Career Path Of An Associate At McKinsey And Company

Yes, absolutely. I completed my undergraduate degree at Queen's University in Canada, where I studied civil engineering. At 18, like most of us, I didn't really know where I wanted my career to take me.

As a young engineer in Canada, especially at that time, there was a lot of opportunity in the energy industry. Before I graduated, I completed a couple of internships. This was building up my engineering skillset. I was doing some fieldwork, which was very helpful for my direct post-undergrad career.

When I graduated, I took my first job at Imperial Oil, a subsidiary to ExxonMobil in Canada. It's a large, integrated oil and gas company where I worked for almost eight years. I got the chance to work on two very different sides of the business.

I spent my first four years in a true engineering role, supporting one of our largest operations. For the second half of my time there, I was in a project management role on the environmental side. Working in project management was very beneficial in developing core skills that have been very transferable throughout my career.

After about seven years at Imperial, I decided I wanted to grow my career beyond a traditional engineering path. I ultimately decided to do my MBA, starting in 2020 at UCLA Anderson in Los Angeles. It was also a very welcome change of scenery from Canada.

I decided to do my MBA for a couple of reasons. I definitely wanted to pivot to a different industry; I didn't really want to work in the oil and gas space anymore. Consulting came up as an option because it offers the opportunity to explore different industries and equip you with the skills to drive impact in a new client context.

Additionally, I felt that my skillset aligned well with those of a consultant. I had an analytical background and experience in client and stakeholder management from my project management roles. Following my MBA, I was hired at McKinsey.