McKinsey is making job applicants spar with a fake AI client
Some entry-level McKinsey candidates will have a 10-minute conversation with a simulated client as part of the interview process.
Some entry-level McKinsey candidates will have a 10-minute conversation with a simulated client as part of the interview process.
by Jay Peters Oct 14, 2026, 6:53 PM EDT
Image: The Verge
Consulting firm McKinsey & Company is going to ask some entry-level candidates to have a 10-minute conversation with an AI simulation of a client as part of the interview process, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The AI simulation “aims to reflect 80% of the scenarios McKinsey consultants might encounter in their day-to-day work,” the WSJ says, and it isn’t designed to “mimic an unhinged client.” The AI won’t score the candidates — humans will be in the room to assess the candidates and see how well they deal with the simulated situations.
The McKinsey tool will be in testing for undergrads seeking business-analyst jobs in “some” offices in North America this fall, and the WSJ says “hundreds” may use it.
Other companies are also building tools to use AI avatars as part of the job interview process, and my colleague Hayden Field tried some of them out for a video we published in March.
