McKinsey CEO Bob Sternfels says AI is changing how the firm views the perfect job candidate

• McKinsey & Company used AI to analyze its most successful hires over the last 20 years.
• It found that applicants who had recovered from setbacks were more likely to become partners later.
• McKinsey hires less than 1% of applicants, and receives 1 million applications a year.

Landing a job at McKinsey & Company has never been easy. The firm has long been known for recruiting top talent from top schools and leading industry experts.

AI, however, is forcing the firm to rethink the types of applicants it considers in the hiring process, CEO Bob Sternfels said.

On Harvard Business Review's IdeaCast podcast this week, Sternfels said the firm used AI to analyze its past 20 years of hiring data to understand where it may have overlooked talent for its coveted class of partners.

The firm found that applicants who had setbacks and recovered were more likely to become partners. So, now, Stenfels said, the firm looks for resilience in its interview process.

"It turned out we had some bias in our system," he said, adding that the firm was too focused on whether candidates had "perfect marks" instead of how they bounced back from difficulties.

In December, the firm promoted about 200 employees to partner — one of the smallest classes in years, The Wall Street Journal reported. In 2022, it promoted about 400 people to partner.

McKinsey partners typically earn under $500,000 in base pay, but they can expect to earn hundreds of thousands more in bonuses and profit sharing.

McKinsey receives about 1 million résumés annually. In 2024, the firm told Business Insider that it planned to hire about 1% of applicants, in line with 2023.

The firm's spokesperson also said at the time that it looks for "distinctive students just starting their careers" and experts in industries ranging from technology to finance to law.

The company also looks for strong problem-solving skills, which it gauges through a game-based assessment called Solve.

To help candidates prepare, the company offers candidates resources ahead of time.

"This helps to ensure candidates from any background — regardless of whether they have exposure to resources like consulting clubs — can demonstrate their distinctiveness in our process," the firm told Business Insider.