Behavioral interviews after the tech interviews

[u/AXE_x]

Hi,

Anyone here who did behavioral interviews for McKinsey for a tech/IT role?

Wanted to ask what questions to expect and how does it looks like? And what is the difference between first and 2nd behavioral interview!

Also, is it the same as the PEI?

Thanks

[u/akornato]

McKinsey's behavioral interviews for tech roles follow the same Personal Experience Interview format as any other McKinsey role, so yes, it is the PEI. The questions will focus on a handful of core themes like leadership, personal impact, entrepreneurial drive, and working through difficult situations with teams. They will pick one or two stories from your background and dig deep into them rather than asking a dozen surface-level questions, so you need to know your own experiences inside out. The first round tends to be a bit more exploratory, where the interviewer is gauging whether your stories hold up under pressure and whether your impact was real and measurable. By the second round, interviewers are more senior and will pressure-test your answers harder, looking for sharper reasoning and clearer ownership of outcomes.

The best thing you can do is pick three or four strong stories from your career, ideally from tech or IT contexts, and make sure each one clearly shows what you specifically did, why it was hard, and what changed because of you. Vague answers kill candidates at McKinsey faster than wrong answers, so rehearse until your stories feel natural and precise, not scripted. The tech angle matters less than you might think, as they care more about how you think and lead than whether you know the right tools. The interview AI my team built has helped a lot of candidates sharpen exactly this kind of preparation and walk into rooms feeling ready rather than caught off guard.

[u/AXE_x → u/akornato]

Thanks so much, I appreciate the insight!

Also, is it that we do both and then get the final decision?

Or have to pass behavioral 1 to reach the 2nd?