Summer Business Analyst Review

Having completed several internships across the board, in large corporates, startups but also non-profits, I can genuinely say McKinsey was the most enjoyable one. I found the work extremely rewarding and very intense learning-wise, the company's culture is very much impact-oriented and client-focused and my colleagues were knowledgeable and inspiring. Besides work, it was great fun, so I definitely highly recommend trying this to anyone looking at career in management consulting!

McKinsey internship is a great idea if you really want to get a feel for what the job of a management consultant is like. For the 2 months of my internship, I was working on 2 projects and had an ownership over a substantial part of the work myself. The scope of my work was smaller than that of my full-time colleagues, but regardless, I was trusted, responsible and felt like my contribution is directly driving impact for our clients. This was of course reflected in relationship with my colleagues too - at McKinsey, you are not thought of as an intern, but rather as an important part of the team, with all the benefits and perks, but also responsibilities and expectations.

In a typical McKinsey team, your engagement manager is a person leading the project on the ground, giving you all the guidance and supervision needed. I found the expectations higher than in any other previous work experiences, especially given there was no induction training and I was thrown into deep end. Although this can be frustrating at the beginning, especially if you have no prior business experience, I found the people were willing to go out of their way to help me. This is not true for managers only, but also for peers and people of different seniority across the board. Outside help with projects and content, I was also assigned a DGL (Development Group Leader) and a buddy from my peer group, who were helping me identify my strengths and areas of improvement as the internship progressed.

It is no secret work at McKinsey is exhausting, but everyone who signs up for the job is fully aware of that. Hours are long and there is always an extra slide or an analysis to finish, so this will be mostly driven by your perfectionism within the environment, rather than your manager giving you pointless work, which is what I've seen in different companies - at least that was my experience. It is in your hands to prioritise and really work on value-add work, and there is definitely a lot of wiggle space for you to make your own work-life balance sustainable. So overall - quite busy, but it's mostly up to you.

You are given just as much responsibility as anyone else working for the company. From Day 1, you are thought of as a regular team member, and you are expected to ask, contribute, assume just as much responsibility as any full-time hire. You of course have smaller scope of your work stream and are given a grace period to ask as many silly questions as you want to, but as the project progresses you are expected to pick up new skills very quickly and learn the best you can.

If I was asked this question straight after finishing the internship, I could not put a label on it. As a student of Business and IT, I found the internship very relevant, however, I did not find the content would overlay in any way with my course. Upon returning to university, I quickly found that the basic consulting toolkit I picked up helps me immensely. I find it much easier to visualise final deliverables of whatever I'm doing, structure reports, use frameworks that I picked up during my case interview preparation to analyse business scenarios, etc. I am much more efficient and can zoom in on key issues and identify what needs to get done quickly when prioritising work. And, undoubtedly, my work ethic and self discipline is much better too.

Absolutely loved it! Thing about our office being quite small (50-100 people) is that you know everyone and when you come back from the client on Friday, you know the people you will meet and are excited for the conversations you are going to have. I very much enjoyed our Friday lunches and drinks together, and spent a lot of time together even outside work - offsites, talks, sporting events, music festivals, parties, weekends. Of course, socialising is not limited to Fridays. On a client engagement, you are on the ground with your team Monday - Thursday and I found myself spending most of my evenings with my colleagues after we came back from the office, having dinners and chat over coffee and wine.

I do not think McKinsey put an exceptional amount of time into preparing the internship scheme compared to other corporations, which is however not such a bad thing. The fact that you start just as a full-time hire would means that you feel a commitment to perform on the same level and perceive yourself as a regular member of the team, just like others perceive you. There are no special perks or events for interns in CEE region, given the high selectivity and small numbers of interns they take on, I hear this is different in other parts of EMEA and the US. In CEE, you are free to attend all the office events and there is a lot happening, I do not remember a weekend where there would not be something planned by people from the office. So whilst you have no extra schedule as an intern, you do get the absolute best picture of what working for McKinsey actually feels like, both job and fun-wise, should you decide to come back as a full-time consultant.

As an intern, you do not have any special induction or training as it is common in other corporations or Big 4. You do have full access to all materials, resources and internal knowledge and can browse internal e-learning portal to pick up skills as you go. There is no extra training for interns, but I imagine McKinsey will support you if you want to do something external within your time at the firm, should it help you do your job better. Upon joining the firm as a graduate, you have an incredible training scheme set up, with induction and regular trainings every year all around the world, DGL and mentor assigned and of course, a sponsored MBA degree. I think it is fair to say you do get a lot of investment once joining full-time.

I got a full-time offer upon completing my internship and signed it without hesitation. The 2 months at McKinsey were an incredible learning experience and although it was very intense at times, I think it made me grow a lot more than any other experience would in such a short time period. It is great to know the things that wait ahead upon joining full-time and I think the amount of time and money the firm invests into your personal development and professional growth is very exciting. I do not think there is a better place to go as a fresh graduate if you want to get a good grounding in business, but also get an overview of different industries and regional dynamics - you would not get this anywhere else but consulting.

Definitely! As I mentioned, Prague office is small with just a couple of interns every year, so there are no intern-specific events. However, you will be fully a part of the team and can attend all the socials for full-time employees, so do use the chance, they are amazing!

Amazing! Prague is known for being very vibrant, international and multicultural but also very very cheap, so it is sought by tourists for a reason. You will pay 1/4 cost for renting a room in London for a whole apartment for yourself in Prague. Dinners and drinks are super cheap and the salary, although substantially lower, gives you a much better life standard for the money than any other place I have worked at. And of course, it is the prettiest capital in Europe, although I might be a little bit biased. Highly recommended - not only for work, but it is amazing for weekend getaways too.

Great, Prague is definitely a go-to place for great and cheap clubs and cocktails, so why not combine both. If you are visiting anytime soon, go to Dlouha street, where all the edgy bars and clubs are located and enjoy DJ sets at Roxy.

So many, the whole social aspect of working at McKinsey is very well thought out, at least that was my experience in Prague. As an intern, business analyst or an associate, you are automatically a part of JCC - Junior Consulting Club, a body that organises regular non-work activities and helps you bond with your colleagues and meet people, if you just moved in for the job, which I found extremely valuable. Some of the activities we did included a wine-tasting weekend or an orienteering race as well as volunteering activities, so definitely a way to do cool things and embrace the experience. Apart from JCC, there are standard events and off sites, talks organised by the office, which are great and again, help you meet people and make the transition easier.