Last week Kellogg Leliveld and I visited two senior people from McKinsey to discuss Darden recruiting. The great news: they hired many from Darden’s First Year class, making them one of our top five recruiters. The bad news: they wanted more—and need to get more each year to make the investment worthwhile. (I’ve deleted the actual numbers to protect confidentiality.) The good news: they hire Second Years, even if you did not have a summer in consulting. The tough news: you really have to prepare to make it.
These recruiters had hoped their take from the Class of 2008 would have been higher. McKinsey really invested in Darden this year, stationing an ambassador at Darden a couple of days a week. These recruiters believe the talent is here, but this year our students did not do as well in the case interviewing portion of the screening process as they needed to. The Class of 2009 fared better and was better prepared for the interviews. But these recruiters believe there is still an upside to the number. What is terrific about McKinsey (and several other top consulting firms) is that they don’t limit themselves to just “consulting” focused students. They want to speak to smart people with a demonstrated ability to think critically and analytically and create solutions to problems. If you spend this summer in I-banking, but think you might want to go into consulting, then you have that opportunity next fall.
But, you have to prepare. More than any other form of interviewing, case interviewing requires multiple stages of preparation. You must learn and master the techniques, so that when new cases come your way, you can deal with them. Spend this summer practicing. Practice with classmates in consulting. If you are in a city with alumni in consulting (a McKinsey office, for example), contact them, let them know about your desire to interview in consulting next fall, and ask for an opportunity to practice.
A gentle reminder: it will be too late if you begin your case interviewing preparation in September when you return. We plan to have even more prep for First Year students next year, with help from McKinsey and other firms. But as a Second Year, you must work hard in the summer and in September to be ready for interviewing in October.
Contact Brendan Boler in the Career Development Center if you want to practice with a Career Consultant.