MBA Center Global 
For many businesses around the globe, the Covid pandemic was a turning point not only in sales and profit, but also in management, strategy and hiring. McKinsey was no exception to the rule. As the pandemic spread across the Asian, European and American continents, the process of hiring new talent at McKinsey was exposed as being vulnerable to global events like the pandemic and outdated in nature.
Faced with this global pandemic, many people were forced to leave their suits in the closets while home working. Some even switched pants with shorts, and wore them fashionably with dress shirts and blazers! McKinsey was able to quickly switch because it had already embraced home working and a digitalized working environment. The consulting agency adopted and invested in a lot of the same technologies many companies were forced to invest in years ahead. Virtual communication had become a norm at McKinsey for years now and so switching to virtual working was an easy step!
With the pandemic and the global lockdowns being enforced with many governments around the world, McKinsey had to ask its employees to perform their duties completely from home. The seminars, conferences, group projects and staff meetings were also done virtually. Technology helped keep the relationship between team members and their clients deep and personal.
When it comes to hiring, unlike many companies which had to let go many of their employees during the pandemic, McKinsey actually kept the same rate of hiring as it was before. In fact, the numbers of internships and hires were exactly the same during 2020 as they were during 2019, and they are expected to remain the same during 2021 too.
McKinsey also decided to launch an all summer internship program which would start in three tiers: mid-May, early June, and late June. The internships are fully virtual and paid! While the new virtual system is not a new thing for McKinsey, they are still facing a few difficulties and trying to perfect the new norm.
