By Florian Smeritschnig, former McKinsey Senior Consultant · Updated June 2026 Yes, you can join McKinsey, BCG, or Bain as an experienced hire, and a large, growing share of every office is exactly that. You apply laterally, outside the campus cycle, and you enter at a level set by your experience: roughly the post-MBA Consultant…
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By Florian Smeritschnig, former McKinsey Senior Consultant · Updated July 2026 Consulting screens and case interviews reward one habit above almost any other: taking an argument apart and finding the assumption it rests on. That habit is trainable, and free GMAT critical reasoning questions are some of the best free material to train it. The…
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By Florian Smeritschnig, former McKinsey Senior Consultant · Updated July 2026 Consulting firms screen most candidates out with a timed numbers test before a human ever reads their case structure, and free, high-quality practice for that screen is hard to find. Free GMAT quant questions fill the gap. The GMAT Focus Edition trains the exact…
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By Florian Smeritschnig, former McKinsey Senior Consultant · Updated June 2026 The Pyramid Principle is a top-down communication method created by Barbara Minto at McKinsey: you lead with your main answer (the governing thought), support it with three or four grouped arguments, and back each argument with evidence. Instead of walking the listener through your…
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By Florian Smeritschnig, former McKinsey Senior Consultant · Updated June 12, 2026 A second-round case interview is the final, partner-led round of consulting recruiting, and it is not harder than your first round. The case standards, the skills tested, and the evaluation criteria stay the same. What changes is who sits across from you, what…
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Florian spent five years at McKinsey as a Senior Consultant and is a highly experienced consulting interviewer and problem-solving coach. Having conducted interviews with hundreds of candidates, he understands exactly what top-tier firms look for in successful applicants.
He founded StrategyCase.com to make top consulting careers more accessible by providing tailored, up-to-date insights into the recruiting process. Recognized as the most successful case and fit interview coach, Florian has helped his clients secure 700+ offers at MBB, Tier-2 firms, Big 4 consulting divisions, in-house consultancies, and boutique firms over the past four years.
He is the author of “The 1%: Conquer Your Consulting Case Interview,” “The 1%: Case Interview Workbook,” and “Consulting Career Secrets”, all available on Amazon.
