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Intensive work experience and an enjoyable city trip
A former participant remembers
Toward the end of my doctoral studies in biochemistry, I knew all about the standard career options in research and academia. But I wasn’t sure whether I’d actually want to be a researcher all my life. I started thinking about exciting potential alternatives that would give me the chance to work in an international and interdisciplinary environment. So it piqued my interest when a fellow student, who was studying physics and had attended a McKinsey workshop already, told me about Horizon, the BTO workshop in Berlin.
The idea of becoming a consultant working on technology and business problems was very attractive – as was joining one of the most international offices of a global consulting firm! Although I already had a general idea of what management consultants do, I wanted to know more about McKinsey and the BTO before deciding whether to apply for an extended internship or a full-time job as a consultant. My main question was whether, given my background in biochemistry and long-standing interest in IT but lack of academic background in either that or business management, I would enjoy and be successful working as a BTO consultant.
With all these thoughts in mind, Horizon seemed like a great opportunity to look behind the scenes at how McKinsey and the BTO work and to meet the sorts of people I’d be working with if I applied. I’m happy to say that the workshop turned out to be everything I expected. Right from the start, I enjoyed the great atmosphere at Horizon. The program struck a nice balance between working on the case, attending information/training sessions, and relaxing with various sightseeing and fun activities in Berlin.
There were also plenty of chances to ask all the questions I had about consulting, as well as some lively debates among the diverse international crowd at the event – such as when we worked in teams on the case to prepare a China market-entry strategy for a European insurance firm. Intriguingly, even when working on the case, the atmosphere was far more relaxed than I expected. This was mainly because the McKinsey people made a real effort to coach and guide us rather than focusing on getting us to the “right” result.
In a nutshell, I had a fantastic time at the 4-day Horizon workshop! It’s given me the confidence to consider McKinsey's BTO a career option ... and I would wholeheartedly recommend this event to anyone facing a similar career choice.
Malek Kourdi Zerikly, 27, Biochemistry, University of Warwick (Horizon 2010 participant)