案例面试真题5: Mckinsey 面经

师妹已经过了 mckinsey 3rd round

即将面对 partner

祝她好运
、after the first round interview of mckinsey

today i‘ve just experienced the first round interview of mckinsey in kerry center.

the interview was much easier than what i was thinking about before. actually, it only took me no more than 15minutes to finish it! too short for a formal interview there. and the feeling there was just like i walk in, got to know each other, said hello and then goodbye. i didn‘t show myself totally enough before the interviewee! terrible to recall this experience to some degree.

the result of this round will be given next week, if i could receive the phone interview as the second round. hope me myself a good luck!

and the most valuable thing is that when i‘m there, back to the building where i spent two moths as an intern, i ran into so many familiar faces, actually all are my colleages to the extent. happy and all seemed to be astonished to see me there, just standing still and could not talk(i just figure out this point.) so happy to see them again, and maybe today is just a dream recall from last year.

really an exciting day today!

3月14日

maybe failed this time/ or maybe i did a good job

too nervous to do that kind of interviews there.

he seemed to put me under such great pressure that makes me too nervous to figure out a good logic answer.

1) could we just begin our interview with your education background and work experiences?

i just mentioned that the key points of my majors and the name and titile of my job.

2) and then, he want to know some other work experiences there besides the work experience in jpmorgan.

i just said benq, it firm focused on hardware manufacturing.

3) and then, i began to show him my characteristics there, but unfortunately he caught that how could i balance the hard work there.

i didn‘t thought of that before, i just mentioned the point that if you believe you can, you sure can.(don‘t remember whether i‘ve got it clear or not)

4) he asked how i develop the interest in finance

i told him that it was because from chongqing to beijing, i opened up my eyes. and if i could do excellent in finance, i could successfully do everything.

5) he want to know why i interested in ib except npl

i told him that npl is more focued on assets, as well as legal opinions that i‘m not so interested in. and ib is more focused on capital, which i‘m interested in. and ib‘s transactions is more significant. and more international.

6) some of my interests

i believe this is the best answer i did in this interview. i mentioned all the points of my best outstanding expertise, and also mentioned how the family would like to describe me and gave me some advices, i will take their advices in mind, try to do better.

so finally he gave me opportunities to ask some questions there.

and first of all, i want him to share some experiences with me.

he told me that this is the 5th year in ib and he is an associate now. he has worked in new york and back base in hong kong now. just some regular experiences not with exciting.

and second, i asked about the information of local career path.

he didn‘t know and i said thank you all the same.

at last, i asked about the second round interview.

will be soon informed if i could get into the second round.

so finally i don‘t know whether i did an excellent job or not. cause i‘m too nervous to answer some of the questions there, and some times stucked and could not go on. or on the other point, i did show the highlight points out, and he had recorded them all.

maybe, for taking an optimistic view of that.

wish me a good luck to entry the second round!
3月15日

2nd round mckinsey

this round, before entering the meeting room, during the interview, i didn‘t feel nervous at all. and for sure, this made me kind of nervous that i‘m not in such high mood to show myself actively. that‘s my dealy fault only could be overcomed by high mood.

ok, the process of this round is as following:

1) regularly, from self introduction

i believe this time i did show the best self introductoin of all the times before. from education background, to work experiences, to characteristics, to interests. all the parts just went on the way i prepared, hadn‘t been interrupted the only time.

2) as what i‘ve mentioned too much focused on interests, she asked me about how would i spend the spare time?

i was just a little confused, i‘ve just mentioned so much interests before this question, how could she ask the same kind of question again?!

but i just led her into the way that i would like to read a lot about finance about the trend of all kinds of industries when i‘m free.

3) but she was not satisfied with that answer, so she went on with haven‘t ever hang out with your friends?

i don‘t know the phrase could be used here, so i asked what does this mean, kind of silly, i thought that time. she said it meant to go out with friends.

so i just told her,"yes, of course!"and mentioned that it is much easier for me to make friends with others based on the broad interests of mine, i could easily find something in common with others.

4) so she began the case interview

the worst part i‘ve done forever!

the case is: how would you measue the market size of bicycles in china?

my mind just went blank at that time! i don‘t know exactly what does the market size mean? what are the factors of market size? i‘ve never encountered with this before! oh, god, i thought i would fail on this case!

so i just moved on with whatever i could figure out in my head, almost searched every corner of my brain, and i mentioned the following points as below:

a. how many people are using bicycles nowdays?to school, to work,etc

b. how many big providers in bicycle industry

c. if there is export, what is the number, what is the direction?

d. the existing and potential providers of this industry

e. if i could get in touch with the head of these big providers, i want to get the information of how they evaluate this market.

f. the assumption of how many users will turn in or turn out

such as the points above i could remenbere.

and as what nick pointed out, that the most important of dealing a case is the logic. no matter it is right or wrong, the logic of dealing out this case is the most evaluating factor. oh, gosh, after hearing this, i found out that i might fail this time. frustrated!

but i believe, in the last part, asking questions, i did a lot of compensation work of this interview.

5) asking questions

first of all, i asked the number of rounds of this position. just let her say something.

second, i asked the career path of this position. and this provoked her interest in that whether there is interview process i am taking. so right on the point, i told her that i‘ve just taken the first round phone intervew of jpm last night.

and for sure, she wanted me to acknowledge that i‘m interested in ib, too. no need to refuse commiting that. (i thought that time, maybe this made her reconsidering promote me into the next round for such outstanding background and potential)

at last, i myself told her i‘ve got enough information, thanks. (not what interviewers do regularly).

and she said the commom words, and said goodbye.

ok, the process is all recorded. the only thing i could do now, is wait, wait, and wait!

especially wait for the good news from jpm!
3rd interview of mckinsey

though just i heard that i‘ve successfully passed the 3rd round, but i just can‘t believe that! especially, shamus said that i am smart! how did he think so?!

ok, review the process of this interview:

1) shamus let me start with my education background

ok, i‘m a senior student from beijing jiaotong university, major in management information and information system, the courses are mainly focused on computer science and management. also i‘m a double major candidate of ccer, that‘s china center for economic research in peking university.

maybe he didn‘t hear so clearly, so he let me repeat what i‘ve said just now. i said ccer, and the president is lin yifu there.

"so tell me some courses you studied there.""macroeconomy, microeconomy, new institutional economy, the topics of china, international trade, international finance..."

"what is institutional economy?"from here, the hardest part began! i just mentioned that the institutional economy is mainly focused on the governments behavior or influence of the economy, and the policies and structures of the corporates, aimed at improve their profits, make them on the right track to develop much better.

2) "ok, now as you know that the government is decreasing their power in chinese corporates, lessen their ratio of capital, so under this situation, the new investors are in need to be in this market to make these coroporates alive. but actually, the investors are shocked by the government‘s behavior or frustrated to invest in chinese corporates. so what is your view of this outcome? and how do you think to improve their confidence in this kind of investment?"

my mind went blank totally! what a question! i didn‘t know how to start the analysis logic there!

thankyou letter to shamus mok

dear mr. mok,

i’m so grateful for your giving me this opportunity to talk to you. especially, thank you for having taught me and given me the advices during the interview.

as what you’ve mentioned today, students always could not apply the knowledge in the real world, and this phenomenon is common in universities in china. but i believe if i try to learn more, try to use it when discussing with friends, classmates or professors, it will be easily overcame.

furthermore, i felt bad for not having done a good job in the topic discussion. actually, that’s because i haven’t paid so much attention in the macro-economy, and the question is not easy to be answered without enough background information. on one hand, i’m busy looking for a good job these days, on the other hand, when you use the information in need, you learn the fastest. therefore, i believe that if there is a platform provided, the barriers of my improvement are only set by me myself. and i see mckinsey the right place.

thank you again for your time and advices! i’ll follow your guidance to enhance my ability.

looking forward to good news from you!

best wishes!