Meet McKinsey & Company in Europe during its Expedition event

McKinsey & Company’s European business training ‘Expedition’ is set to kick off in September, with participants from across Europe flown in to Austria to attend the event.

Scheduled from the 13th to 15th of September, global strategy giant McKinsey & Company will welcome 75 young professionals from across Europe with an interest in consulting for its three-day ‘Expedition’ course in Austria – with a packed schedule of workshops, leadership training sessions, networking, social activities and interacting with leaders of the firm.

The firm’s annual ‘Expedition’ event is held in the town of Kitzbuel, where McKinsey has its own resort (Alpine University) for meeting with clients and internal training. Once a year however, the location is also opened up for a select group of external professionals (those with fewer than ten years of work experience) who aspire to work in consulting and potentially at McKinsey.

Workshops are given across most of McKinsey’s fields of expertise, including corporate finance, strategy, marketing & sales, operations, implementation and digital. According to the firm’s recruiters, people who attend the event can expect two things. “Participants will strengthen their personal capabilities and become more self-aware after following the leadership trainings.”While the course is mainly geared toward those willing to explore working in strategy consulting – McKinsey’s core business – the programme has been built for participants from diverse backgrounds. “The backgrounds and fields of study of our consultants, the topics we work on, and the way we collaborate with our clients have all changed in recent years,” said one of the firm’s recruiters.

To this end, the Expedition event has been tailored to showcase all of McKinsey’s main business units, including McKinsey Strategy, McKinsey Implementation, McKinsey Digital, McKinsey Design and McKinsey Analytics. “During the event, participants see the work we do in different industries, across our full breadth and depth,” said Sven Smit, a senior partner at McKinsey who leads the firm’s client services globally.

Supporting the event are sixteen of McKinsey’s offices in Europe, including those in Germany, France, the Netherlands, and UK, as well as offices in Italy, Spain and Russia among others. As one former participant put it, “The Expedition event was amazing, not only did I get to learn more about McKinsey as a company, but I also got to meet incredible people from all over Europe.”

Aiding that interaction, a plethora of social activities – from indoor climbing and beach games to hiking, biking and off-road Segway exploration around the Kitzbühel Alps – have also been planned, reflecting that at McKinsey people enjoy their lives next to their challenging jobs. As consulting is a people business, the social activities also allow the firm’s recruiters to find out more about a potential applicant and their ability to work with others.

Such networking can prove invaluable. “During Expedition I met Simona, a consultant from McKinsey in Italy, who gave a workshop and shared her story as an experienced hire,” noted a Dutch participant from last year’s course. “After I was hired, she called me and asked me to join her team for my first project. Even now, after the project has finished, we are still in touch and she has become a mentor to me.”

Apply for McKinsey’s Expedition 2019 business course on the website of McKinsey & Company before July 15th.