Prepare for McKinsey · Be ready for anything
McKinsey interviews are different. Prepare with someone who used to ask the questions.
McKinsey trained me to ask them, and as an official interviewer for the firm I did. Today I sit on your side of the table. Through one-to-one coaching and a complete guide system, I show you what to expect and how you come across, so you walk in calm, confident and ready for whatever comes.
Write to me for a first conversation. Booking and checkout run on PrepLounge.
- Coach and interviewerAt McKinsey I was an official coach for dozens of MBA candidates, then completed the interviewer training and interviewed numerous candidates across seniorities
- 100+candidates coached since leaving the firm; the large majority joined McKinsey
- 5.0coaching rating on PrepLounge, from 250+ sessions
The problem
Why most preparation misses the mark
The case you practiced isn't the case you'll get.
Most material trains you to run the case yourself, from first framework to final recommendation. At McKinsey the interviewer usually runs it, one question at a time, and the habits you built elsewhere start working against you. Strong candidates can lose their footing in the first minutes for this reason alone, before their thinking has a chance to show.
The half of the interview most candidates skip.
In my experience your personal stories weigh at least as much as your case, yet most candidates treat them as an afterthought. So when they are asked to talk about themselves, they panic and give away things they never meant to say. That is rarely because they are the wrong people. They have simply never learned how to tell a story about themselves.
You can't game a conversation.
A lot of advice out there treats the interview as a code to crack: the framework to memorize, the phrase to drop, the trick that is supposed to impress. Interviewers have heard all of it, usually many times over. What works is engaging with the problem in front of you and with the person across the table. That is what I teach: skills, not gimmicks.
One-to-one coaching
Coaching tailored to you and to what McKinsey seeks
I coach one thing only: getting into McKinsey. I get to know you first, then tailor every session to what McKinsey seeks in both the case and the PEI, so you walk into your interviews prepared, calm and confident.
- Sessions of 80–90 minutes, with no cut-off at 60
- Preparation before each session and follow-up after it
- Offline reviews of your PEI stories
- An open WhatsApp line between sessions
- The guide system materials, included in every package
- Coaching in English, German or Spanish
McKinsey PEI Ready
The Personal Experience Interview: finding, shaping and rehearsing your stories.
McKinsey Case Ready
The interviewer-led case, question by question, with feedback on each answer.
McKinsey Interview Ready
The whole interview, case and PEI. In my experience a clear weakness in either part can cost you the offer.
Single sessions are available too. See packages and prices on PrepLounge
The guide system
The Complete McKinsey Interview System
Between sessions I gave candidates my own materials so they could keep practicing, and they kept telling me how much those materials helped. This system is those materials, rebuilt and completed: 21 PDF books and more than 1,350 pages. It follows the interview from the outside in: Level 1 explains how McKinsey interviews and what it evaluates, Level 2 shows how the case and the PEI are assessed, and Level 3 builds mastery, one capability per guide.
Explains how the McKinsey interview is built, and why it differs from other firms.
Walks you through the case, from the first question to the last.
Walks you through the Personal Experience Interview and how to prepare for it.
Trains you to bring order to a problem you have never seen before.
Workbook with 60 exercisesTrains you to stay precise and calm when the numbers land on the table.
Workbook with 40 exercisesTrains you to pull the threads together and say what it all means.
Workbook with 40 exercisesHelps you find and tell the moments where you made something happen.
Collection of 10 example storiesHelps you find and tell the moments that changed how you work.
Collection of 10 example storiesHelps you find and tell the moments where you won someone over.
Collection of 10 example storiesHelps you find and tell the moments where a team got there with you.
Collection of 10 example storiesGuide 00, The Full System, explains how to use all of this, with one-, three- and six-week preparation plans.
- 10guides in three levels, plus Guide 00 on how to use the system
- 140case exercises on 20 shared business cases
- 40example stories with interviewer commentary and probing questions
- 15full cases to practice with a partner
Three ways to get it
McKinsey Interview Ready
The Complete System: case and PEI together
- All guides: 00 and 01–10
- Three Exercise Workbooks
- Four Story Collections
- Case Packs 1 and 2
- Practice Partner Guide and scoring sheets
About 85–100 hours of work
McKinsey Case Ready
The Guides, if your stories are already strong
- Guides 00, 01, 02, 04, 05 and 06
- Three Exercise Workbooks
- Case Packs 1 and 2
- Practice Partner Guide and scoring sheets
About 40–45 hours of work
McKinsey PEI Ready
The Guides, if your case is already strong
- Guides 00, 01, 03 and 07–10
- Four Story Collections
- Practice Partner Guide and scoring sheets
- Story-mining worksheet
About 45–55 hours of work
About Moritz
From both sides of the table
I nearly didn't make it into McKinsey. I came to consulting late, as a geologist who had explored for gold and then for oil and gas, and I prepared for months during and after my MBA at ESADE.
I then spent three years at the firm, on more than ten projects in mining, energy and sustainability. Alongside client work I was an official McKinsey coach for dozens of MBA candidates. I then completed the official interviewer training and interviewed numerous candidates across seniorities on the firm's behalf. As a coach I had still been partly guessing what made a candidate successful. As an interviewer I saw from the inside how candidates are assessed.
Since leaving the firm I have coached more than 100 candidates, and the large majority joined McKinsey. Today I am Principal for Strategy & Market Intelligence at BHP, so you work with someone who still works through complex problems every day. I am based in Santiago, Chile, and I coach in English, German and Spanish.
Moritz Rosenkranz
- GeologistExploring for gold, then for oil and gas
- MBA at ESADEMonths of interview preparation, during and after
- McKinsey consultantThree years, more than ten projects in mining, energy and sustainability
- Official McKinsey coachCoached dozens of MBA candidates on the firm's behalf
- Official McKinsey interviewerCompleted the interviewer training; interviewed numerous candidates across seniorities
- Independent coachMore than 100 candidates coached; the large majority joined McKinsey
- TodayPrincipal for Strategy & Market Intelligence at BHP, based in Santiago, Chile
The name and the mark
Why FirmGoals, and why a cairn
Inside McKinsey, people call it the Firm. Firm also means solid, something that holds. FirmGoals stands for both: the goal is the Firm, and a goal only counts once you commit to it firmly.
The cairn comes from where I started. I was a geologist before I was a consultant, so stone was always going to be part of this. A cairn is a small stack of stones that people leave along a route. It matters most when the weather turns and the path is hard to see: it tells whoever comes next that someone has been this way, and that they are still on the route.
That is how I see my work. I have walked this route as a candidate, a consultant, a coach and an interviewer, and I mark it for you. I can't tell you which case you will get or what your interviewer will ask. I can make sure you know the route well enough to handle whatever comes. That is the idea behind the line on every guide: Prepare for McKinsey. Be ready for anything.
The lower stones are the groundwork we lay together. The top one, the blue one, you place yourself.
Moritz
Reviews
What candidates say about my coaching
From reviews of my coaching on PrepLounge and messages candidates sent me. Typos corrected; nothing else changed.
“Moritz took the time to explain to me the major differences between McKinsey and other consulting firms, deconstructed the bad habits I had developed for interviewee-led cases, and taught me a clear and effective method for meeting McKinsey's expectations.”
“He went out of his way to share invaluable insights on PEI. I just passed my second round with McKinsey, and my interviewer praised my strong PEI performance.”
“Moritz reviewed my PEI stories individually, which was extremely helpful in improving both the overall structure and the narrative of each story.”
“He is very good at pinpointing which parts of an interview you do well and where you need to improve, and gives very comprehensible advice on how you can actually improve it, both for PEI and cases.”
“Entering with that kind of mindset into the interviews actually made them really fun in the end.”
“I felt so super well prepared. Was exactly as I had expected and as we discussed.”
Questions
Frequently asked questions
How is this different from other preparation?
Most material trains a generic consulting interview: candidate-led cases, memorized frameworks, little on the PEI. My coaching and the guide system are built around how McKinsey interviews and assesses, and cover the case and the PEI in one consistent approach.
Coaching or the guide system?
The system is built so that you do not have to rely on coaching. Coaching can make a material difference when time is short and you have the budget. Every coaching package includes the system materials.
What is not covered?
Solve, McKinsey's online assessment, and the expertise interview some specialist roles add.
Why does booking run on PrepLounge?
Sessions, packages and the guide system are booked and paid for on PrepLounge, where my calendar and my reviews live. For a first conversation, or any question, write to me directly.
Prepare for McKinsey.
Be ready for anything.
Not sure where to start? Tell me where you are in the process and when your interviews are, and we will work out what fits.
Write to moritz@firmgoals.com