One of the world's best-known management consulting firms. It began in Chicago in 1926 and opened its London office in 1959. It hires many graduates straight from university.
McKinsey & Company is a management consulting firm. Organisations such as businesses, governments and charities hire its teams to help with big decisions, for example where to grow, how to reorganise, or how to run an operation better. Wikipedia says it has more than 100 offices in about 60 countries. Think of it as a very large group of problem-solvers who are borrowed by an organisation for a few months to work out the best way forward.
The firm began in Chicago in 1926 as James O. McKinsey & Company, set up by James McKinsey, an accounting professor at the University of Chicago. Its head office is in New York. Its London office opened in 1959, which Wikipedia describes as the start of its European growth, and it had 37 staff there by 1966. A recruiting guide places today's London office at 100 Museum Street, with a sister office in Dublin that is recruited alongside the UK (a third-party site, so treat the address as indicative).
McKinsey states its purpose as "to help create positive, enduring change in the world". Its mission is to help clients make "distinctive, lasting, and substantial improvements in their performance" and to build a firm that attracts, develops, inspires and keeps exceptional people. It lists three values: adhere to the highest professional standards (clients first, ethics, confidentiality); improve clients' performance significantly (working at top-management level and building lasting client capabilities); and create an unrivalled environment for exceptional people (little hierarchy, mentoring, welcoming different views). These are the firm's own words.
How the work runs: a project usually lasts two to twelve months with a small team of three to six consultants, who present findings to senior managers. Wikipedia describes a flat structure in which senior staff are called partners and each person is given a mentor. Its governance page describes a managing partner, an elected board called the Shareholders Council, and leaders of individual offices and practices. Wikipedia also says McKinsey hires many fresh graduates and uses an 'up or out' policy, meaning people who are not promoted are asked to leave. The pace is fast and the career path is demanding, so it is worth knowing before you apply.
For young people in the UK, McKinsey runs a programme called Discover in London for UK-based students in their first or penultimate year of an undergraduate degree. The 2026 event ran on 16 and 17 April (applications closed 22 March), and asked for a CV, academic record and extracurricular activities as evidence of teamwork, leadership and initiative. STEM students can apply to a version called Discover Tech&AI. McKinsey's careers pages for UK undergraduates list a Business Analyst role (for final-year students and recent graduates) and a Business Analyst Intern role, a summer placement for students in their penultimate year. The firm says it values people who are distinctive, driven, curious and diverse, and admits the work 'isn't easy'. Exact dates and pay are not published on the pages we read, so check McKinsey's careers site.
Website: www.mckinsey.com
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