a single hire, because they have to run such a big machine to track down the best in the market. So, for them it’s about digging out the diamonds. It’s about finding these people. It’s about motivating people to even apply. And the consulting firms want to find people other than the typical MBA-types as well. So, there’s huge interest in finding you. Think about it from this perspective. The recruiters are not just sitting there being able to pick and choose the best. They have to work really hard and they would love it if you would apply. Believe me.

If you’re struggling with the question — Am I good enough for McKinsey? — I think it’s the wrong question. The thought — I will not be good enough or am I good enough? — is a limiting belief. It keeps you from writing a great cover letter, a great CV. It keeps you from being great in the interview because the thought has already killed your energy for doing this.

So, the first thing to do when you think — am I good enough? — is NOT to work on whether you are good enough; it’s about working on getting rid of that thought. You ARE good enough. You’re ALWAYS good enough. And think about it: it’s only a job application. What can you lose? It’s free. Go for it. Be the best you can be, and then see what happens. Take my own case as an example: it was so bizarre that I got a job there in the first place. It was just a path full of coincidences and luck. I’ll tell you about how it all happened another day.

For now, I’ll tell you that before I went for the interview, there were a couple of things I hacked which I need to share with you. The first learning is that if you have the thought — am I good enough? — it keeps you from taking action. The problem is not that you’re not good enough; the problem is inaction. So, get rid of the thought and you will be able to move ahead. You ARE good enough because consulting is a mindset game anyway. Everything we do there is a mindset game. You have to be willing to courageously go in even if you don’t know the solution — but to go in with the mindset that you will find the solution.

As a consultant, you go into a firm which is making a $20 million loss, and you’re supposed to turn this into $40 million in profits within a short time span. So, you go in and you find a solution. That is consulting, the consulting mindset. Now, if you’re somebody who says — I don’t know if I’ll be good enough for this — how are you going to succeed as a consultant? So, first exercise for today, get rid of the thought that you might not be good enough. That is the key exercise. You ARE good enough.

If the thought of not being good enough paralyzes you — stop it. You’ve got nothing to lose, and you’ve got the greatest career on earth ahead of you. It’s there for you to grab. If we’re talking about formal criteria, the bar is that your grades have to be up there. That’s a given. But even if your grades are only partly up there, you can still tell a story. My grades in the first part of my studies were not that great. In the second part, they improved, a lot. So, I told the interviewer a story that in the second part my grades were great. We’ll go into this in more detail in how we write our CVs and how we write cover letters. You highlight where you are great. Nobody’s great everywhere.

So, if you’ve got a couple of good grades in a significant area of your studies and you can highlight that, you’ve got a chance for the big lottery. Don’t come back to me saying my grades are not there. You’ve got to be excellent in some way, but you don’t have to beat it in every way. And besides, preparing for the big consulting firms is the best exercise you can ever do for any job interview, anyway.

Even if you get a job at a different consulting firm, there are amazing careers to be had there as well. So, don’t let the negative arguments stop you. Find the story inside of yourself of where you’re excellent. These consulting firms are not bureaucracies. There have to be certain formal criteria, sure, but they look at each case on its merit. They want to dig out the diamonds.

As an example, I employed one of the longest serving senior partners that I know. His grades were not that great, and it’s a long story about how he got into McKinsey. As I said, his grades were not that great, but he had the right mindset and that’s what they’re looking for: the right mindset. So, stop having that argument with yourself about not applying. It’s only an application, anyway. It’s free, go for it.

So, what should we learn about the — am I good enough for McKinsey? — argument? First of all, if you even have that thought, the thought is the problem. Get rid of it, and don’t think about it anymore. Find what’s in you. Find the area where you’re excellent and turn it into a story, and then give it a shot. Do it today. Action always trumps concept.

When do you know if you are McKinsey material, then? You are McKinsey material if you dare to be McKinsey material. Sitting in the case interview, you have to be courageous enough to say, “I am smart enough to answer these questions.” And whatever your mind is able to come up with, this is what you tell the interviewer. This is the “daring to be there”. If you don’t dare to say that, if you don’t dare to blurt out whatever your mind comes up with, you’ve got no chance.

So, for me you are McKinsey material if you dare to be McKinsey material. Give it a shot. But it’s really about daring — trusting yourself — and then you can do it. I’m the greatest living example of this. I was actually great in the interviews. But it was at a time when I was full of myself. I’d just completed my graduate studies, and I was living abroad.

I thought the world was my oyster, and I just went in there and I thought I knew all the answers. So, I gave them some answers, and some were wrong, some were right. But they thought: this guy dares and he wants to go for it. They even said to me, “Don’t you want to just try it?” They were talking about an internship first, and I said, “No, I’m not interested in that. I want a full associateship right from the beginning. This is it. Give it to me.” And they gave it to me. It was amazing.

So, it’s a mindset game. Get going. You are McKinsey material if you dare to be and give it a shot. Stop thinking those thoughts about whether you are or whether you’re not. Let reality tell you if you are, not your thoughts.

That’s it for now. Consulting is an amazing career. Don’t miss out if you have the opportunity. It’s fun, it’s great — and it’s the best preparation for anything you ever want to do afterwards in your life. Send me your comments. Let me know what you think. Let me know what I should cover. I’m here for you. Have fun.

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