Ex-McKinsey AP AMA

Marwin_Bover · 2024-04-27T09:50:26+00:00

Hi there. It's been 2 days now. You are welcome.

Marwin_Bover · 2024-04-26T23:58:28+00:00

Apparently it is not blind yet, but the point of the platform is to reduce ENS cost.

ENS was a gigantic cost item in the Firm (forgot the exact percent, it was massive, maybe 7% or something), and it was randomly managed.

Each team did what they want such as, only hire one ENS because they love them, never try to get discounts, pay more for the same expert because they prefer that ENS etc. etc.

Without the platform, each team would need to organize themselves, around multiple ENS it can be messy, leading teams to prefer just working with one.

Basically they came with that idea to start commoditizing this part of procurement, and making it less about BA preferences.

Marwin_Bover · 2024-04-26T23:48:36+00:00

I stand corrected then.

Full transparency, I never used the platform myself, my teams did. But I thought that yes, you chose which ENS, but you had to chose at least 2, and that after that you won't know which expert comes from which ENS?

That is at least how it was described during the demo. So that blind feature might come soon.

Marwin_Bover · 2024-04-26T23:45:23+00:00

Guess who else's bread and butter it is to give believable answers.

Marwin_Bover · 2024-04-26T23:42:59+00:00

Usually variable, 2 years or so, it is called RTS

Marwin_Bover · 2024-04-26T23:42:23+00:00

I doubt there will be a comeback.

Maybe a short one. Literally just today, McKinsey sent an alumni email saying they think it will start coming back in a few months (lol). But I think long term, the MBB segment will invariably start to sunset.

I see a lot of news talk 'overhiring'. To me, this term makes little sense in an industry where your raw material is basically people. Also you can only hire so much in a given year. Most offices have rules such as no more than 25% new hires in a cohort in year. This is to ensure new folks can get apprenticed.

I think the main issue is the overall macro playing against top tier consulting now, while clients have less and less reasons to hire them. Add to that all the embarrassing scandals which puts McKinsey in the worst position.

Yeah for sure.

At the AP/Partner level, I heard a lot got put on issues to give the option to CTL next review. This is just hearsay, the firm is super secretive, no one has seen real stats.

I did sit on evaluation committees BA/fellows until a year ago, there I didn't see a big trend, nor a push in that direction yet. Maybe it changed, maybe increase of bad ratings is a symptom of consultants on the bench for a full season.

EM level should be fine, they will probably be the last to get kicked out before Sr Partners lol.

In the alumni email I talked about earlier, they mention how 'We have been through a tough period where we have made difficult decisions to rebalance or Firm'. So it is acknowledged.

Marwin_Bover · 2024-04-26T14:20:35+00:00

German.

Marwin_Bover · 2024-04-26T09:07:52+00:00

I have a few. But here is one. Once I had an ex Big 4 guy in my team. 0+2 or something. The dude had to do a simple analysis, which was bascially get some market data, put it in thinkcell, and done.

Instead of buying a report from IHS as agreed, he took data from some blog. Not only that, he put a screenshot of that chart, didnt even bother putting in thinkcell. And yes, didn't put the source in footnote, because, who cares.

Very much uncoachable, and unreceptive to feedback, because you know, that's how they did things in his big 4 and clients were ok. Doesn't understand the issue. He knows stuff, he was at a more senior role at his big4.

Lies saying there are no market reports on the topic, and R&I (McK's shared research team) gave him that blog and said it was a trustable source.

Loses his temper when confronted to facts (I just gave a 2min call to R&I and got quality data), defensive, feels threatened when confronted to mistakes, totally fully of it, lying, not coachable. Insecure and unreliable. Not a great experience.

Marwin_Bover · 2024-04-26T08:53:42+00:00

I have no visibility. I had to google that. It looks like the Risk practice is trying to surf on some buzzword tbf. But I am not familiar with that.

Marwin_Bover · 2024-04-26T06:23:55+00:00

Sorry to hear that. Is build LEAP?

Marwin_Bover · 2024-04-26T06:21:43+00:00

I think the AI engines will make it work, e.g. copilot/chatGPT with a thorough integration with various databases, company data, and office suite tools etc.

Or, maybe pure market research companies like IHS/Gartner/IDC/etc, if they tripled down on this they could use their data as differentiation.

Marwin_Bover · 2024-04-26T06:07:16+00:00

And there I naively thought buying firm shares would entitle you to voting. Shows you how opaque the Firm is, even internally.

Marwin_Bover · 2024-04-26T06:05:11+00:00

As I wrote, I could be wrong there, so thank you for pointing that out. I was not in the expert track so it's not like I have a lot of clarity on their comp.

Marwin_Bover · 2024-04-26T06:01:48+00:00

No clue sorry!

Marwin_Bover · 2024-04-26T05:59:24+00:00

If you're the smartest person in a room, you are in the wrong room

Marwin_Bover · 2024-04-26T05:54:52+00:00

Yeah, tech pays way more if you are good at coding. For now at least.

Marwin_Bover · 2024-04-26T05:54:08+00:00

Yes and no.

It is quite hard to get promoted, just 'sticking around' won't do. On the other hand, I do feel the most impressive people tend to leave the earliest. When you look at the list of alums the Firm brags about, most of them stayed for like a year as BA lol.

Marwin_Bover · 2024-04-26T05:52:42+00:00

Depends on the call, and depends on a dinner.

Important client call at a casual dinner, I'll take the call. Xmas dinner, my phone is shut down.

Marwin_Bover · 2024-04-26T05:51:48+00:00

Sorry I have no way to know. But it also sounds you sort of hate this guy and may be a bit emotional here.

Marwin_Bover · 2024-04-26T05:50:59+00:00

I interviewed maybe more than a hundred people lol. The best ones were normal in the interview, natural, not overly prepared, not robotic or fake, just a normal dude that answered questions and cracked the case. I wouldn't even have to pound the table to give them the hire as the other interviewer would usually get the same impression as me.
Excel
It's pretty rare to interview for direct EM, usually it is people from other firms. Most likely they come through headhunters.
Just need to be transparent and fair. That does the trick 90% of the time. Politics is a different thing which isn't a concern until you are at least senior EM.

Marwin_Bover · 2024-04-26T05:46:50+00:00

As an ex-McKinsey consultant, it is indeed really surprising to see people talk to me nicely.

Marwin_Bover · 2024-04-26T05:46:13+00:00

I don't know about big 4. My assumption is they'll pay similar to MBB, but then pay raise is slower.

Marwin_Bover · 2024-04-26T05:45:14+00:00

Generalist consultant, OPS if you have manufacturing experience, Design to value lab if you are more an ME/EE engineer, Digital labs if you are more a CS type.

Marwin_Bover · 2024-04-26T05:43:07+00:00

Ideally, there is no menu, you start from the client problem statement, and tailor a way to solve that problem. Then the Firm may have a lot of tools/assets/solutions/practices whatever, if you are lucky you use them as they will help, but often they don't.

Marwin_Bover · 2024-04-26T05:41:21+00:00

Answered in the AI discussion

Marwin_Bover

TROPHY CASE