Author: Florian Smeritschnig

cover for an article on the gap between consulting firm and applicants

When Preparation Misses the Mark: The Gap Between Applicants and Consulting Firms

As a former McKinsey consultant and now a career coach, I have prepared hundreds of candidates for their consulting interviews in recent years and run through more than 2,000 practice cases. I have been closely observing the consulting market since 2013 and, in particular, the recruiting machinery of the top firms: first as a candidate…
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Bluffing with Style: The Case Interview Mindset You Need to Succeed

Smart but Shaky Most candidates walk into their case interviews armed to the teeth: cases drilled, math shortcuts memorized, every Victor Cheng quote tattooed on their brain. And then the interview starts. Suddenly, all that prep turns into polite hesitation: “Uh, maybe we could… possibly… look at market share?” The voice drops, the eyes search…
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How to Avoid Perfectionism in Case Interviews

One small slip in a consulting case interview at McKinsey, BCG, or Bain won’t kill your chances. Unless you overreact. In fact, interviewers at top firms don’t expect flawless execution. What they care about is whether you can stay calm under pressure, recover quickly, and show the resilience and coachability they value in future consultants.…
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A focused young professional working on a laptop at a desk while a gorilla looks on beside a glowing countdown timer in a modern office, with charts and papers spread across the table and the StrategyCase logo visible on the left panel.

Bain TestGorilla in 2026: Key Strategies to Master It

Bain began using the TestGorilla assessment in 2024. If you are applying today, there is a real chance you will receive it instead of the SOVA test that dominated Bain’s screening process for years. Some offices use TestGorilla, others still use SOVA, and in some cases even candidates within the same office may receive different…
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The Impact of AI on Consulting Recruiting

Will AI Reshape Consulting? The Future of Hiring at McKinsey and Beyond For decades, consulting firms like McKinsey have thrived on a tried-and-tested model: hire the best and brightest, train them rigorously, and deploy them to solve complex business challenges. But with the rapid rise of artificial intelligence, this model is on the brink of…
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