McKinsey offers opportunities to fresh graduates, advanced professional degree holders (Ph.D., medical, law), MBA graduates and experienced professionals. You can start as a generalist, working across a broad range of industries and functions to develop knowledge and build skills. Or you can build specific expertise within a practice.
You can apply at any time of year for the position of Business Analyst, Junior Associate, or Associate. From there, you can grow to become an Engagement Manager, Associate Principal, and eventually a partner.
Business Analyst
You can join as a Business Analyst soon after finishing your undergraduate or master's degree. This position is also open for individuals who are not long in their first graduate position and are seeking an opportunity to switch tracks early in their career.
Business Analyst is a full consultant position. This means that you'll get to do everything that other consultants do – meet and interview clients, run analyses, participate in problem solving with the team, draft documents and present the team's findings to the client. You'll also enjoy the help of our support staff with searching for information or creating documents. Even as a Business Analyst, you're here to think and to work with people, not to carry out basic tasks.
Our successful Business Analysts receive McKinsey MBA sponsorship at top business schools. This investment ensures success in future careers, wherever life can take them. Our preferred schools include Harvard, Columbia, INSEAD, London Business School, Kellogg, Stanford, and Wharton. Upon completion, they are invited to return to McKinsey as Associates. You can read an interview with Viktor Hanzlik who has spent a year and half on Columbia here.
Note: For undergraduate degrees (referred to here as bachelor's degrees) we require that you have studied at a recognized university.
Junior Associate
You do not need a business degree to thrive here. Junior Associates will typically have limited business experience or have advanced professional degree, such as Ph.D. We need people with different skills and background to broaden the firm's capabilities and enrich our culture. If you have the intrinsic problem-solving and leadership skills, we will train you on the specifics so you will be well prepared for your transition into McKinsey. The primary focus of the program is to enable Junior Associates to develop business skills in a hands-on environment. Junior Associates typically play the same role as Associates, but with increased levels of support and additional training. With this support you will hit the ground running and be well on your path to becoming and Associate anywhere between 12-24 months after starting the program.
Associate
We look for exceptional people established in a wide variety of fields and professions, such as finance, engineering, law, the military, and from industry. Associates will typically have significant business experience in industry and/or an M.B.A. As an Associate you will take an active role in all aspects of an engagement – identifying issues, forming hypotheses, planning and conducting interviews and analyses, synthesizing conclusions into recommendations, and helping to implement change. As you gain skills and confidence as an Associate, you will manage bigger pieces of the problem at hand. When you join our firm, you can build on your distinct expertise by specializing in a particular field of interest. Or, you can explore the range of opportunities a place of our global size and scale can offer. Our Associates are expected to start managing teams within two years. However, your career progress depends solely on your potential and demonstrated skills.
Engagement Manager
Successful Associates become Engagement Managers. As an Engagement Manager, you will have responsibility for leading the problem-solving process and the day-to-day management of a project team. This involves coordinating all the team's activities and making sure the work remains on schedule.
Associate Principal
After gaining some experience as an Engagement Manager, you may be designated an Associate Principal. In this role, you will work closely with clients in a broader context, discussing new projects and building relationships.
Partner
The final stage in your career at McKinsey is election to partnership, first as a Principal, then as a Director. Election is based on performance in three areas: achieving success for your clients, being an excellent team player, and creating growth opportunities for younger colleagues. Partners have overall responsibility for the quality of your work and the relationship with our clients.
