Hey,am still undergraduate and have the chance to do an internship at McK for oil and gas sectors, and the focus is on business performance improvement and measurement, business process redesign, and the related computer systems to support the initiatives. I know I want to do management consulting but I certainly dont know the right sector for me yet. So my question: is an internship in this sector kind of automatically restricting me to the same sectors when I apply for a job later on or is that of no importance?Hope that question is clear, if not , please ask.Thanks for your support!

No, most likely they'll just see McKinsey on your CV and put you through for interview when you want a real job.

Could be useful if you decide Oil is a sector you are interested in, but no company is going to infer you are a specialist in Oil + Gas from an internship so you won't be limited; also having McKinsey on your CV will open most doors to you anyway.But being an Oil specialist can be very lucrative, so you may find it more interesting than you think!

thanks for your answers!Yes, I also heard that especially oil is extremely lucrative in the moment, and that they are suffering from shortage of skilled workers, so it might not be a bad sector to get into. What I am wondering about though is, if the skills I gain there are actually for use in a different sector such as lets say consumer products. Is the knowledge somehow transferable or is it a totally different thing? Or does that matter at all, I mean in the end its only an internship. Also, to what extend do people switch between sectors later on in their career?Thanks a lot!

Strat firms maintain a generalist track until you reach senior levels, so you need not concern yourself that you will be asked to specialise too early in your career. It could be more difficult if you join one of the big 4 type firms, but you can ensure a good spread of experience by pursuing projects that will diversify your sector experience.It is worth noting wannabee that there is in fact nothing inherently wrong with becoming a specialist - ultimately that is what marks you out from the crowd after all.Best advice - get on with the internship and excel excel excel. You can start thinking more about sectors later but for now you need to make the most of your McK internship.