McKinsey & Company Reviews

Current Employee – been working at McKinsey & Company full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – Unique and astounding opportunities for professional development
Work on incredible high-impact and interesting problems
Varied work for broad and deep exposure across industries and functions
Many many other smart, lovely people to get to know (it's just a pity you're all so busy so can't spend more time with each other)
They take care of you

Cons – Lots of travel for those with families (in most cases), intense work, generally long hours (though you can fight to make these more reasonable)

Advice to Senior Management – The best people will stay longer (I mean the best, not just the good) if you can make the hours and demands more realistic

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at McKinsey & Company full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – These people are smart, they're (mostly) fun, and this is an environment of finding solutions, not problems - great for innovation and ideas.

Cons – More hierarchical than I'd expected - despite a culture built on curiosity and questioning, it's clear there are certain orders and people you just agree with, or else ...

Advice to Senior Management – Please spend some money on real 21st century technology !!!

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at McKinsey & Company

Pros – The calibre (technical competence, general intelligence and winning personalities) of other consultants is the highest I have seen anywhere. The projects McKinsey undertakes are almost always of high impact/importance (very little 'dud' work). They have a great performance/people culture; personality and character are highly prized and the Firm does a great job at helping its people thrive. On the odd occasion there is someone who doesn't meet the bar they are gently moved out - I have never seen someone 'fired'.

Cons – Travel away from family. Long hours. Dealing with difficult clients. These are all hallmarks of the industry in general and are not specific to McKinsey. In reality, the kind of people looking for jobs like this are weighing up against investment banking or corporate law or occasionally something else - so when you compare these cons to those professions there is not much between them.

Advice to Senior Management – N/A

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at McKinsey & Company

Pros – - Colleagues are typically extremely helpful in sharing needed knowledge
- Promotions can be fairly quick and is truly contingent on performance
- Depending on the person you get as your Developmental Growth Leader (DGL), your experience in McKinsey can be significantly affected, as he/she is responsible for presenting your case during review boards, for helping to find opportunities for your staffing, etc.

Cons – - Remuneration is subpar in comparison to other top management consulting firms (e.g. BCG, Bain)
- use of performance reviews to "layoff" employees during downturns

Advice to Senior Management – - Increase transparency and communication to employees
- Be clear and aligned on initiatives, with key visible support from Partners

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at McKinsey & Company

Pros – It's reputation, exciting projects and the incredible amount of knowledge that gets codified and shared.

Cons – The amount of heirarchy that exists.

Advice to Senior Management – Offer more exciting career path for researchers

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at McKinsey & Company full-time

Pros – lots of learning opportunities as long as you proactively seek, flexibility of shaping your own career, working with brilliant people

Cons – ignorance of people development from top management, tend to be short sighted

Advice to Senior Management – care more about your people, client comes first but not always the first priority

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at McKinsey & Company full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – Extremely smart, driven and down-to-earth colleagues
Unparalleled formal and informal training/mentorship
Real meritocracy with direct, timely, actionable feedback to help you develop

Cons – Long hours
Work-life balance
Immediate salary does not necessarily correspond to the hours put in

Advice to Senior Management – Preserve the McKinsey culture at all cost.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at McKinsey & Company full-time

Pros – High impact work, a lot of responsibility working with pretty senior people in Fortune 500 companies. Hotels, points, per diems, happy hours are really cool

Cons – Quick promotional schedule leads to a cutthroat environment

Advice to Senior Management – Do a better job of assessing fit for particular roles on studies

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at McKinsey & Company full-time for more than a year

Pros – McK can be a great place to work:
- As a young consultant, you'll get to interact with C-level executives and be given far more 'exposure' than you would in industry
- You typically learn a lot in a short space of time. Surprisingly for me, most of the learning was on the soft side (how to network, how to speak compellingly, how to structure communications, etc)
- The work is varied: you typically won't be working on the same thing for more than a few months

Cons – For most people, it's only a great place to work for a short period of time:
- The lifestyle is pretty awful (typically ~70 hours a week, although it varies by project and by office)
- The work is varied, but gets boring fairly quickly
- The higher you go, the more political it becomes

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at McKinsey & Company full-time for more than a year

Pros – - Great people, great resources, great opportunities
- Learn a lot (on a steep learning curve)
- Can talk to anyone about anything (CEO, floor operator, Director, etc)

Cons – - Experience depends on the log, people you work with, client, etc- luck of the draw
- Not enough mentoring/people focus

Advice to Senior Management – Cultivate client relationships, but cultivate teams as well- its supposed to be all about people.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company