Our Helsinki office welcomes both B.Sc. and M.Sc. graduates to join us full-time.
For B.Sc. graduates, we have introduced a two-year full-time business analyst program after which colleagues may choose to pursue a master’s degree or MBA (with support from the firm) or be eligible to move into a more senior role.
Through this program, business analysts gain new skills and build on the strengths they bring to the firm. They play an active role in all aspects of the client engagement, including gathering and analyzing information, formulating and testing hypotheses, and developing and communicating recommendations. Business analysts receive exceptional formal and on-the-job training, as well as frequent coaching and mentoring from colleagues on their teams.
Our full-time consultant position is available for M.Sc. graduates, and provides the depth and breadth of locations, client opportunities, professional development, and a supportive culture to help strengthen skills and broaden horizons.
Consultants work on diverse projects with collaborative teams and engage with clients, all of which offer new perspectives and challenges. While all consultants develop specialized knowledge and a focused program as they progress with McKinsey, most are initially very broad in their focus, meaning they do not need specific industry or functional expertise to be successful.
Let's next hear from Valtteri who is currently working as an Associate!
Would you tell us a little bit about yourself and your background?
I am Valtteri, an Associate at McKinsey’s Helsinki office. My background is at Aalto BIZ – I studied finance (while spending quite significant amount of my time in all sorts of extracurricular activities at KY and elsewhere), did an internship at McKinsey in 2018, and then joined full-time in 2019 after graduation.
How did you end up working in consulting?
I consider myself a classical example of a person who is generally very interested in how the world works and thus struggles to make choices that limit options. I think it was thus natural that out of the opportunities presented during my studies, consulting felt intriguing as it allows exploring interesting problems in different organizations and industries. As stated earlier, I initially joined McKinsey for internship in summer 2018 – I considered this to be a great way to get to know what the work and firm are really like.
What kind of projects do you work on at McKinsey?
I spend most of my time working with strategic topics for our clients in machinery & mobility. This could be questions like where specific organization should focus their capital or how they should organize their business to be able to manage it effectively. I have also worked quite a lot with different investors as they evaluate potential targets to purchase; how these potential targets fit into their existing business/portfolio and what is the value creation potential going forward.
What are the things you are passionate about outside of work?
I am quite a big sports fan in general – I try to play various ball sports whenever I have time and stay up to speed about the status of major leagues throughout the year.
What has been the coolest moment at McKinsey?
I have been lucky to work with the top leadership of some interesting companies when they are making major business decisions – at general level, in situations like this it is very rewarding when the analysis team clearly strikes the target and helps leadership to decide based on structured and factual base. In addition, I think the Helsinki office has a cool community and it is great to spend time with colleagues also outside of work – whether it's a Friday after work at the office, a trip abroad or an office padel tournament.
Do you have any advice to those considering a career in consulting?
I think spending at least a few years in consulting is quite a no-regret move for almost everyone – the toolkit built in structuring problems, analyzing available data and communicating findings is applicable and useful almost everywhere. I wouldn’t worry too much beforehand if this is something you want to do as a long-term career; that is best learned by doing. More practically, when applying I would emphasize to prepare so that you feel comfortable in case interview situations but at the same time not to over-prepare so that you lose originality – after all, we are looking for bright individuals, not robots blindly applying pre-set frameworks.
