Job Title: Associate
Location: Dallas, TX
Submitted on: 02-Aug-04
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Working at McKinsey is the best thing in the world if you love your job
or if you have very specific goals which McKinsey will help you
achieve. They expect a very, very high level of commitment from their
employees, yet they give a lot in return. For a young, unattached
person this place is truly the jackpot of opportunity.
McKinsey is sort of like being paid to attend Harvard Business School.
Here, you can learn about anything (in business) that you want to learn
about - and get paid to do it! The resources inside the firm are
amazing - both people, documents, research - you name it, it's at your
fingertips here. You want to talk to one of the leading experts in the
world in economic development in third world countries? So you're a
brand new associate while he's a Director, has been here for 20 years,
and has advised heads of state. Pick up the phone and call him! I bet
he gets back to you within 2 days.
Then, there are the people. You will work with Olympic athletes,
entrepreneurs, future senators. You will work with people who are
passionate about everything from stargazing to horseriding to their
kids. And, you will get responsibilities here that youd' have to work
20 years on the outside to get. People will assume you can handle
it ... until you prove that you cannot. And, even then, they will try
to find ways to "develop" you, rather than kick you out.
Those are the gets. But, there are also some weighty gives. Client
service will be the number one priority, even about your personal
life. They do endeavor to work with people, however when something has
to give - it will more likely than not be YOU giving up your personal
priorities. Travel is a part of the job. Fun when you're single and
wanting to see the world. Hell when you have a child that you want to
get home to. You will also be subjected to crushing insecurity (if you
are so inclined). Working with the best and the brightest can be very
inspiring, but it can also be terribly humbling. You will also give up
a good bit of diversity. First of all, McKinsey has a terrible time
retaining women - again, because of the difficulty of building a family
while doing what it takes to build a career here. Also, most people
here are frighteningly the same. All very similar personality types.
(IF your'e familiar with the Myers Briggs indicator, something like 95%
of McKinsey is made up of ENTJs). That can be frustrating to someone
who doesn't get along well with ENTJs!
Despite the gives and the gets, I will say that McKinsey is true to its
stated intentions. They really do care about delivering value to the
client more than they care about just making fees. They have this
luxury of course because of the resources they bring to bear - there
are many, many places where they actually CAN deliver value, so they
don't need to chase after the places that just simply make easy money.
They also really do care about being a meritocracy. However, I would
say the place is still somewhat academic in that there are still tenure
bands that are adhered to for promotions. It's not a pure meritocracy,
but within accepted tenure bands, it is. For example, I know several
people who have been elected partner when both of their major clients
literally imploded and would never be heard from again. People
respected the quality of their work, despite the future earning
potential of their client base!
McKinsey is a demanding place to work and some of its employees'
personal lives/relationships show the strain as a result. However, the
value they offer in terms of interesting work, great people to work
with, and future opportunity is unmatched in my mind. If you have a
dream that involves business, dream big - dream MCKINSEY.
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