McKinsey PEI coaching

Our PEI coaching includes:

  • Coaching sessions led by a former McKinsey partner previously responsible for McKinsey’s regional recruiting

  • Choosing the best stories that contain all the assessed underlying skills

  • Placing the right accents to demonstrate relevant skill proficiency within each McKinsey PEI dimension

  • Delivering your PEI stories in an authentic and memorable way and avoiding typical mistakes

PEI coach

Anders

Former McKinsey Partner | Former leader of McKinsey’s recruiting in South East Asia

Through his more than 15 years of tenure at McKinsey, Anders coached, interviewed and assessed more than a thousand candidates that applied to McKinsey offices around the world. As a former partner responsible for McKinsey’s regional recruiting, Anders understands the recruitment process at McKinsey better than most. He guides candidates through their interview preparation process with unique insights from his previous experience, combined with his passion for talent development and coaching.

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Sneak peek into PEI coaching sessions

Every candidate is different and requires a different coaching journey. The amount of coaching sessions and their content depend on if a candidate already has some story examples prepared for PEI and how much adjustment they require. On average, PEI preparation requires 1-3 coaching sessions. The sessions are fully adopted to your situation, but below you can find an example of what will be covered.

  • Step 1. Choose the right personal experiences for your PEI stories

    McKinsey focuses on testing four dimensions in PEI interviews: Entrepreneurial drive, Personal impact, Inclusive leadership and Courageous change.

    In order to pass the bar on those dimensions, candidates need to demonstrate a set of underlying skills that comprise proficiency in those dimensions. Most candidates have personal experiences in which they demonstrated some of the required skills, however we often see that some of the required skills are lacking or not well articulated in the chosen stories.

    We apply a comprehensive assessment framework to make sure that the story you picked includes all the skills that will be assessed.

    It is typically a good idea to bring 1-2 story examples for each dimension to the coaching session to make it as productive as possible.

  • Step 2. Place the right accents when telling your PEI stories

    Every story can be told differently. There are certain levels of proficiency within each of the skills that comprise McKinsey’s PEI dimensions. When telling your stories you could highlight specific aspects in a way that demonstrates higher proficiency in a certain skill.

    For example, Ability to influence others is one of the skills within Personal Impact dimension, but how exactly you influence others will define your level of proficiency in the skill and eventually in the assessed dimension. So, in this step we shift from “What are the skills that you need to demonstrate” into “How to demonstrate them”

    Step 2 is naturally very much interlinked with Step 1 and we typically cover both as we go from one story to another.

  • Step 3. Practice story delivery to make it interesting and memorable

    Once you have a good story with the right skills and understanding how to highlight them it is time to practice how you deliver your story. Good delivery will make it easy for the interviewer to follow and pick up the right points, discover and remember your personality and get a feel of who you are as a future colleague. At the end of the day, you might be spending time together on a project.

    We can help you practice telling your stories with enough context and level of detail while being structured and easy to follow as well as with enough authenticity and personal depth to show the real you.

    Finally you will get used to the PEI interview dynamic with a senior McKinsey interviewer with all the sudden interruptions and sometimes uncomfortable questions which will help you to be better prepared and therefore relaxed and focused in the actual interview.

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