Behavioral / Fit Interviews
Are "tell me about yourself" and "walk me through your resume" the same question?
I'm preparing for a McKinsey phone screen and the suggested answers to these two questions seem almost identical. I was thinking of giving a quick introduction, talking through a few relevant experiences and finishing with why McKinsey. Can I use the same approach for both, or should one be different?
Ian’s Answer
These are both "Resume Walkthrough" questions and should indeed be answered in pretty much the same way. That said, if "tell me about yourself" comes after "resume walkthrough", you'll have to have a 1-3 setence summary of who you are (strengths, interests, driving forces, etc.)
For your resume walkthrough, I recommend the following:
Needs to be chronological
Only keep important details that make you look good (i.e. I worked across 7 industries and rose up the ranks twice in the course of that role)
Keep a theme of "why consulting"
I.e. at each step you need to show that you both got exposure to aspects of consulting AND thrived + enjoyed them
Finish with: And that's why I'm here today looking for consulting with your company
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