Here's how to network your way into getting a job at McKinsey, including email templates that'll help you connect with the top partners at the firm

• Whom you know is one of the most important parts of getting noticed by top consulting firms like McKinsey & Company.
• Business Insider spoke to a McKinsey recruiter and former manager to figure out how to forge strong connections and use them to get a job.
• They said to know who's in charge of hiring - mainly the partners in each department.
• Follow associates on social media, comment and like their posts, and try to meet with them in person by using these email templates.
• Click here for more BI Prime stories.

McKinsey & Company is the crème de la crème of consulting firms, judging by how difficult it is to get an offer there. Out of the approximately 200,000 applications that the firm receives annually, only around 2,000 candidates get hired as consultants, reported a 2018 post on IGotanOffer, which offers courses and coaching services to help candidates land a job at top management consultancies like McKinsey.

When it's so tough to break in, who you know can indeed be as - or even more - important than anything else you do to get your foot in the door.

Business Insider turned to two experts - a recruiter and former McKinsey manager - to learn the distinct approach required to network into this firm specifically. They shared insider tips that could help you take your McKinsey application, cover letter, and other materials to the next level by leveraging the right relationships in the right way.

The starting point for getting your application into the right hands - and turning that into an interview and job offer - is understanding the role and power of partners at McKinsey, which will also help you target your cover letter and other application materials appropriately.

Will Bachman, the cofounder of global consulting community Umbrex, who logged five years at McKinsey as a business analyst and engagement manager and during his time regularly vetted and interviewed prospective MBA students for McKinsey, explained that McKinsey does not have "hiring managers" in the traditional sense of a corporation, where a manager is responsible for making the final decision to hire an employee who will report to that hiring manager. Instead, the hiring decisions at McKinsey are made collectively by the relevant set of partners.

As such, a cover letter sent to the general recruiting email inbox at the firm has little chance of getting noticed. This is why developing a relationship with a McKinsey partner or partners is so important.

"For campus hires of business analysts (pre-MBA) or associates (post-MBA), that would be the set of partners in a given office," said Bachman. "For experienced recruits being hired directly into a functional or industry practice, that would be the partners in that practice."

If an applicant has experience in the retail industry and would like to join the retail practice at McKinsey in the United States, Backman shared as an example, "One minute of research on the McKinsey website will show that Chicago seems to be the center of gravity of the practice: [Eight] retail practice leaders are based in Chicago, with two in Atlanta, one in Cleveland, two in Dallas, three in Minneapolis, two in New Jersey, two in San Francisco, two in Silicon Valley, and one in Washington, DC. This suggests that the applicant [should] target the retail partners in the Chicago office."

Once you've determined the right partner or partners to target, you then need to get their attention in a way that helps forge a memorable (and positive) connection.

If you're interested in retail, follow all eight retail practice partners on LinkedIn and Twitter, Bachman said.

"Whenever any of those partners posts content on LinkedIn, compose a thoughtful comment," Bachman urged. "If the partner posts content on Twitter, comment on that tweet or retweet it."

Bachman added that since not many people comment on these posts, applicants who do will get noticed. There's one caveat to this advice, though. Bachman pointed out that when individuals post on LinkedIn, they generally appreciate engagement from other members - particularly comments, since comments help raise the visibility of that post and generate more views.

But he clarified that it is, of course, possible to overdo this approach.

"One thing to avoid would be to comment on every post of the partner with a meaningless comment such as 'Great article' or 'Good point,'" Bachman said. "That approach would seem spammy and would not be helpful."

If you're unsure of whether the frequency of your commenting is appropriate, Bachman explained that one way to judge it is to look at how the original poster responds.

"If you submit a thoughtful comment that makes a useful point or asks a question, and the poster responds, that suggests the poster welcomes your input," he said. "If the individual is posting three to five times per week and regularly responds to your comments, then it would be acceptable to add a comment on the majority of those posts."

Another strategy is to search the McKinsey Quarterly - a business magazine for senior executives written mainly by current and former McKinsey consultants - for anything that partner has written, and then write a post on LinkedIn with a link to those articles. Bachman suggested creating Google Alerts for each partner to monitor anything they write for other publications so that you can engage and reshare that content as well.

After initially following the partner on LinkedIn and engaging with their content, Bachman recommended that McKinsey applicants send the partner a personalized connection request.

This could look something along the lines of:

[Partner's first name],

I found the [article] you posted from the McKinsey Quarterly provided useful insight into issues I've encountered, and I also found the post you shared on [topic] a valuable resource.

As a manager focused on the [industry], I'd love to connect here on LinkedIn and look forward to following the content you share.

Thanks,

[Your name]

"Since the person will have likely seen and noticed the engagement, the connection request is likely to be accepted," Bachman said.

Making an in-person connection in an appropriate venue can be another way to forge a relationship with a McKinsey decision maker, according to Atta Tarki, the founder and CEO of ECA, an executive search firm in which 10 out of their 11 managing directors are former consultants with experience at McKinsey and other top consulting firms. Tarki, who spent six years as a management consultant at LEK Consulting, has placed consultants at most of the top 10 strategy consulting firms.

"If you truly don't have someone you might know inside the system, go to McKinsey recruiting events, make it a point to network with their folks, and be someone [about whom] they say, 'Oh yeah, we should interview them,'" Tarki said. "Ask insightful questions. Be exceptional at connecting with them."

After connecting through social media or in person, Bachman suggested reaching out to the partner with a request that's not very time-consuming. As an example, he said that you might write an article and ask to quote the partner. If the partner agrees to your request, Bachman advised sending a handwritten note of thanks after the call.

He also suggested finding additional opportunities to engage and converse with McKinsey partners.

"If the applicant is in business school, she could invite the partner to give a talk to the Retail Club," he shared. "If the applicant is in an executive role, she could ask the partner to have a conference call with her group at work to share the partner's insights on a particular topic."

Other ideas are to find a reason to visit the city where the partner is located and ask if the partner would be available to meet for breakfast or coffee.

After building a strong relationship on social media and in person with a partner or group of partners in a specific practice or office, you might then broach the topic of potentially joining the firm.

Bachman explained that you want to give the relationship "some time to mature."

"The persistence of continuing to regularly show up is what could help the potential applicant get noticed, so just a couple weeks would not be sufficient," he said.

Bachman suggested starting the conversation with a short email to the partner, which should read something like this:

[Partner's first name],

The content you've been posting on LinkedIn has really caught my interest, and I've appreciated the chance to engage with you in some conversations online.

For some time I've been considering a career switch into management consulting, and I was wondering if you'd be willing to spend a few minutes on the phone to explore if someone with my industry background might be a good fit as an experienced hire at McKinsey.

Would you be open to a short call over the next week or two? If so, what's the best way to schedule?

Thanks,

[Your name]