Why McKinsey?
How to answer, with examples.

"Why McKinsey?" asks you to explain why you want to do consulting at McKinsey in particular, in the role and office you have applied to. A good answer is personal and specific. It shows that you understand the work, that your reasons are real and that you have made the effort to learn how McKinsey works beyond its website.

Below you will find the method, a complete example with the reasoning behind it, the follow-up questions interviewers use to test an answer, and a version for experienced hires. The example answers are fictional and written for this guide.

How to build a convincing answer

A strong answer is built in the opposite direction from most first drafts. Instead of starting from what McKinsey says about itself and looking for something to agree with, start from what you want from the next few years and then check where McKinsey offers it.

1. List your real reasons. Write down, without filtering, why you are applying: the problems you want to work on, what you want to learn, the people you have met, the kind of career you want. Include the reasons you would not say aloud, such as the brand, so you can decide consciously what to do with them.
2. Group them into two or three themes. Typical themes are the type of work, how you will learn and the people or environment. Rank them and put the most important first.
3. Translate each firm feature into what it means for you. "McKinsey works across many industries" is a fact. "I want to apply what I learned in logistics to retail and healthcare clients" is a reason.
4. Add proof to each reason. Use something you did, a conversation with a McKinsey consultant, or something you read and can discuss. Proof is what turns a claim into a reason the interviewer believes.
5. Connect to the role and office. Say why this office or practice fits what you want, based on what you learned about its work and people.
6. Run the name swap. Replace "McKinsey" with another firm. If every sentence still works, add the specific element that is missing: a conversation, a practice, a value you have seen in action.
7. Say it aloud in about a minute. Keep notes as bullet points, not a written speech, so the answer sounds like a conversation and survives interruptions.

The name swap is a check against generic answers, not a requirement for uniqueness. McKinsey shares many features with other firms, and that is fine. What makes an answer specific is the combination of your reasons, your proof and what you learned about this firm and office.

What the question really asks

From the interviewer's side, the question is rarely a request to rank consulting firms. Strong candidates usually apply to McKinsey, BCG and Bain at the same time, and interviewers know it. Franco Borgonovo, a former BCG Principal who interviewed and selected candidates for ten years as a global lead recruiter, puts it this way: the useful meaning of "why McKinsey" is "why consulting, here, rather than the other options you have", not "why McKinsey is better than BCG".

So the interviewer listens for three things:

• Do you understand the job? Your reasons should fit what consultants actually do day to day, including the demanding parts.
• Are the reasons yours? Reasons linked to your history are believable. Reasons copied from a website are not.
• Have you made an effort? Conversations with consultants, attention to the office and a precise idea of the work show genuine interest.

A long comparison with other firms, or a claim that McKinsey is "the best", misses the point and invites awkward follow-up questions.

When McKinsey asks it

At McKinsey, much of the personal part of each interview goes to the Personal Experience Interview (PEI), where you discuss one past experience in depth. Candidates and former interviewers often report that "why McKinsey" is not asked as a standalone question in every interview. You still need the answer, because it comes up in places that matter:

McKinsey's own interviewing page invites candidates to explore the firm's values and discuss them with their interviewers. That is a good reason to prepare this answer properly, even if nobody asks it word for word.

Folding it into your introduction

Because the question may not be asked separately, it helps to include a short version at the end of your introduction. Two sentences are enough:

If the interviewer then asks "why McKinsey?", you develop the full answer. If not, the motivation is already on the table.

Reasons that work, and what makes them credible

McKinsey publishes a purpose, a mission and three values on its website. The purpose is "to help create positive, enduring change in the world". The values are to adhere to the highest professional standards, to improve clients' performance significantly and to create an unrivalled environment for exceptional people. Each value comes with specific commitments, including "uphold the obligations to engage and dissent", "develop one another through apprenticeship and mentoring", "sustain a caring meritocracy" and "use our global network to deliver the best of our firm to all clients".

These are useful starting points, but reciting them adds nothing. The table shows how a feature becomes a reason, and what makes it credible.

A few reasons are better left out of the centre of your answer:

• Prestige and the brand. They are real, but they say nothing about you, and the interviewer already knows the brand.
• Salary and exit options. They suggest you see the job as a step towards something else.
• "The best firm" or "the strongest culture". These claims are impossible to prove and easy to challenge.
• Facts about the firm's size. Numbers you read on the website do not show that you understand the work.

If the brand genuinely matters to you, translate it into what it means in practice, for example the range of clients and problems you would see early in your career. That is honest and it is a real reason.

A complete example answer

The candidate below is fictional. She is a second-year MBA student who spent four years in operations at a logistics company before business school, and she is applying for a generalist consulting role.

Spoken at a natural pace, this takes about 75 seconds.

The reasoning behind it

1. The opening announces the structure. "Two reasons, and both come from my last job" tells the interviewer what is coming and that the reasons are personal.
2. Each reason starts from her, not from McKinsey. The first reason is about the work she enjoys, proven by a project with a result. Only then does McKinsey appear, through what its work means for her.
3. The firm feature is concrete. She does not say "McKinsey has a great culture". She names one commitment, the obligation to dissent, and shows it through a conversation in the office she is applying to.
4. The proof is checkable. The interviewer can ask about the warehouse project, the associates she spoke with or the forecast. Every claim opens a conversation she is ready for.
5. She left reasons out on purpose. Her first draft also mentioned the alumni network and "working with the best". She cut them because they did not connect to her history and would have made the answer longer without making it stronger.

Run the name swap on this answer. The first reason could partly apply to another firm, and that is acceptable. The second depends on two named conversations in this office and on a specific value she can discuss, so it no longer works with another name.

The follow-up questions to expect

A good answer invites follow-up questions, and interviewers use them to test whether the reasons are genuine. Prepare for these:

The answer is honest, does not criticise any firm and brings the conversation back to the candidate's own criterion. For more questions of this kind, the guide to consulting fit interview questions covers the rest of the personal interview.

Values conversations

Candidates in some offices report a separate conversation with a partner about McKinsey's values and their own, sometimes at the end of the final round. McKinsey does not describe this format on its interviewing page, so check with your recruiter whether your process includes it.

If it does, the preparation is similar to the PEI. For each value you might discuss:

• Say what the value means to you in your own words, not McKinsey's.
• Tell a short story in which you lived it, with what you did and why.
• Be ready for questions that test whether the value survives the reality of the job, such as long hours, ambiguity or disagreeing with a client.

Your PEI stories often work here from a different angle. A story about persuading a sceptical colleague, prepared for the PEI, can also show what "engage and dissent" means to you. The guide to the McKinsey PEI explains how to choose and tell those stories.

Researching the office and talking to consultants

Your interviewer works in a specific office, and that office is what they know best. Before the interview, find out which industries and functions the office serves most, which partners publish on the topics you care about, and what recruiting events it runs. McKinsey's website and LinkedIn are good starting points.

Conversations with consultants give you the material that makes an answer specific. Alumni of your university, people met at events and former colleagues who joined McKinsey are the easiest to approach. A short, polite message asking for fifteen minutes usually works better than a long one. Useful questions include:

• What surprised you most in your first year?
• How are teams staffed in this office, and how much do people travel?
• Can you describe a time you disagreed with someone senior, and what happened?
• What kind of person struggles here?

Note what each person said and how it changed your view. One sentence from a real conversation is worth more in your answer than a paragraph from the website.

Experienced hires: why now

For experienced hires, the question becomes "why McKinsey, and why now?". Candidates report that partners in final rounds probe it harder, because leaving an established career is a bigger decision. An answer acceptable from a student may not be enough from someone with seven years of experience.

A credible answer covers three points: what your current role does not give you, why consulting is the right place to get it, and why this is the moment. If you have been building towards it, for example by leading cross-functional projects, say so.

Avoid mentioning money, describing McKinsey as a stepping stone, or presenting the move only as a way to learn. You do not need to promise to stay for decades, but your answer should make it plausible that you want to build a career there. The guide to experienced hire consulting covers the rest of the process for experienced candidates.

Mistakes to avoid

• Listing McKinsey's values or facts without saying what they mean for you.
• Comparing McKinsey with other firms, or yourself with other candidates.
• A monologue of several minutes that leaves no room for the interviewer.
• Prestige, salary or exit options as the main reason.
• Claims about the firm or the office that you cannot support if asked.
• A memorised script that breaks down at the first follow-up question.

Practising with an experienced interviewer

Motivation answers are hard to judge on your own. They sound convincing when you write them, and only under follow-up questions do you find out which parts are generic. Practising with someone who has sat on the interviewer's side shows you which sentences an interviewer would challenge and which ones carry the answer.

Franco Borgonovo spent ten years at BCG, from intern to Principal, interviewing and selecting candidates as a global lead recruiter, and he still coaches BCG's new hires as an official coach in the Consulting Foundation Training. He prepares candidates for McKinsey as a coach; he has not worked at McKinsey. In a session, he works through your introduction, your "why McKinsey" and your PEI stories with the follow-up questions a partner would ask, alongside a case if you need one.

"McKinsey Riyadh offer secured. The mock interviews were by far the most useful part of my prep."

M.A., McKinsey Riyadh offer after coaching with Franco. One candidate's experience; results depend on each candidate and process.

Frequently asked questions

Final checklist

Your next step

Write your reasons today, before reading anything else about McKinsey, then add proof to each one and say the answer aloud. If you want to know how it sounds to an interviewer, and which follow-up questions would expose it, one session gives you a realistic mock, a debrief and a written plan.

About Franco

Franco Borgonovo

Former BCG Principal · 10-year tenure · Official BCG coach

Franco spent ten years at BCG, from intern to Principal, interviewing and selecting candidates as a global lead recruiter. He is still an official BCG coach for new hires, and today works one to one with candidates on applications, McKinsey Solve and interviews.

More about Franco →