I'm an agency recruiter, 10 years in, and I've placed people at McKinsey tech roles and also helped clients prep for the loop. I can share a pretty clear picture of what the recruiter screen is actually doing.
The McKinsey recruiter phone screen is typically 30 minutes. In my experience watching people go through it, here's the structure:
First 5-10 minutes: logistics and role confirmation. The recruiter will describe the specific team and level. This is actually important to pay attention to because 'McKinsey SWE' encompasses multiple different engineering orgs with different cultures and interview tracks (QuantumBlack AI, internal platform, digital practice, etc.).
Middle 15 minutes: background walkthrough. They'll go through your resume chronologically and ask about transitions. 'Why did you leave X?' 'What drew you to Y?' These aren't trick questions; they're checking coherence of your story and genuine interest in McKinsey specifically.
Last 5-10 minutes: your questions and logistics. Salary expectations may come up here or may not, depends on the recruiter and the role.
What actually gets you through: the thing I've seen trip candidates up is not having a specific, honest answer to 'why McKinsey specifically?' Generic answers ('I want to work on challenging problems') don't land. What works: a specific connection to the QuantumBlack AI research track, or genuine interest in applying software at consulting scale, or a specific project they've published about. They can tell the difference.
What they're screening out: chronology gaps they can't get a clear explanation for. Very short tenures without strong rationale. And frankly, candidates who clearly applied to McKinsey as a reach and have no sense of what the tech org actually does.
You can ask the recruiter on this call about team structure, leveling, whether it's hybrid or remote, and what the timeline looks like. They're generally forthcoming. Don't save all your questions for the final round.