How Do the Interviews at McKinsey, BCG and Bain Differ?

1. Differences in the interview process

McKinsey, BCG and Bain each take a slightly different approach to how many rounds of interviews they hold for each role and how many interviews they conduct before making a decision. These factors can even differ within the firms, based on office, practice area, and recruitment channel.

In other words, the recruitment process that BCG London uses for undergraduate applications is likely to be different from the process that BCG San Francisco uses for advanced degree hiring.

2. Differences in each firm’s approach to pre-interview testing

McKinsey, BCG and Bain all use online assessments to help determine whether to invite candidates to face-to-face interviews. These assessments take slightly different forms:

• McKinsey uses a 60-minute interactive game called ‘Solve’, which takes candidates through a series of tasks.
• Bain uses three different types of online tests across its offices.
• BCG uses a chatbot-based online case assessment tool.

3. Differences in each firm’s approach to the case interview format

Case interviews are an integral part of the interview process at McKinsey, BCG and Bain. All three firms use it as their main method for assessing candidates’ problem-solving skills, and all three use cases of similar complexity.

However, as well as traditional cases, Bain has also been known to use estimation questions, such as market sizing, in interviews for its most junior (i.e. Associate Consultant level) roles.

BCG and Bain occasionally use written cases, which require candidates to structure a problem, run some numbers, and generate ideas based on information provided in a series of paper documents. Candidates are then asked to deliver their responses in the form of a short presentation.

4. Differences in each firm’s approach to interviewer-led vs candidate-led cases

Another key difference among the firms is their preference for conducting either interviewer-led cases – in which the interviewer asks the candidate to explore specific aspects of the problem – or candidate-led cases, in which the candidate can decide what to investigate. You can learn more about the difference between interviewer-led and candidate-led cases in our case interview preparation guide.

Because McKinsey’s cases are developed by a central team, they tend to be interviewer-led, with a set script for interviewers to follow to test specific competencies. This can make McKinsey’s case interviews feel quite formulaic, particularly in first-round interviews, where interviewers are less experienced and tend to follow the script very closely.

BCG’s cases, on the other hand, are developed by interviewing consultants based on their own work. This means that the cases tend to be candidate-led, as the interviewers know all the aspects of the case and are comfortable with letting candidates choose which areas to explore.

As part of recent changes to Bain’s interview process, Bain is moving away from candidate-led cases – for which it was once well known – towards interviewer-led cases to ensure that candidates have a fair and uniform experience.

It’s important to be aware, however, that the style of case you are given will depend largely on the preference of your interviewer. If a BCG interviewer favors a more structured approach, your case is likely to be interviewer-led. If a McKinsey interviewer prefers cases to have a more natural flow they will favor candidate-led questions.

5. Differences in each firm’s approach to the fit interview

The interview processes at McKinsey, BCG and Bain all involve a set of questions about the candidate’s experiences and capabilities. This is broadly known as the ‘fit’ interview, but the firms all use different formats to uncover this information.

The Personal Experience Interview (PEI) at McKinsey

In the Personal Experience Interview (PEI) at McKinsey, interviewers want to hear about the actions that candidates took at a specific time in their life or career. They do this to assess whether candidates have the abilities required for success in consulting. They’re therefore unlikely to say: “Walk me through your resume” or ask questions like “Why McKinsey?” or even “Why consulting?”.

The fit interview at BCG

BCG’s ‘fit’ interviews focus on a candidate’s background, ambitions, achievements, and their motivations for becoming a consultant. While there is typically no fixed format, interviewers often ask about an experience or period in the candidate’s background to determine whether they have what it takes to succeed in a consulting career.

The behavioral interview at Bain

Instead of conducting a short fit interview, Bain now takes most candidates through a 45-minute ‘behavioral interview’. This is another recent change that Bain has introduced in many of its offices.

The behavioral interview is a one-on-one discussion in which a manager, senior consultant, or senior member of the HR team asks the candidate scripted questions to assess dimensions like listening, empathy, and teamwork.

These questions consist of backward-looking scenarios, which are about past experiences, and forward-focused scenarios, in which the candidate is asked to consider a hypothetical situation.

How to use this information as part of your preparations

If you’re preparing to interview at one or more of the top-three management consulting firms, we recommend that you begin by contacting the office (or offices) where you’re planning to interview. Ask recruiters to explain what you can expect from each interview process, particularly in relation to the format of each interview. From there, you should focus on preparing thoroughly for the case interview and getting ready for the fit interview.

In our Consulting Interview Prep Toolkit we teach you how to tackle the case and fit interviews as well as McKinsey’s Personal Experience Interview. The Toolkit contains all the online courses, sample interviews, case material, and practice tools you’ll need to ace these interviews.