Here's an interesting admission from one of the world's most prestigious consulting firms: they've been hiring wrong. Well, not entirely wrong, but perhaps focused on the wrong things.
When Perfect Isn't Actually Perfect
McKinsey & Company just discovered something fascinating after turning AI loose on 20 years of hiring data. Turns out, candidates with flawless academic records aren't necessarily the ones who become successful partners. Instead, people who've experienced setbacks and bounced back are more likely to reach the top.
"An applicant who has experienced a setback and recovered has a higher probability of making partner," CEO Bob Sternfels explained during an interview on Harvard Business Review's IdeaCast podcast this week.
It's a revealing moment of corporate self-awareness. "It turns out that we've had some bias in our system," Sternfels said. "We've been too focused on whether one has perfect marks instead of whether one is resilient."
The Numbers Behind The Selectivity
To appreciate this shift, consider McKinsey's hiring funnel. The firm receives roughly 1 million résumés annually but hires only about 1% of applicants. That's brutal selectivity, even by elite consulting standards.
This December, McKinsey promoted around 200 employees to partner, half the size of its 2022 class, reported Business Insider. So getting it right matters, both for the firm and for candidates navigating an increasingly competitive landscape.
McKinsey now evaluates problem-solving skills through a game-based assessment called Solve and provides resources to help candidates from diverse backgrounds showcase their abilities. "This helps to ensure candidates from any background — regardless of whether they have exposure to resources like consulting clubs — can demonstrate their distinctiveness in our process," a spokesperson said.