Article 273: McKinsey Will Make Job Applicants Spar With a Fake AI Client

McKinsey is adding a ten-minute conversation with an AI-simulated client to the interview process for some entry-level business-analyst candidates in North America this autumn. The simulation is built to reflect roughly 80 percent of the scenarios consultants actually meet, and — notably — it does not score anyone: humans stay in the room to judge how candidates handle the exchange. Hundreds of applicants are expected to go through it.

Key Takeaway: The interesting decision is the one McKinsey didn't make. Automating the scenario while keeping the judgement human is the inverse of how most AI hiring tools are built, and it quietly concedes that the part worth measuring is not how well you talk to a machine.

Source: The Verge, 14 October 2026