A hydrocracking process for converting a petroleum feed to lower boiling products. The process comprises hydrotreating a petroleum feed in a pre-treating zone in the presence of hydrogen to produce a hydrotreated effluent stream comprising a liquid product. At least a portion of the hydrotreated effluent stream is then passed to an MMS catalyst zone, and then to a hydrocracking zone. In one embodiment, the MMS catalyst zone comprises a self-supported multi-metallic catalyst prepared from a precursor in the oxide or hydroxide form. The percentage work of the hydrotreating in the pre-treating zone is maintained at a level of at least 56%.