Special Wes <> McKinsey event and alumni spotlight in celebration of Consulting Pathways’ new milestone
“Intense! Entrepreneurship! It’s what you make it.”
When asked to select an adjective to describe McKinsey, three generations of Wesleyan consultants labeled it, in essence, as a fast-paced space of endless opportunity and initiative. From hosting live in-office performances by broadway stars to helping major fortune-500 companies reach carbon-neutrality McKinsey is a powerful buzzword among those versed into the consulting field. It therefore becomes a great honour to announce that, as of early this week, the firm is officially recruiting at Wes!
Following months of tireless work by Consulting Pathways leadership, students at Wesleyan are now provided with the opportunity to get “professionally judged” for a chance to secure a spot as a business analyst in one of the consulting industry’s big 3’s. With the first official introduction event scheduled for noon tomorrow, the Gordon Career Center expects to host a series of McKinsey specific events over the course of the next several weeks, including, but not limited to, a Business Resume Workshop, How to Ace a McKinsey Interview and a Coffee chats/panel.
In appreciation of this incredible milestone, this newsletter gives a spotlight to three generations of Wes-McKinsey consultants: Eunes Harun, Catherine Cheng and Robyn Wong. With each discussing their relationship to and experience with the firm, the newsletter hopes to provide a more personal account of McKinsey, and invites you to participate in both the upcoming events and the opportunities to join future Wes-McKinsey generations.
Eunes Harun
After graduating from Wesleyan in 2020 with a full time business analyst position at McKinsey, Eunes left an unshakable consulting legacy on campus. Being one of the founding members of Consulting Pathways, he has left the recruitment door open for endless members of the Wes-Mckinsey generation. After spending several years with the firm, his experiences and perspectives make him a valuable insider source to true McKinsey culture.
“The most exciting part” about joining McKinsey, to Eunes, “has been the opportunity to always be trying new things. Due to the nature of our work, you can be helping a local government improve youth education outcomes one week, then the next week be on the other side of the world helping a major Fortune 500 company chart out their plan to achieve carbon neutrality.”
The high-impact projects of the firm, untouchable as they might seem, actually lend themselves to intimate teams which are appreciative of unique attributes. “ Each team is made up with a few consultants with their own strengths and skillsets; McKinsey focuses on strengths based feedback where you’re honing in on emerging strengths such that you become the best at what you do”. For Eunes specifically, “building relationships with clients is something that is energizing, so my teams create opportunities for me to interact directly with senior clients to build strong relationships”. McKinsey thus not only honors individual preferences and abilities, but offers an unparalleled platform to feed such abilities into endless exciting causes.
Yet another reason to strive for McKinsey is its global presence. “ the scale, reach, and resources are honestly endless”, states Eunes. “This means that the opportunities for unique and awesome experiences are everywhere – if you want to work in a certain geography around the world, in a specific function, or industry, you can find it at the firm. I read somewhere that if you’re at the firm for a decade, you can see 30 countries – that’s insane!!”
In summation, Eunes’ appreciation for McKinsey appears to lie in the firm’s emphasis on learning and entrepreneurship. “You have the opportunity to learn so much in a short period of time, but you have the ability to be the leader even from the start. It’s really empowering and also kind of scary to start”, tells Eunes. “However, what’s so special about the entrepreneurial nature of the firm is that we embrace new ideas and you can pursue what you’re most excited about as long as it holds true to our values. The sky is the limit and so that’s why there’s a saying: Make Your Own McKinsey”.
Catherine Cheng
As the second spotlight candidate in this newsletter, Catherine is indeed the manifestation of the nexus between Wes and McKinsey. Having won the Clee as a junior in fall of 2020, she is set to rejoin McKinsey full time after graduation. The current co-president of Consulting Pathways, she is dedicated to promoting a mission of establishing “a community of students and collection of resources to help students land job offers in management consulting, ultimately to democratize and demystify the recruiting process”.
Why the focus on McKinsey? According to Catherine, and just about any consulting recruitment report, the firm “is one of the most challenging recruiting processes to get through”. The rationale of the Consulting Training Program (CTP), therefore, was that successful prepping of “students from MBB” can ultimately “help them land roles just about anywhere”.
The success of Consulting Pathways and the CTP speak for themselves. As of early this week, the firm has officially begun recruiting at Wes! “I am beyond thrilled that we have the opportunity to showcase all of these efforts to McKinsey recruiters and help our deserving students land offers”, states Catherine. With numerous Wes-McKinsey generations currently in place, it is evident that those determined to go through CTP and truly harness their abilities see great success in their future consulting careers – an experience which is only augmented by the wonderful network of past and present Consulting Pathways participants.
Although recruitment can be a daunting prospect, Catherine is confident in the candidacy of Wesleyan students for roles in McKinsey. “Unlike some other schools, students from Wes need to really know that they are passionate about consulting in order to land a role at McKinsey. While this high barrier to entry can pose challenges, it also means that the students who do tend to land offers at the firm are very hungry, hardworking, and appreciative of the opportunity”.
And no, consulting isn’t just for the economics and business students! Being an English and Education studies major herself, Catherine is “proud of the fact that” she has “never taken an Econ class in” her “4 years at Wes. Although my background is unconventional, I’ve found that my humanities education made me a strong communicator. My English major made me really good at writing and presenting effectively, and my Education Studies major has made me good at asking the right questions and breaking down complex information into digestible pieces for the client”. All goes to say – whatever your major(s) might be, it is not the content of your studies but the skills and attributes you extract for them which make you an especially compelling candidate for McKinsey and other top-tier consulting firms.
Robyn Wong
After winning the Clee scholarship in 2021, Robyn is set to join McKinsey as an incoming summer business analyst. Marking the third, most recent generation of the Wes-to-McKinsey pipeline, she most looks forward to both “experiencing McKinsey’s learning culture” and “the people” and “city experience” such a culture is bound to saturate.
The firm, states Robyn, provides “unparalleled opportunities for personal and professional growth”, and experiencing the “intensity and formality of a recruiting process” for such a company, even if it doesn’t result in an offer, acts as a “great learning opportunity”.
Wesleyan’s liberal arts approach to education and emphasis on the development of interdisciplinary skillsets, according to Robyn, has both prepared her for the problem solving aspect of consulting and promoted her appreciation of “learning to learn”. This ability “not only serves the project-based cadence of consulting work, but also is specifically appreciated by McKinsey which prides itself for its institutionalised learning culture.”
So, how did Robyn manage to consolidate such broad yet vital and unique set of abilities into a clearly stellar Clee application? In her words, “A coherent personal narrative that made my experiences, skills, and beliefs relevant to McKinsey, while also never compromising on the sincerity of what I say or write in my application” is what landed her the scholarship. By such means, honesty and knowledge of self, as well as a clear appreciation for learning and eagerness to participate in the learning process seem to be excellent hallmarks for determining if you might enjoy the consulting recruitment process.
Only one question remains – are you ready to join the Wes- McKinsey generation?
Need a pre-interview hype song to prepare you for the iras and tribulations of recruiting? Check out these recs by our featured Wes-McKinsey generation members:
