Outline:
McKinsey & Company, a leading management consulting firm, has experienced a significant transformation in its use of artificial intelligence (AI) over the past 18 months. A year and a half ago, the company had only 3,000 AI agents at its disposal, with its 40,000 employees vastly outnumbering these digital tools. However, this number has surged by more than 500%, reaching approximately 20,000 AI agents that now support the company’s operations, according to CEO Bob Sternfels.
This shift reflects McKinsey’s broader strategy to integrate AI more deeply into its work processes. The company is not only using AI to enhance productivity but is also exploring how well potential job candidates can collaborate with its AI tools during the hiring process. This new approach signals a change in the skills and qualifications that McKinsey values in its workforce.
Testing AI Skills in the Hiring Process
According to CaseBasix, a consulting interview preparation company, McKinsey is incorporating an AI-based test into its hiring process. Candidates are being asked to use the company’s internal AI tool, Lilli, as part of a final round interview. This development was also reported by the Financial Times, which cited sources familiar with McKinsey’s practices.
The inclusion of AI in the hiring process is part of a larger trend where companies are seeking candidates who are “AI-ready” from day one. As AI becomes increasingly essential to various job functions, firms like McKinsey are looking for individuals who can adapt to and leverage these technologies effectively.
Sternfels emphasized that AI models have developed strong problem-solving capabilities, prompting the firm to reconsider its focus on liberal arts majors, whom it had previously deprioritized. He noted that these graduates bring creativity and a unique perspective that can complement the logical approaches typically associated with consulting.
Encouraging AI Use in the Application Process
McKinsey has not hesitated to embrace AI in the application process. The company encourages candidates to use AI tools to refine their resumes and practice for interviews. However, it also cautions against using AI to generate responses during assessments or to embellish information.
“We welcome those who share our curiosity about AI and its potential,” the company’s career page states. Despite this encouragement, the pilot program introduces a more structured approach to testing AI skills.
According to CaseBasix, the AI interview may serve as an additional step in the application process, alongside traditional case interviews and personal experience interviews for candidates in the U.S. and North America.
In the McKinsey AI Interview, candidates are expected to prompt the AI, review its output, and apply their own judgment to produce a clear and structured response. This process aims to assess soft skills that are crucial for working at McKinsey and collaborating with AI tools, such as collaboration and reasoning.
Redefining the Consulting Workforce
Sternfels predicts that McKinsey will adopt AI aggressively in the coming months. He believes that within another 18 months, every employee will be supported by one or more AI agents. This shift could significantly alter the nature of consulting work.
“We’ll have a workforce that is human and agentic, and we’re going to have to navigate that,” Sternfels said. The integration of AI agents is expected to increase productivity and potentially transform McKinsey’s business model.
“We’re migrating away from pure advisory work, away from the fee-for-service model,” Sternfels explained. Instead, the company is moving toward an outcomes-based model, where it collaborates with clients to identify joint business cases and ties its fees to the impact of its work.
However, Sternfels stressed that certain human qualities cannot be replaced by AI. Creativity, aspiration, and judgment remain essential traits that only humans can provide. “There isn’t truth in AI models; there isn’t judgment,” he said. “Humans need to impose those parameters.”