Updated May 2026 · By Florian Smeritschnig, Former McKinsey Senior Consultant MBA consulting recruiting runs on a tight 20-month cycle. Pre-MBA networking starts in the spring before you matriculate, internship resumes drop in October-November of your first year, MBB case interviews happen in January, and full-time offers for most candidates are wrapped by October of…
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Updated May 18, 2026 | By Florian Smeritschnig, Former McKinsey Senior Consultant Strategy& runs a genuinely separate recruiting funnel from PwC general consulting despite the shared parent. Most candidates don’t realize this and either apply only through the PwC general consulting portal (missing Strategy& entirely) or apply to both without understanding they’re distinct processes. The…
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Updated May 12, 2026 | By Florian Smeritschnig, Former McKinsey Senior Consultant Strong MBB-prepped candidates fail at L.E.K. with surprising frequency. Not because the firm is harder than MBB — the bars are different but comparable — but because L.E.K. tests for a specific mindset that doesn’t show up automatically in candidates trained for general…
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The Kearney application funnel runs four stages and rejects somewhere between 95% and 98% of applicants depending on the office. Most candidates fixate on the case interview because that’s the most-discussed stage. The honest reality: the case interview rejects fewer candidates than the application screen and the Kearney Recruitment Test combined. Most rejections happen before…
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Updated May 6, 2026 | By Florian Smeritschnig, Former McKinsey Senior Consultant The Oliver Wyman application process averages one month from submission to offer, per Glassdoor-reported data. It includes four steps: CV plus cover letter submission, online numerical assessment, first-round interviews, and final-round Super Day. The single largest source of preventable rejections is the numerical…
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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.
